The Fall of Berlin 1945
By Antony Beevor. Viking. ISBN 0-670-03041-4.

By May 1945, the once-magnificent city of Berlin was the Third Reich's funeral pyre, destroyed by the Red army in an orgy of violence and savagery. The Fall of Berlin is the unvarnished, brutal story of the final collapse of Nazi Germany.

Antony Beevor is a prolific, award-winning British historian who has written books on Stalingrad, Crete, and the Spanish Civil War. This possibly is his best work, for he masterfully tells of the epic human drama played out by the Germans, Russians, Americans, and British in a shattered country and a doomed capital. Beevor's book even surpasses Cornelius Ryan's classic The Last Battle (Popular Library, 1966) in its vivid and compelling historical drama.

As Beevor relates, by January 1945 Germany already was on its knees after six years of war, vastly outnumbered by the Allies on both the Western and Eastern fronts. On Jan. 12, the Russians launched a 4-million-man army across the Vistula River in the East in a massive offensive Adolf Hitler dismissed as impossible. Josef Stalin unleashed his mighty army against the German homeland in a frenzy of revenge, intending to inflict upon the Germans the same barbaric treatment the Russians had suffered at the hands of the Nazis.

Beevor starkly describes the desperate defense by German forces, who were short of ammunition, weapons, and food and outnumbered 20-to-1. As the Russians smashed their way into Berlin, the Germans' street-fighting defense became fanatical, for they knew what fate awaited them in surrender. For German soldiers and civilians in Berlin, Russian cruelty was merciless and encouraged by Russian commanders.

Skillfully, Beevor tells of Berlin's death throes from the perspectives of the soldier, civilian, and general. Within the human drama, he also clearly discusses strategy, leadership, logistics, the propaganda spewed by both the Nazis and the Russians, and the grim charade played out by Hitler and his staff.

This is a graphic, shocking story of national collapse, human catastrophe, and misery. However, it is also a story of endurance, resourcefulness, and survival, and it lays out the foundation of the Cold War, which lasted for the next 50 years.

Sailors to the End: The Deadly Fire on the USS Forrestal and the Heroes Who Fought It
By Gregory A. Freeman. William Morrow. ISBN 0-06-621267-7.

In 1967, U.S. Navy Capt. John Beling sailed his ship, the aircraft carrier uss Forrestal, to Vietnam. The ship would suffer the worst accident in the U.S. Navy since World War II. On July 29, 1967, while performing strike operations, the Forrestal was suddenly wracked by explosions and fire. The carrier was severely damaged; 134 men were killed and 161 wounded. This book tells their story.

Author Gregory Freeman is a journalist with a keen sense of drama and a reporter's eye for thorough research and vivid description. In Sailors to the End, his second book, Freeman uses his skills to tell a remarkable story of naval history, tragic mistakes, unbelievable luck, and selfless courage.

Aircraft carrier life always has been dangerous. There are many ways to get hurt even when things run smoothly. However, as Freeman reveals, when bad luck and bad decisions combine, disaster results.

On that hot July day a large air strike against North Vietnam was being prepared on the carrier's flight deck. Jet planes, ordnance, and people were everywhere. Suddenly, a 5-inch Zuni rocket accidentally fired from a waiting fighter jet, striking the plane of Navy pilot (now senator) John McCain, rupturing the fuel tank and causing a massive fire that engulfed other planes, pilots, and crewmembers.

McCain and several other men escaped the blazing inferno just before nine 1,000-pound bombs loaded on aircraft began to explode. The blasts and raging fire blew the flight deck apart, allowing burning fuel to penetrate deep into the ship's interior decks. Men were incinerated, suffocated, and mangled from flying debris. In just a few minutes the ship appeared mortally stricken.

Telling this story from the perspective of the officers and men of the Forrestal, Freeman describes shipboard horrors that are beyond belief. However, the 5,000-man crew reacted as they were trained to, fighting the fires, controlling the damage, and rescuing injured shipmates. Many rescuers died trying to save others. The ship's entire professional firefighting team was wiped out when a 1,000-pound bomb exploded right in front of them. Other sailors heroically stayed at their battle stations, doing their duty, until they perished.

