The Fall of Hitler's Fortress City: The Battle for Konigsberg, 1945

Isabel Denny has written an immensely readable account of the fall of the prosperous and cultured city of Koenigsberg (now Kaliningrad), in 1944, towards the end of the Second World War. Her book covers all aspects of the terrible events, beginning with a history of the city, separated from the rest of Germany by the Polish Corridor, set up after the First World War to give Poland a route to the sea and the port of Danzig (Gdansk).

She goes on to describe the wider context and includes an excellent short description of Operation Barbarossa (the German attack on Russia, leading to the terrible events of Leningrad and Stalingrad). She describes the appalling treatment the German army meted out to the Russian villagers they encountered on the way, and the horror of the siege of Stalingrad. This enables her to go some way to explaining the savagery of the Russian advance through Germany, and the devastation of Koenigsberg as Germany finally lost the war.

The German regional leader, Erich Koch, made the downfall even worse by refusing to accept the overwhelming force of the Russian army, and he compelled every citizen to prepare tank-traps and other fortifications against the Russians. Anyone who expressed any doubt about the German cause could be shot as a traitor, and Koch exercised a total news blackout so that the citizens of Koenigsberg had little idea of the fate that awaited them.

The author makes her account very readable by including many anecdotes and personal accounts from residents of the city. I found myself that with such total destruction anyone survived to tell their tale, but large numbers managed to escape across the ice to local ports where German ships waited to carry them away - but not necessarily to safety - Denny describes the fate of the ex Nazi cruise ship, the Wilhelm Gustloff which was sunk by a Russian submarine with 9000 passengers and crew lost at sea - a bigger disaster by far than the Titanic.

Denny refers several times in quotations and by direct references, that the fall of Koenigsberg and East Prussia can be seen as the retribution of destiny for German treatment of the Russians. While it is understandable that her sources felt this way, they grate a little, when so often tyrants and oppressors *do* get away with their crimes.

The book ends with a description of present day Kaliningrad, and Denny quotes a German visitor, "one cannot escape an uncanny feeling of the old Koenigsberg, like the negative of a damaged photograph, lying ten to twenty feet underneath the city's surface". As I look back on this book I feel that Isabel Denny has revealed this ancient city again for the the 21st century reader so that we have another Pompeii which only survives through excavation and long-buried eye-witness accounts of its rich cosmopolitan culture. An excellent book for the general reader as well as the historian.

Hitler's Fortress City - Konigsberg (7/12 people found this helpful)

This book is a must for anyone who wants not just an insight into a relatively unknown part of the second world war, but also an understanding of how a peaceful rural corner of Europe was turned into a bloodbath as a result of the follies of its leaders. The Russian attack on Konigsberg in 1945 is described in the last chapters of this book, but the real story is how events in Europe after 1919 and Hitler's decision to invade Russia in 1941 led to the destruction and loss of the city.

A thoroughly informative and enjoyable read, it's well written and the best book I've read all year.

A brilliant exposition (9/10 people found this helpful)

I was knocked out by this book. Isabel Denny was my A level history teacher a few years back, and in her classes you could not let your attention slip for a second. Take a look out of the window for half a minute and you missed something crucial. At the end of two hours, I would have terrible writer's cramp: I had to write down almost every word because Isabel Denny had stripped out all the irrelevance, and everything she said was valuable.

There is a point to this nostalgia: 'The Fall of Hitler's Fortress City' is exactly like those classes. There is no spare fat, no paragraphs to skip. In some ways it almost reads like a novel: the story is so well told, and the pace so well-judged that you'll find yourself whizzing through it in no time, and picking up knowledge almost without noticing. And it is never remotely dry!

In fact, it makes fantastic reading. The story is of course harrowing, but Isabel Denny makes the history so riveting - and remains so balanced and impartial - that it is a joy to read. And if, like me, you didn't already know this story, it explains such a lot about the war in the east - and, indeed, the west. You'll keep saying, "Oh! So THAT'S why..."

The other thing that makes it so approachable is the mix of pure textbook history with eyewitness testimony. This clever combination means that although Denny remains scrupulously impartial, the narrative is never unaffecting. She can be dispassionate in the history, but deeply sympathetic to the personal stories: so we are made both to understand, and to care about the suffering on both sides.

If you're an ordinary reader with an interest in history generally - and especially if you're interested in WWII - I'm sure you will love this book.

Highly recommended. Just how history SHOULD be written.

Disappointed (17/22 people found this helpful)

The first part of the book is basically a short history of the city of Konigsburg from early times to the war years, including the rise of nazism in Prussia. There is then a brief history of the war on the Eastern front and the retreat back to Prussia. The actual story of the seige and battle of Konigsburg itself is told in no great detail and starts on page 208 and the book finishes on page 240 having also then told of the post war years! There are two maps included - a very highlevel one of that part of Prussia and one of the city centre itself, neither of which was very useful - many important towns and villages mentioned in the text were not shown on the highlevel one and so it was not possible to track the Russian offensive agianst Konigsburg or the movements in the defence of the city either.

Whilst the book is easy to read there is no real depth and left me with a feeling of disappointment - having read this, there is still a need for a detailed book on the battle of Konigsburg.

A tragic story told with remarkable impartiality and in beautifully crafted English (12/14 people found this helpful)

A superb book telling the tragic story of the destruction of a mediaeval city and its culture in the last months of the second World War. Isabel Denny manages to tell this appalling tale with a remarkable impartiality and in beautifully crafted English.

In the winter of 1945 Konigsberg stood between the Red Army and Berlin. The German forces were ordered to fight to the last man and the civilian population was not evacuated. In avenging the cruelties of the Nazi campaign in Russia their army fought with no holds barred. Denny describes the misery in both armies and particularly amongst the civilian population during a bitterly cold winter, using first-hand stories from the survivors of this most brutal campaign.

You will not find Konigsberg on the map. After the Red Army had razed it to the ground the city was renamed Kaliningrad and, since 1946, this part of north east Prussia has been part of Russia.

The Fall of Hitler's Fortress City: The Battle for Konigsberg, 1945

Isabel Denny

Reader Reviews:

The obliteration of a fortress and its people (7/8 people found this helpful)

Hitler's Fortress City - Konigsberg (7/12 people found this helpful)

A brilliant exposition (9/10 people found this helpful)

Disappointed (17/22 people found this helpful)

A tragic story told with remarkable impartiality and in beautifully crafted English (12/14 people found this helpful)

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