p. 23 ‘a single undulating red sea…’, Grossman, Krasnaya Zvezda, 9 February

  3 FIRE AND SWORD AND ‘NOBLE FURY’

  p. 24 ‘Noble fury’, from the patriotic anthem ‘Sacred War’: ‘Arise vast country/arise for the mortal battle/with the dark fascist force,/with the accursed horde./Let the noble fury/boil up like a wave,/the people’s war is going on,/the sacred war.’

  p. 24 ‘master of military…’, Ehrenburg, p. 100

  p. 25 ‘Self-propelled guns…’, Grossman papers, RGALI 1710/3/47, p. 14

  p. 25 ‘It’s impossible…’, Ehrenburg, p. 100

  p. 25 ‘the Jew, Ilya…’, 16 January, BA-B R55/793, p. 9

  p. 25 ‘There was a time’, Krasnaya Zvezda, 25 November 1944

  p. 26 ‘in weather…’, General der Artillerie Felzmann, XXVII Corps, ΝA RG 338, D-281

  p. 27 Walter Beier, Ramm, 1994, p. 164

  p. 27 ‘the second Stalin’, Kershaw, 2000, p. 406

  p. 28 sixty-two raped and murdered women and young girls, Dönhoff, p. 18

  p. 28 ‘Red Army soldiers…’, Agranenko papers, RGALI 2217/2/17, p. 22

  p. 28 ‘engaged in the propaganda…’, Kopelev, p. 10

  p. 29 ‘many Germans declare…’, Tkatchenko to Beria, GARF 9401/2/94, p. 87

  p. 29 ‘There you are, Vera’, TsAMO 372/6570/76, quoted Senyavskaya, 1995, p. 99

  p. 30 ‘personally shot…’, Kopelev, p. 56

  p. 30 ‘When we breed…’, TsAMO 372/6570/78, pp. 199–203

  p. 30 ‘Our soldiers’ behaviour…’, Agranenko papers, RGALI 2217/2/17, p. 42

  p. 30 ‘frenzied scream’, Kopelev, p. 50

  p. 31 ‘They all lifted their skirts…’, Maltsev, conversation, 29 October 2001

  p. 31 ‘Our fellows were so sex-starved’, Werth, p. 964

  p. 31 ‘mass poisoning…’, RGVA 32925/1/100, p. 58

  p. 31 ‘Russian soldiers…’, Bark and Gress, p. 33

  p. 32 ‘The extreme violence…’, Life and Fate, p. 241

  p. 32 ‘deindividualize’, Kon, p. 23

  p. 32 ‘barracks eroticism’, Yuri Polyakov, quoted Kon, p. 26

  p. 33 ‘Even the trees were enemy’, Kovalenko, conversation, 21 September 1999

  p. 33 ‘Comrade Marshal’, Agranenko papers, RGALI 2217/2/17, p. 22

  p. 34 ‘How should one treat…’, Agranenko papers, RGALI 2217/2/17, p. 26

  p. 34 ‘disgusted by the plenty’, Shcheglov, p. 299

  p. 34 wirelesses, see Solzhenitsyn, 2000, p. 125

  p. 34 ‘politically incorrect conclusions’, TsAMO 372/6570/76, pp. 92–4

  p. 34 ‘anti-Soviet quotations…’, TsAMO 372/6570/68, p. 12

  p. 35 ‘You cannot imagine…’, N. Reshetnikova, 9 February, quoted Senyavskaya, 2000, pp. 180–81

  p. 35 ‘We thought they…’, Agranenko papers, RGALI 2217/2/17

  p. 35 ‘tumultuous market’, Solzhenitsyn, 1983, p. 67

  p. 35 ‘direct and unmistakable…’, Kopelev, p. 52

  p. 36 ‘Russians are absolutely…’, Krivenko to Beria, Leonid Reshin, ‘Tovarisch Ehrenburg uproshchaet: The Real Story of the Famous Pravda Article’, Novoe Vremya, No. 8, 1994

  p. 36 ‘They ran away…’, quoted Senyavskaya, 2000, p. 273

  p. 36 ‘very few Germans left…’, Shikin to Aleksandrov, 28 January, RGASPI 17/125/320, p. 18

  p. 37 ‘Dear Papa!’ Shcheglov, p. 289

  p. 37 Frische Nehrung, BA-B R55/616, p. 184

  p. 37 ‘the passengers on the carts…’, KA-FU, EI: 18, Vol.6

  p. 38 ‘The majority are women…’, GARF 9401/2/93, p. 343

  p. 38 1.5 million Soviet Jews, Merridale, p. 293

  4 THE GREAT WINTER OFFENSIVE

  p. 39 ‘The soldier is the child of the people’, General Blumentritt, NA RG 338B-338

