Antony Beevor strana 2 z 2

The Second World War began in August 1939 on the edge of Manchuria and ended there exactly six years later with the Soviet invasion of northern China. The war in Europe appeared completely divorced from the war in the Pacific and China, and yet events on opposite sides of the world had profound effects. Using the most up-to-date scholarship and research, Beevor assembles the whole picture in a gripping narrative that extends from the North Atlantic to the South Pacific and from the snowbound steppe to the North African Desert. Although filling the broadest canvas on a heroic scale, Beevor's THE SECOND WORLD WAR never loses sight of the fate of the ordinary soldiers and civilians whose lives were crushed by the titanic forces unleashed in this, the most terrible war in history.

From the bestselling author of Stalingrad, Berlin and D-Day, Antony Beevor's Ardennes. 1944: Hitler's Last Gamble tells the story of the German's ill-fated final stand. On 16 December, 1944, Hitler launched his 'last gamble' in the snow-covered forests and gorges of the Ardennes. He believed he could split the Allies by driving all the way to Antwerp, then force the Canadians and the British out of the war. Although his generals were doubtful of success, younger officers and NCOs were desperate to believe that their homes and families could be saved from the vengeful Red Army approaching from the east. Many were exultant at the prospect of striking back. The Ardennes offensive, with more than a million men involved, became the greatest battle of the war in western Europe. American troops, taken by surprise, found themselves fighting two panzer armies. Belgian civilians fled, justifiably afraid of German revenge. Panic spread even to Paris. While many American soldiers fled or surrendered, others held on heroically, creating breakwaters which slowed the German advance. The harsh winter conditions and the savagery of the battle became comparable to the eastern front. And after massacres by the Waffen-SS, even American generals approved when their men shot down surrendering Germans. The Ardennes was the battle which finally broke the back of the Wehrmacht. "Revealing, profound and thoroughly unputdownable, Stalingrad is an extraordinary achievement which transcends its genre." (Vitali Vitaliev, Daily Telegraph (on Stalingrad)). "This brilliant storyteller...makes us feel the chaos and the fear as if every drop of blood was our own: that is his gift. It is much more than just a humane account; it is compellingly readable, deeply researched and beautifully written." (Simon Sebag Montefiore, Spectator (on Berlin)). "This is a terrific, inspiring, heart-breaking book. It makes the argument all over again that the world would be an infinitely better place if it didn't keep producing subject matter for military historians: but as long as it does, we can rejoice that at the top of that profession is Antony Beevor." (Sam Leith, Daily Mail (on D-Day)). "His book is the definitive history. This is World War II as Tolstoy would have described it - the great and the small." (Gerard DeGroot, Washington Post (on The Second World War)). Antony Beevor is the renowned author of Stalingrad, which won the Samuel Johnson Prize, the Wolfson Prize for History and the Hawthornden Prize for Literature, and Berlin, which received the first Longman-History Today Trustees' Award. His books have appeared in thirty foreign editions and sold over six million copies.

Hitler 1944. december 16-án az Ardennek hóborította erdői és szurdokai közt belevágott "utolsó játszmájába". Úgy vélte, éket verhet a szövetségesek közé, ha eljut Antwerpenig, és a háborúból való kilépésre kényszeríti a kanadaiakat és a briteket. Bár tábornokai kételkedtek a sikerben, a fiatalabb tisztek és altisztek kétségbeesetten szerették volna hinni, hogy otthonukat és családjukat megmenthetik a keletről közeledő, bosszúszomjas Vörös Hadseregtől. Sokan lelkesedéssel fogadták a lehetőséget a visszavágásra. A több mint egymillió ember részvételével zajló ardenneki offenzíva a nyugat-európai háború legnagyobb ütközetévé vált. A meglepett szövetségesek két páncéloshadsereggel találták szemben magukat. A belga civilek elhagyták otthonaikat, joggal tartva a németek bosszújától. A pánik még Párizst is elérte. Sok amerikai katona elmenekült vagy megadta magát, mások azonban hősiesen helytálltak, hullámtörőt alkottak, amely lelassította a németek előrenyomulását. #x A kegyetlen téli körülmények és a csata kíméletlensége a keleti frontéhoz volt mérhető, és a Waffen-SS mészárlásai után még az amerikai tábornokok is jóváhagyták a magukat megadó németek lelövését. Az ardenneki csata volt az az ütközet, amely végül megroppantotta a Wehrmacht gerincét.

