April 1945 in Berlin: The Final Month of the Third Reich

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When Heinrich Himmler was appointed to command the army group defending Berlin in January 1945, his operations officer described briefing him as "talking about colors with a blind man." Himmler couldn't read a map scale, worked five hours a day due to chronic stomach problems, and once sent a lone battalion 30 kilometers into no man's land because he confused centimeters on the map with actual distance on the ground. It was one of the most catastrophic personnel decisions of the entire war, and it set the stage for the bloodiest urban battle in European history. Today's guest is Prit Buttar, author of Berlin: Endgame 1945 . We discuss how the Red Army's brilliant January advance to the Oder…