Images of Barbarossa: The German Invasion of Russia, 1941

by Christopher Ailsby

-- Contains many previously unpublished photographs -- Includes the murderous activities of the SS in Russia in 1941 On June 22, 1941, Adolf Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union. More than 3 million men smashed east to begin the German crusade to rid the world of Bolshevism and conquer "living space" for the Thousand-Year Reich. The story of the German invasion is told through the book's spectacular photographs, which convey the true horror and scale of this campaign, including the largest tank battles of the war, savage hand-to-hand fighting, massive aerial destruction, and the genocidal activities of the SS. With its authoritative text and extended captions, Images of Barbarossa is an enthralling pictorial record of one of history's most vicious military campaigns. Containing many previously unpublished photographs, the book will appeal to military specialists and laymen alike.

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[John]

A good overview of the military history of the German invasion of the Soviet Union from its beginning in June of 1941 until the end of winter in 1942. Covering both Operations Barbarossa and Typhoon. As the title indicates, there are a lot of photographs, the vast majority from the German point of view. It could use more maps, as there's only a single overview map near the very beginning.

In addition to a purely military history, it also touches on the political aspects introduced by Hitler, and has a chapter on the atrocities committed by Germany behind the front lines. The latter mostly covering the moral wrongness, but also touching on the political mistake of alienating people who would have otherwise possibly welcomed Germans as liberators.

Not a bad introduction to the subject.

[John Naylor]

A subject I knew very little about before reading this.

There is plenty of information contained and it stretches beyond the battles. The style of writing kept me interested to the end and the photographs did add information to the text.

My one main complaint would be the lack of maps to help ground the text and photos. I feel these would have helped.

I think this is a good introduction for anyone to this period of history.

[Seth]

Good photo reference for an artist. I used it a lot on my Stalingrad project.