The Second World War

by Antony Beevor

‘the road to Auschwitz was built by hatred, but paved with indifference’.

588th Night Bomber Regiment specialized in flying their obsolete Po-2 biplanes low over the German lines at night and switching off their engines as they made their bombing run. The ghostly swish made a sinister noise. These outstandingly brave pilots were all young women. They were soon dubbed the ‘Night Witches’, first by the Germans and then by their own side.

Wingate, a fundamentalist Christian and ascetic visionary whom General Slim compared to Peter the Hermit, was no charlatan. He was almost certainly a manic depressive, although his earlier attempt at suicide had in fact been provoked by cerebral malaria. He drove his men hard; in fact he was pitiless even towards the wounded, but he was just as hard on himself. Bearded and scruffy, wearing an old-fashioned sola topi that looked too big for him, he did not conform to the image of a senior officer of the Royal Artillery. He wandered around naked, chewed raw onions, strained his tea through his socks, and sometimes wore an alarm clock on a string round his neck. He had earned his reputation as a master of irregular warfare after organizing Jewish ‘special night squads’ in Palestine to counter Arab attacks, and by his leadership of Gideon

‘You know the Russians really are coming in our direction,’ wrote a young mother in September, ‘so I am not going to wait, instead I will choose to kill myself and the children.’

Eisenhower had made the correct decision even if for the wrong reason. Stalin would never have allowed the Americans to take Berlin first.

an exchange between Averell Harriman and Stalin during one break. ‘It must be very pleasant for you’, Harriman said, making conversation, ‘to be in Berlin now after all your country has suffered.’ The Soviet leader eyed him. ‘Tsar Aleksandr went all the way to Paris,’ he replied.