  p. 39 ‘Let our husbands…’, Serov to Beria, GARF 9401/2/93, p. 334

  p. 39 ‘Vampire!’, Freytag von Loringhoven, conversation, 4 October 1999

  p. 39 ‘The fighting will not stop…’, KA-FU, EI: 18, Vol. 6

  p. 39 ‘catastrophe beds’, HUA-CD 2600 Charité Dir. 421–24/1 Bd x, pp. 114, 115

  p. 40 ‘The Führer’s call…’, ΝA RG338, B-627

  p. 40 ‘All the peoples…’, SHAT 7 Ρ 128, Direction Générale et Inspection des P.G. de l’Axe, Paris, 2 February

  p. 40 ‘The people were predominantly…’, NA RG338, B-627

  p. 41 ‘security measures…’, BA-B R55/995, p. 166

  p. 41 ‘Their white starved faces’, Kee, pp. 228–9

  p. 42 ‘chief physical characteristics…’, Duffy, p. 45

  p. 43 ‘less vulnerable…’, Grossman papers, RGALI 1710/3/51, p. 65

  p. 43 seven-hour Lagebesprechung, Freytag von Loringhoven, conversation, 4 October 1999

  p. 44 ‘He’s not going…’, Klochkov, p. 31

  p. 44 ‘disciplined German prisoners’, Grossman papers, RGALI 1710/3/47, p. 3

  p. 44 ‘their merciless…’, Chuikov, p. 91

  p. 45 NKVD rifle divisions, Meshik to Beria, 27 January, GARF 9401/2/92, p. 263

  p. 45 Auschwitz report by Shikin, 9 February, RGASPI 17/125/323, pp. 1–4

  p. 46 ‘all prisoners on arrival’, RGASPI 17/125/323, p. 73 p. 47 ‘a serious offence’, Krockow, p. 45

  p. 47 ‘Huddled shapes…’, Libussa von Oldershausen, quoted ibid., pp. 48–9

  p. 48 ‘in normal times’, 30 January, BA-B R55/616, p. 158

  p. 48 Ilse Braun, Gun, pp. 237–8

  p. 48 ‘around 4 million…’, 29 January, BA-B R55/616, p. 153

  p. 48 7 million, 11 February, BA-B R55/616, p. 183

  p. 48 8.35 million, 19 February, BA-B R55/616, p. 211. This included East Prussia, 1.635m; Danzig and West Prussia, 480,000; Pomerania, 881,000; Wartheland, 923,000; Lower Silesia, 2.955m; and Upper Silesia, 745,000

  p. 48 ‘The Friedrichstrasse Bahnhof…’, Menzel, p. 116

  p. 49 ‘Dogs and Jews…’, Löwenstein, conversation, 14 July 2000

  p. 49 ‘infectious diseases…’, BA-B R55/916, p. 57

  p. 50 1,800 civilians and 1,200 wounded, BA-B R55/616, p. 155

  p. 51 ‘over 6,000 Hitlerites…’, Wilhelm Gustloff and Marinesco, Senyavskaya, 2000, p. 225, n. 19

  p. 51 ‘in order to save…’, BA-B R55/616, p. 157

  p. 52 ‘These people…’, BA-B R55/616

  p. 52 ‘He is of the opinion…’, 18 February, BA-B R55/616, p. 208

  p. 52 Czech reaction, 10 March, BA-B R55/616, p. 243

  p. 52 ‘the general staff…’, Guderian, p. 397

  p. 53 Oberst i.G. Hans Georg Eismann’s account, BA-MA MSg1/976

  p. 54 ‘that a blind man’, BA-MA MSg1/976, p. 14

  p. 55 ‘Where the German soldier…’, BA-MA MSg1/976, p. 32

  p. 55 ‘under these Hitlers and Himmlers’, Krockow, pp. 51–4

  5 THE CHARGE TO THE ODER

  p. 56 ‘hysteria and disintegration’, Kardorff, p. 281

  p. 57 ‘Don’t come back…’, Feuersenger, p. 206

  p. 57 evacuation of ministries, NA 740.0011 EW/4–2445

  p. 57 executions, see Rürup (ed.), 1997, pp. 167–71

  p. 58 ‘He was sometimes hunched…’, Freytag von Loringhoven, conversation, 4 October 1999

  p. 59 Eva Braun, Freytag von Loringhoven, conversation, 4 October 1999, and Maizière, 9 October 1999

