A lot of the books in the excellent Images of War series focus their lens on equipment -- tanks, guns, airplanes and other military gear -- or the aftermath of conflict, scenes where fighting had just recently taken place. Rarely in those books do you see the faces of the people involved.

The Fall of Berlin is different. You see a lot of faces -- sometimes grainy or at a bad angle, but definitely present as the action unfolds.

And what a moment in history this was! The war was long and hard, and victory for the Allies did not seem inevitable for a very long time. So when allied forces finally took Berlin, the world was eager to see photographic proof that the center of Nazi power had fallen.

In Images of War: The Fall of Berlin, historian Ian Baxter unearths photographs from both German and Soviet archives to show modern readers what happened there -- and at what cost.

As is noted on the book's back cover, the Red Army was closing in on Berlin by March 1945. "Marshal Zhukov, with almost a million soldiers and 20,000 tanks and guns at his disposal, launched his assault of the Seelow Heights," the summary explains. "While costly with 30,000 Russians killed, it brought the Russian Army to the gates of the capital." Then, on 20 April -- Hitler's 56th birthday -- Soviet artillery "began a massive bombardment of the doomed city. The Fuhrer ordered every soldier, Hitlerjugend and Volksstrum to fight to the death. The house-to-house fighting that followed was brutal and savage with heavy casualties for both military and civilians." Baxter's book describes the Soviet assault and Nazis' last-ditch defense of Berlin during the final days of the Third Reich.

Some early photos show the Germans in high spirits even as they withdraw in the face of the advancing Russians. One photograph captures Adolf Hitler visiting troops on the front line in early March, while another shows German soldiers resting in a ditch as they retreat from the Eastern Front. Both show soldiers who are relaxed, confident and cheerful. Likewise, the advancing Russian soldiers also seem to be in good spirits as they close on their target. Military buffs will enjoy the pictures that show their rifles and submachine guns, mortars and flak guns, tanks, bicycles and even horses as the pieces move into play.

Faces grow more serious in the next chapter, which shows the Germans defending the Oder River, then the village of Halbe, against the attackers. Although some photos are obviously posed, many seem to be taken during combat.

Disabled tanks begin to litter the roadways. Soldiers advance against enemy fire. Desperate defenders set up their guns amid the rubble of ruined buildings. Prisoners gather in dejected groups. As the battle moves into Berlin itself, photos begin to show the destruction of buildings, roads and rail lines as the bombardment continues. In spite of the "overwhelming superiority" of the Russian forces, Baxter writes, "the Germans still fought fiercely and determinedly in the ruins of the city, while Berliners still continued to live and hope they would survive the battle." In one of the most stark images, bodies of dead German soldiers lie among the debris in the center of the city. A few pages later, an elderly Berlin resident "has come out of hiding and sits among the ruins of his city," perched on a bench with an abandoned Russian artillery tractor in the street behind him. And, still further on, a trio of captured Hitlerjugend, or Hitler Youth, smile for the cameras after being captured -- the teenagers seem happy, no doubt glad to be out of the fighting and to be given food.

The Fall of Berlin is not a history book in the sense that readers will come away with a comprehensive knowledge of the fighting, the troops, their weapons and their movements in those final days of the war. The text provided here gives only a basic outline of what occurred. But the pictures certainly depict the grimness of war, the destruction and, most of all, the human element. Sometimes, it's hard to look away.