After more than four years of total war the armies of Europe were exhausted. The Allies were determined to bring the war in Europe to an end as quickly as possible and with the minimum of bloodshed. But the Germans, although they could see the war was lost, were by no means prepared to yield. Indeed, the fighting during 1945 was to be some of the bitterest of the war.

In the East, Stalin’s mighty war machine began a crushing offensive. Beginning in swirling fog and snow, the Soviet steamroller crashed through the German lines on the Vistula, 125 miles south of Warsaw. Soon Russian armoured columns were driving across the Polish plain towards the Oder, Germany’s historic frontier with the East, creating panic in East Prussia. In the West, Eisenhower and Montgomery joined the race to destroy the heart of Nazi Germany and defend Europe against Stalin’s vaulting ambition.

So began one of the most crucial years in the history of the world which was to climax in the desperate battle for Berlin. The gripping story of the final days of the Third Reich is told in graphic detail – the unfolding drama revealed through the eyes of soldier and civilian, private, general and refugee.

In a sweeping panorama, which finds room for the individual human drama within the titanic clash of arms, Robin Cross paints an unforgettable picture of a world in chaos. By the end of 1945, Europe had new frontiers, friends had become deadly enemies and an uneasy peace threatened to transform Cold War in to a third world war.

This is the story of how the eagle was toppled from the roof the Berlin Chancellery and the Russian bear stretched its claws to seize a Europe shattered by war.