  p. 60 white tulle, Konev, pp. 38–9

  p. 61 ‘Strength through fear’, Thorwald, 1950, p. 103

  p. 61 ‘had acted in a correct…’, KA-FU, EI: 18, Vol. 6

  p. 61 ‘clearly not sufficient…’, RGVA 32891/1/123, p. 6

  p. 62 Breslau refugees on foot, see Thorwald, 1950, pp. 109–13

  p. 63 seventy and 100 kilometres, TsAMO 233/2307/189, p. 78

  p. 63 ‘When you reach the Oder…’, Zhukov, iv, p. 194

  p. 63 Lódź ghetto, Grossman papers, RGALI 1710/3/49

  p. 64 ‘Troops of the 1st Polish Army…’, GARF 9401/2/93, p. 334

  p. 64 ‘the German civilian’, RGALI 1710/3/51, p. 227

  p. 65 ‘Chuikov is sitting…’, RGALI 1710/3/51, p. 229

  p. 66 ‘Chuikov listens…’, RGALI 1710/3/51, p. 230

  p. 66 Chuikov striking officers, Merezhko, conversation, 10 November 1999

  p. 66 ‘We marched out of a forest’, Klochkov, conversation, 25 July 2000, and Klochkov, pp. 34–5

  p. 67 ‘Tremble with fear…’, 8th Guards Army, TsAMO 345/5502/93, p. 412

  p. 67 ‘Everything is on fire…’, RGALI 1710/3/51, p. 231

  p. 68 ‘full of enemy tanks’, BA-MA RH 19XV/9b, p. 172

  p. 68 Tiger tanks, BA-MA MSg1/976, p. 39

  p. 68 ‘Tod und Strafe für Pflichtvergessenheit’, BA-MA RH 19 XV/9b, p. 193

  p. 68 food for retreating troops, BA-MA RH 19 XV/9b, p. 195

  p. 68 ‘The Lord God…’, BA-MA RH 19 XV/28, pp. 1–4

  p. 68 ‘left his town…’, IfZ Fa 91/5, p. 1,253

  p. 69 ‘Captured German generals…’, Petrov and Kobulov to Beria, 30 January, GARF 9401/2/92, pp. 283–8

  p. 69 capture of Kienitz, Le Tissier, Zhukov on the Oder, p. 35

  p. 70 ‘Happiness in the…’, Walter Beier, Ramm, 1994, p. 165

  p. 72 ‘Stalin ante portas!’, Oven, p. 229

  p. 72 Wachregiment Grossdeutsch land, Obergefreiter Harald Arndt, quoted Ramm, 1994, p. 268

  p. 72 ‘Our honour is called loyalty’, Baumgart, quoted ibid., p. 61

  p. 72 ‘marked uncomradely…’, BA-MA 332, pp. 656, 709–11

  p. 73 ‘enthusiasm and fanaticism’, BA-B R55/1305

  p. 73 ‘with comradely greetings’, BA-B R55/I305

  p. 74 Panzerjagd Division, Guderian, p. 411

  p. 74 ‘ein absoluter Schwindel!’, BA-B R55/916, p. 63

  p. 74 ‘political leaders’, BLHA Pr. Br. Rep. 61B/20

  p. 74 ‘Golden Pheasant’, Kardorff, p. 291

  p. 75 ‘Suffered from bombing’, Bormann diary, GARF 9401/2/97, pp. 32–48

  p. 75 ‘Evacuation Situation’, 10 February, BA-B R55/616, p. 172

  6 EAST AND WEST

  p. 78 Yalta accommodation, Alanbrooke, p. 657

  p. 78 ‘Riviera of Hades’, Gilbert, p. 1,187

  p. 80 ‘the systematic…’, Agranenko papers, RGALI 2217/2/17, p. 22

  p. 81 ‘It is a question…’, Tegeran. Yalta. Potsdam. Sbornik dokumentov, Moscow, 1970, p. 22, quoted Volko gonov, p. 489

  p. 82 fall of Budapest, see Erickson, p. 508

  p. 83 prisoner reprisals, see Kershaw, 2000, p. 779

  p. 83 Dresden compassionate leave, Genscher, conversation, 4 September 2000

  p. 83 Rhine floodwater, Eisenhower, pp. 406–7

  p. 84 ‘I can handle Stalin’, Murphy, p. 233

  p. 85 ‘outflanking the West Wall’, Deane, 25 December 1944, NA RG334/Entry 309/Box 2

  p. 85 ‘They looked more like…’, report by Shikin, RGASPI 17/125/323, pp. 35–6

  p. 86 live targets and ‘sport marches’, VOV, iv, p. 180, n. 36

  p. 86 SS pianist, Stanford-Tuck, Larry Forrester, Fly for Your Life, London, 1956

