An outstanding historical document from spring 1945: Nazi Germany is desperately fighting against defeat. From the east, Stalin's millions-strong army is advancing, while in the west, the Allies are also engaged in a fierce battle against the German Wehrmacht. The common goal is Berlin, the heart of the Nazi regime. With the precision of a historian and the linguistic power of a novelist, Antony Beevor vividly and with shocking authenticity depicts the nightmare of violence, death, and destruction that millions of people on all sides had to endure.