A Vörös Hadseregnek volt miért bosszúra készülnie, amikor katonái 1945 januárjában elérték a birodalom határait. A politikai tisztek a hátországban megállás nélkül sulykolták a Wehrmacht és az SS kegyetlenkedéseiről szóló híreket. Az eredmény önmagáért beszélt, a szovjet katonák tűzzel-vassal irtották az ellenséget: harckocsival hajtottak a menekültekből álló menetoszlopokba, tömegesen erőszakolták meg a német nőket, fosztogattak és pusztítottak. A félőrült Führer bunkerében esztelen parancsokat osztogatott. Uralma végén, mintegy a végzetét beteljesítő istenek alkonyaként, még látni akarta a birodalom fővárosának pusztulását. Mindeközben Sztálin összes katonája életét kész volt kockára tenni azért, hogy még az amerikaiak megérkezése előtt elfoglalhassa Berlint. Az orosz levéltárakból napjainkban előkerült archív anyagokból most először derül ki egyértelműen, hogy a szovjet vezetőnek különösen jó oka volt a sietségre. A szovjet, német, amerikai, brit, francia és svéd archívumokból származó megdöbbentő bizonyítékokat felhasználva Antony Beevor rekonstruálja a Harmadik Birodalom végső bukását átélni kényszerült milliók mindennapjait. A Berlin, 1945 - Az összeomlás egyszerre a büszkeség, az emberi butaság, a fanatizmus, a bosszú és a kegyetlenség rettenetes története, és a hihetetlen kitartás, az önfeláldozás és a minden retteneten felülkerekedő élni akarás emlékműve.

Antony Beevor világsikerű, nagy ívű összefoglaló munkája a II. világháború egyik legnagyobb fordulópontjáról a szerző kiterjedt német és orosz levéltári kutatásainak köszönhetően egyszerre tárja olvasói elé a történelmi tényeket, és azt, ahogyan a történelmet a szereplői - a legfelsőbb német és orosz vezérkaron át a hódítókból bekerített éhezőkké váló, vagy éppen a mai szemmel már elképzelhetetlennek tűnő nehézségek ellenére kitartó katonák és a minden háború legtöbb szenvedését viselő civilek - megélték. Beevor egy kalandregény izgalmával és feszültségével kelti életre fantasztikus ismeretanyagát. "Sztálingrád nemcsak a II. világháborús szovjet hősiesség nagyszerű jelképeként fontos, hanem a háború lélektani fordulópontjaként is. (A geopolitikai fordulópont korábban, 1941 decemberében következett be, amikor Hitler erőit visszavetették Moszkva alól és Amerika belépett a háborúba.) Paulus fegyverletételének a híre bejárta az egész világot, meggyőzve a népeket arról, hogy a nácik soha nem diadalmaskodhatnak. És hirtelen a németeknek is szembe kellett nézniük a jövőjükkel: a háború azzal fog véget érni, hogy a Vörös Hadsereg elfoglalja Berlint. És mindmáig látható a Reichstag falán meghagyott cirill betűs graffiti: Sztálingrád-Berlin."

Berlin: The Downfall 19145 is Antony Beevor's brilliant account of the fall of the Third Reich. The Red Army had much to avenge when it finally reached the frontiers of the Reich in January 1945. Political instructors rammed home the message of Wehrmacht and SS brutality. The result was the most terrifying example of fire and sword ever known, with tanks crushing refugee columns under their tracks, mass rape, pillage and destruction. Hundreds of thousands of women and children froze to death or were massacred because Nazi Party chiefs, refusing to face defeat, had forbidden the evacuation of civilians. Over seven million fled westwards from the terror of the Red Army. Antony Beevor reconstructs the experiences of those millions caught up in the nightmare of the Third Reich's final collapse, telling a terrible story of pride, stupidity, fanatacism, revenge and savagery, but also one of astonishing endurance, self-sacrifice and survival against all odds.

The great airborne battle for the bridges in 1944 by Britain's Number One bestselling historian On 17 September 1944, General Kurt Student, the founder of Nazi Germany's parachute forces, heard the growing roar of aeroplane engines. He went out on to his balcony above the flat landscape of southern Holland to watch the air armada of Dakotas and gliders carrying the British 1st Airborne and the American 101st and 82nd Airborne divisions. He gazed up in envy at this massive demonstration of paratroop power. Operation Market Garden, the plan to end the war by capturing the bridges leading to the Lower Rhine and beyond, was a bold concept: the Americans thought it unusually bold for Field Marshal Montgomery. But could it ever have worked? The cost of failure was horrendous, above all for the Dutch, who risked everything to help. German reprisals were pitiless and cruel, and lasted until the end of the war. The British fascination with heroic failure has clouded the story of Arnhem in myths. Antony Beevor, using often overlooked sources from Dutch, British, American, Polish and German archives, has reconstructed the terrible reality of the fighting, which General Student himself called 'The Last German Victory'. Yet this book, written in Beevor's inimitable and gripping narrative style, is about much more than a single, dramatic battle. It looks into the very heart of war.