  p. 86 ‘Everybody seems to…’, Grossman papers, RGALI 1710/3/47, p. 4

  p. 86 ‘We are beating…’, quoted Shindel (ed.), p. 125

  p. 87 ‘We are Russian…’, Agranenko papers, RGALI 2217/2/17

  p. 88 ‘insecurity as a military leader’, BA-MA MSg1/976, p. 32

  p. 89 ‘but panzer army…’, BA-MA MSg1/976, p. 35

  p. 89 lunch with the Japanese ambassador, Maizière, conversation, 9 October 1999

  p. 89 ‘You must believe me…’, Guderian, p. 412

  p. 90 ‘The Reichsführer SS is man…’, ibid., pp. 413–15

  p. 92 ‘Over the city…’, Oberjäger R. Christoph, quoted Ramm, 1994, p. 186

  p. 93 ‘preserve their pitiful lives’, GARF 9401/2/94, pp. 159–65

  p. 93 ‘almost four years…’,27 February, IfZ MA 485, p. 20,755

  p. 93 ‘significant part…’, Tkachenko to Beria, 28 February, GARF 9401/2/93, p. 324

  p. 94 ‘The Führer has ordered…’, 10 March, BA-B R55/616, p. 243

  p. 94 ‘corpses of citizens…’, Shvernik to Molotov, GARF 9401/2/96, pp. 255–61

  p. 94 Stutthof camp, RGVA 32904/1/19

  p. 95 ‘The Germans have not yet…’, SHAT 7 Ρ 146

  p. 95 ‘Morale is low but discipline is strong’, RGALI 1710/3/47, p. 25

  7 CLEARING THE REAR AREAS

  p. 96 ‘Halt. Military Site…’, Abakumov to Beria, 15 February, GARF 9401/2/93, pp. 6–15

  p. 96 57th NKVD Rifle Division, RGVA 38680/1/3, p. 4

  p. 97 ‘a dirty runner bespattered…’, Solzhenitsyn, 1974, p. 126

  p. 97 ‘the Führer’s guard battalion…’, Hans Rattenhuber’s interrogation by SMERSH, Voennye Arkhivy Rossii, No. 1, 1993, p. 355

  p. 98 ‘I think it would…’, GARF 9401/2/93, p. 15

  p. 98 ‘indispensable’, Stalin to Tedder and Bull, 15 January, ΝA RG334/Entry 309/Box 2

  p. 99 ‘saboteurs and terrorists’, 1 March, GARF 9401/2/93, pp. 255–9

  p. 99 ‘criminal act of an anti-Soviet policy’, Berezhkov, 1982, p. 364

  p. 99 ‘felt that we had at last…’, Kazakova, conversation, 6 November 1999

  p. 99 ‘some of whom…’, Zhukov, iv, p. 183

  p. 99 Serov as ‘adviser’, RGVA 32925/1/100, p. 143

  p. 100 ‘Ukrainian-German nationalists’, BA-B R55/822, pp. 5–8

  p. 100 ‘inquiry into Rokossovsky’s relatives’, GARF 9401/2/94, p. 61

  p. 101 ‘the civilian pretended…’, 30 March, NA RG334/Entry 309/Box 2

  p. 101 ‘Soviet Engineer-Captain Melamedev…’, NA RG334./Entry 309/Box 2

  p. 101 ‘negligence of the officer…’, Volkov, deputy chief NKVD troops, 1st Belorussian Front, RGVA 32925/1/100, p. 205

  p. 101 ‘in the Soviet Union…’, Antonov to Deane, NA RG334/Entry 309/Box 2

  p. 102 ‘secret bakeries’, RGVA 32891/1/123

  p. 102 ‘This made him suspect…’, RGVA 32925/1/100, p. 80

  p. 102 mine detection, 12 March, RGVA 32925/1/297, p. 8

  p. 102 ‘special dogs for smelling bandits’, RGVA 38680/1/12, p. 114

  p. 102 ‘terrorists handed over…’, 11 March, GARF 9401/2/94

  p. 102 ‘Left in the rear…’, RGVA 38680/1/12, p. 48

  p. 103 ‘a German sabotage school…’, Lieutenant General Edunov, 13 February, RGVA 32904/1/19, p. 99

  p. 103 ‘An attentive sergeant…’, RGVA 38686/1/21

  p. 104 ‘that in some…’, 18 February, 63rd Rifle Division NKVD, RGVA 38686/1/20, p. 49