Freeman's investigation into the tragedy reveals an accident that could have been prevented. A command-authorized shortcut in missile-arming procedures plus a second, unauthorized shortcut conspired to allow an unexpected electrical impulse to fire the Zuni rocket. The 1,000-pound bombs should not have exploded on the flight deck, but they were World War II vintage and leaking explosive compound. The bombs were so old and unstable that experienced ordnance men had wanted to throw them overboard as soon as they were delivered.

Young sailors and old salts are portrayed carefully and considerately by Freeman as he relates numerous tales of heroism, sacrifice, determination, and chaos. From Cmdr. Merv Rowland, who had to tell three trapped sailors they could not be rescued, to 20-year-old sailors who raced into flames to rescue wounded comrades, all of the men of the Forrestal were heroes. They were all "sailors to the end."

—Reviews by William D. Bushnell

Member Books

Fiction

Century's Child: A Novel of an American Family's Cold War Years. By Walter D. Rodgers.
This is the saga of the Richards family, whose protagonist describes the interaction of his family with the military and the political history of this country with a single flashback to November 1864 (Sherman's March to the Sea), and a flash-over to the Somme, July 1, 1916. The setting is principally a Midwestern city, but over half of the action takes place at multiple scattered Army posts in South Vietnam and in Arabia.
Trafford Publishing, 2333 Government Street, Suite 6-E, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada V8T 4P4. (888) 232-4444. www.trafford.com. ISBN 1-55369-338-8. 308 pp. $18.72 plus postage.

New Beginnings: A Novel About a Retirement Home. By Capt. Bud Gore, USN-Ret.
Gore's novel illustrates the pleasant, rewarding life that senior citizens can find in a retirement residence. It may provide both seniors and their children with a new perspective on alternative care for confronting the problems of aging. The entirely fictional characters interact in both humorous and touching ways. The reader will come to know them, to identify with them, and to love them.
Xlibris Corporation, 436 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19101. (888) 795-4247. www.xlibris.com. ISBN 1-4010-1148-9. 385 pp. $19.54 plus postage.

Non-Fiction

Avenging Bataan: The Battle of Zig Zag Pass. By 1LT. B. David Mann, USA-Ret.
Mann's work relates the February 1945 struggle by the 38th Division, composed of Indiana and Kentucky National Guardsmen, the "Avengers of Bataan," and the 34th Regimental combat team to open Highway 7 through Zig Zag Pass. He features both the American and Japanese forces, through interviews, letters, and reports by the men who fought the battle.
Ivy House Publishing Group, 5122 Bur Oak Circle, Raleigh, NC 27612. (800) 948-2786. 384 pp. $31.70 post paid.

The Two O'Clock War: The 1973 Yom Kippur Conflict and the Airlift That Saved Israel. By Col. Walter J. Boyne, USAF-Ret.
Israel was within hours of complete defeat by Egypt and Syria after their surprise attack on Yom Kippur, 1973. Only the threat of using nuclear weapons, followed by a huge American airlift, saved Israel from defeat. In the process, the United States and the U.S.S.R. almost went to war.
Thomas Dunne Books, 175 Fifth Avenue, NY, NY 10010-7848. (212) 674-5151. Joseph.rinaldi@stmartins.com. ISBN 0-312-27303-7. 334 pp. $25.95 plus postage.

Naval Warrior: The Life of Commodore Isaac Mayo. By Capt. Byron A. Lee, USN-Ret.
Isaac Mayo was a larger-than-life person. His exploits included saving a drowning sailor from New York harbor, fighting two private duels, capturing a pirate ship in the West Indies, capturing a slave ship in Africa, killing an African chief with his pistol bayonet, capturing Chief Mad Tiger in Florida, rescuing 60 people in Mexico using a small boat in a raging storm, and breaching the wall of Veracruz with his naval guns. In addition to his sea and combat experiences, he was pivotal in locating the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.
Ann Arrundell County Historical Society, Linthicum, MD 21090-0385. ISBN 0-9702355-1-8. 225 pp. $15.00 plus postage.