The Sunday Times #1 Bestseller The great airborne battle for the bridges in 1944 by Britain's Number One bestselling historian and author of the classic Stalingrad 'Our greatest chronicler of the Second World War . . . his fans will love it' - Robert Fox, Evening Standard 'The eye for telling detail which we have come to expect from Antony Beevor. . . this time, though, he turns his brilliance as a military historian to a subject not just of defeat, but dunderhead stupidity' Daily Mail On 17 September 1944, General Kurt Student, the founder of Nazi Germany's parachute forces, heard the growing roar of aeroplane engines. He went out on to his balcony above the flat landscape of southern Holland to watch the air armada of Dakotas and gliders carrying the British 1st Airborne and the American 101st and 82nd Airborne divisions. He gazed up in envy at this massive demonstration of paratroop power. Operation Market Garden, the plan to end the war by capturing the bridges leading to the Lower Rhine and beyond, was a bold concept: the Americans thought it unusually bold for Field Marshal Montgomery. But could it ever have worked? The cost of failure was horrendous, above all for the Dutch, who risked everything to help. German reprisals were pitiless and cruel, and lasted until the end of the war. The British fascination with heroic failure has clouded the story of Arnhem in myths. Antony Beevor, using often overlooked sources from Dutch, British, American, Polish and German archives, has reconstructed the terrible reality of the fighting, which General Student himself called 'The Last German Victory'. Yet this book, written in Beevor's inimitable and gripping narrative style, is about much more than a single, dramatic battle. It looks into the very heart of war. 'In Beevor's hands, Arnhem becomes a study of national character' - Ben Macintyre, The Times 'Superb book, tirelessly researched and beautifully written' - Saul David, Daily Telegraph 'Complete mastery of both the story and the sources' - Keith Lowe, Literary Review 'Another masterwork from the most feted military historian of our time' - Jay Elwes, Prospect Magazine 'The analysis he has produced of the disaster is forensic' - Giles Milton, Sunday Times 'He is a master of his craft . . . we have here a definitive account' - Piers Paul Read, The Tablet

From the bestselling author of Stalingrad, Berlin and D-Day, Antony Beevor's Ardennes 1944: Hitler's Last Gamble tells the story of the German's ill-fated final stand. On 16 December, 1944, Hitler launched his 'last gamble' in the snow-covered forests and gorges of the Ardennes. He believed he could split the Allies by driving all the way to Antwerp, then force the Canadians and the British out of the war. Although his generals were doubtful of success, younger officers and NCOs were desperate to believe that their homes and families could be saved from the vengeful Red Army approaching from the east. Many were exultant at the prospect of striking back. The Ardennes offensive, with more than a million men involved, became the greatest battle of the war in western Europe. American troops, taken by surprise, found themselves fighting two panzer armies. Belgian civilians fled, justifiably afraid of German revenge. Panic spread even to Paris. While many American soldiers fled or surrendered, others held on heroically, creating breakwaters which slowed the German advance. The harsh winter conditions and the savagery of the battle became comparable to the eastern front. And after massacres by the Waffen-SS, even American generals approved when their men shot down surrendering Germans. The Ardennes was the battle which finally broke the back of the Wehrmacht.

Between 1917 and 1921 a devastating struggle took place in Russia following the collapse of the Tsarist empire. Many regard this savage civil war as the most influential event of the modern era. An incompatible White alliance of moderate socialists and reactionary monarchists stood little chance against Trotsky's Red Army and Lenin's single-minded Communist dictatorship. Terror begat terror, which in turn led to even greater cruelty with man's inhumanity to man, woman and child. The struggle became a world war by proxy as Churchill deployed weaponry and troops from the British empire, while armed forces from the United States, France, Italy, Japan, Poland and Czechoslovakia played rival parts. Using the most up to date scholarship and archival research, Antony Beevor, author of the acclaimed international bestseller Stalingrad, assembles the complete picture in a gripping narrative that conveys the conflict through the eyes of everyone from the worker on the streets of Petrograd to the cavalry officer on the battlefield and the woman doctor in an improvised hospital.

Známý historik Antony Beevor se setkal s pozůstalostí sovětského publicisty a spisovatele Vasilije Grossmana během psaní své oceňované knihy Stalingrad – Osudové střetnutí 1942-1943. Cenný materiál ho pak inspiroval k uspořádání a vydání této knihy, která by za života spisovatele Grossmana rozhodně nemohla vyjít. Vasilij Grossmann vstoupil dobrovolně do Rudé armády v roce 1941 po napadení Sovětského svazu Hitlerem. Více než tři roky pracoval jako speciální zpravodaj pro armádní noviny Rudá hvězda. Během svého válečného působení se etabloval jako „hlavní hlasatel“ z fronty. Jeho reportáže a hlášení plné krvavé reality a beznaděje však byly ve své době přísně cenzurovány. Tato kniha, doplněná spoustou nepublikovaných Grossmanových poznámek, postřehů a dobových popisů perfektně doplňuje renomované práce pojednávající o druhé světové válce. Vasilij Grossman jako vnímavý pozorovatel se smyslem pro důležité detaily podává čtenáři barevný a panoramatický pohled na tehdejší události. Jeho zprávy z bitvy u Stalingradu, bitvy u Kurska, z dobývaného Berlína nebo z návštěvy osvobozené Treblinky slouží jako modelový příklad válečné reportáže.