  p. 104 ‘All this leads to…’, RGVA 38680/1/4

  p. 105 pass for wounded, RGVA 38686/1/20, p. 31

  p. 105 6th Guards Tank Corps, RGVA 32904/1/19

  p. 105 ‘The Soviet military…’, BA-B R55/1296

  p. 105 ‘citizens of the USSR…’, 3rd Belorussian Front, RGVA 38680/1/3, p. 255

  p. 105 ‘Such cases…’, Grossman papers, RGALI 1710/3/51, p. 230

  p. 105 five dead and thirty-four injured, 83rd Frontier Guards Regiment, RGVA 38686/1/21, p. 45

  p. 106 Rokossovsky at traffic jam, Agranenko papers, RGALI 2217/2/17, p. 31

  p. 106 ‘mobilize all Germans…’, RGVA 32925/1/100, p. 47

  p. 106 68,680 Germans, 10 March, GARF 9401/2/93, p. 279

  p. 106 ‘To Siberia…’, Agranenko papers, RGALI 2217/2/17, p. 20

  p. 107 ‘a gendarmerie’, NA RG334/Entry 309/Box 2

  p. 107 ‘hostel of repatriated Polish women’, RGVA 38680/1/3, p. 104

  p. 107 ‘suicides of Germans…’, GARF 9401/2/94, p. 88

  p. 107 ‘immoral event’, RGVA 38686/1/26, p. 36

  p. 107 ‘Negative phenomena…’, Senyavskaya, 2000, p. 184, n. 27

  p. 107 Ukrainian girls taken for forced labour, RGVA-SA 1382/1/62

  p. 108 ‘On the night…’, ‘an unknown…’, RGASPI 17/125/314

  p. 109 ‘had sold themselves…’, Inozemtsev, p. 204

  p. 109 ‘German dolls’, quoted Senyavskaya, 1995 p. 181

  p. 110 ‘the honour and dignity of the Soviet girl’, TsAMO 372/6570/76 and 372/6570/68

  p. 110 female soldiers treated badly from 1944, Rezhevskaya, conversation, 28 October 2001

  p. 110 ‘For example, Eva Shtul…’, RGASPI 17/125/314, pp. 40–45

  p. 110 49,500 Soviet citizens, to Aleksandrov, 20 February, RGASPI 17/125/320, p. 36

  p. 110 4 million, RGASPI 17/125/314

  p. 111 ‘What will be their status?’, RGASPI 17/125/314, p. 33

  p. 112 Oppeln incident, 7 March, KA-FU, EI: 18, Vol. 6

  p. 112 ‘They were not traitors…’, Solzhenitsyn, 1974, p. 240

  p. 113 Over a million Hiwis, TsAMO 2/176495/378, pp. 32–3

  p. 113 ‘Vlasovtsy and other…’, VOV, iv, p. 158

  p. 113 ‘A man from Orel…’, Grossman papers, RGALI 1710/3/47, p. 1

  p. 113 camp guards, RGVA 32904/1/19, pp. 274–5

  p. 113 ‘There must be a single…’, 63rd Rifle Division NKVD, RGVA 38686/1/20

  p. 113 ‘Comrade President…’, Eugene Schirinkine, 31 July, SHAT 7 Ρ 128

  p. 114 restoration of civic rights, VOV, iv, p. 161

  p. 114 ‘Comrade soldiers…’, RGASPI 17/125/310, p. 10

  8 POMERANIA AND THE ODER BRIDGEHEADS

  p. 115 ‘cornerstone’, Duffy, p. 187

  p. 116 Colonel Morgunov, VOV, iii, p. 252

  p. 116 ‘The success of the advance…’, Grossman papers, RGALI 1710/3/51, p. 230

  p. 116 Krukenberg and SS Charlemagne, BA-MA MSg2/1283, and Fenet, conversation, 19 May 1999

  p. 116 ‘Weiss is a liar…’, BA-MA MSg1/976, p. 67

  p. 117 ‘returned in the same state…’, Erickson, p. 522

  p. 118 ‘Trek orders!’, Krockow, p. 61

  p. 120 ‘I have no intention…’, Boldt, p. 81, with corrections Freytag von Loringhoven, September 2001

  p. 120 supply ship, report 22 March, BA-B R55/616, p. 248

  p. 121 ‘If the birth…’, Sajer, p. 541

  p. 121 ‘The number of extraordinary…’, report, 12 April, TsAMO 372/6570/68, pp. 17–20

  p. 122 ‘absolutely impossible…’, RGALI 2217/2/17, p. 42

  p. 122 ‘too proud’, RGALI 2217/2/17, p. 39