Blind Bat: C-130 Night Forward Air Controller: Ho Chi Minh Trail. By Maj. Frederick F. Nyc III, USAF-Ret.
Along the Ho Chi Minh Trail, Viet Cong soldiers and trucks carrying fuel, ammunition, and other supplies moved under the cover of darkness. In the night sky above, hampered not only by darkness, but also by mountains and inclement weather, USAF forward air controllers were zeroing in on their movement. Nyc's story elucidates the special team effort and workhorse aircraft that were required to accomplish the missions. In April 1965 the "Blind Bat" mission, as it was called, teamed with two USAF B-57 bombers and a Marine EF-10 to launch Operation Steel Tiger. The Blind Bat group operated a limited air campaign against troops and supplies in both Laos and North Vietnam. Nyc describes these missions in vivid detail, taking the reader into the cockpit during intense fighting, and gives a unique perspective of day-to-day experiences in a war zone.
Eakin Press, P.O. Drawer 90159, Austin, TX 78709-0159. eakinpub@sig.net. ISBN 1-57168-301-1. 173 pp. $26.95 postpaid.

From the Stone Age to the Clone Age. By Maj. Jackson Daugherty, USAR-Ret.
This book is about the differences in lifestyle between the Stone Age and the Clone Age that affect our health, abilities, and well-being. Daugherty gives advice about adjusting to the age we live in, in order to achieve a more fulfilling life experience.
Available from the author, 3404 American Drive, Villa 1111, Lago Vista, TX 78645-6561. (512) 267-3560. texasslim2000@yahoo.com. ISBN 0-9619043-3-X. $40 pp. $12.00 plus postage.

Patton's Bulldog: The Life and Service of General Walton H. Walker. By Col Wilson A. Heefner, AUS-Ret.
This is a biography of General Walton H. Walker who led XX Corps in the vanguard of Patton's Third Army through France, Germany, and Austria in WWII. He commanded the weakened, ill-equipped, and out-manned Eighth Army during the darkest days of the Korean War. A combat veteran of three wars, Walker, like his role model, General George S. Patton, Jr., died not from an enemy bullet, but as the result of a vehicular accident.
White Mane Books, P.O. Box 708, 63 West Burd Street, Shippensburg, PA 17257. (717) 532-2237. Marketing@whitemane.com. ISBN 1-57249-283-X. 348 pp. $29.95 plus postage.

Tales of the Beartooth. Book II: Cowboys and Dudes. By Col. John C. Mouat, USAF-Ret.
This book describes Mouat's adventures with cowboys and dudes in owning and operating a guest ranch in Montana's spectacular Beartooth Mountains on the Northern boundary of Yellowstone Park following his retirement from the Air Force. His first book in the Beartooth Tales series describes his bone-chilling, yet exciting, encounters with bears, mountain lions, and other exotic wildlife in the Beartooths.
1stBooks Library, 2595 Vernal Pike, Bloomington, IN 47404. (800) 839-8640. www.1stbooks.com. ISBN 0-7596-6302-5. 285 pp. $25.50 postpaid.

Memoirs

The Golden Era of Naval Aviation: An Aviator's Journey 1939-1959. By Lt. Cmdr. A. M. "Mike" Granat, USN-Ret.
This is Granat's personal account of his journey through 20 years of naval aviation, taking the reader into a world little known or experienced by the average individual. Laced with humor, suspense, and a bit of romance, the book spans oceans and continents from the vast expanse of the South Pacific flying Patrol Bombers during WWII, to the Far East in military transports, to Alaska operations as an Air/Sea Rescue pilot, and to carrier duty in a fighter squadron. Granat's duties as a Flight Deck Officer included shivering on icy decks off the stormy coast of Greenland and sweltering in the steamy Mediterranean and Caribbean.
Miklen Press, 2333 Government Street, Suite 6E, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada V8T 4P4. (888) 232-4444. www.trafford.com. ISBN 1-553-69559-3. 266 pp. $17.95 plus postage.

From the Farm to the Fleet: The Naval Career of Robert LeRoy Thorson. By Capt. Robert LeRoy Thorson, USN-Ret.
Thorson's memoir goes from a farm in rural South Dakota in 1925 through an entire 31 year career in the U.S. Navy until retirement in 1974. He reports on his progression from a junior officer aboard a destroyer in the Far East in 1947 to a tour as Commanding Officer of a missile cruiser in 1971.
Xlibris Corporation, 436 Walnut Street, 11th floor, Philadelphia, PA 19106-3703. www.xlibris.com. ISBN 1-4010-5415-3. 314 pp. $34.17 postpaid.