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Books on the Eastern Front of WW2
I was his house guest. Very interesting man.
Here are a number of early-mid 2016 releases from the publisher Helion & Co that may attract some interest here in the group:
The Berlin Operation, 1945 by Richard W HarrisonDescription:
The Berlin Operation, 1945, tells the story of the Red Army's penultimate offensive operation in the war in Europe. Here the forces of three fronts (Second and First Belorussian and First Ukrainian) forced the Oder River and surrounded the defenders of the German capital, reduced the city and drove westward to link up with the Western allies in central Germany.
This is another in a series of studies compiled by the Soviet Army General Staff, which during the postwar years set itself the task of gathering and generalizing the experience of the war for the purpose of training the armed forces higher staffs in the conduct of large-scale offensive operations. The study is divided into three parts. The first contains a brief strategic overview of the situation, as it existed by the spring of 1945, with special emphasis on German preparations to meet the inevitable Soviet attack. This section also includes an examination of the decisions by the Stavka of the Supreme High Command on the conduct of the operation.
As usual, the fronts materiel-technical and other preparations for the offensive are covered in great detail. These include plans for artillery, artillery and engineer support, as well as the work of the rear services and political organs and the strengths, capabilities and tasks of the individual armies. Part two deals with the Red Army s breakthrough of the Germans Oder defensive position up to the encirclement of the Berlin garrison. This covers the First Belorussian Front's difficulty in overcoming the defensive along the Seelow Heights along the direct path to Berlin, as well as the First Ukrainian Front's easier passage over the Oder and its secondary attack along the Dresden axis.
The Second Belorussian Front's breakthrough and its sweep through the Baltic littoral is also covered. Part three covers the intense fighting to reduce the city's defenders from late April until the garrison's surrender on 2 May, as well as operations in the area up to the formal German capitulation. This section contains a number of detailed descriptions of urban fighting at the battalion and regimental level. It closes with conclusions about the role of the various combat arms in the operation.
The Battle of Kursk: The Red Army S Defensive Operations and Counter-Offensive, July-August 1943 by Richard W HarrisonDescription:
The Battle of Kursk: The Red Army s Defensive Operations and Counter- Offensive, July - August 1943, offers a peculiarly Soviet view of one of the Second World War s most critical events. While the Germans defeats at Moscow and Stalingrad showed that Hitler could not win the war in the East, the outcome of Kursk demonstrated beyond a doubt that he would lose it. This study was compiled by the Red Army General Staff s military-historical directorate, which was charged with collecting and analyzing the war s experience, and issued as an internal document in 1946-47.
The study languished for more than a half-century, before being published in Russia in 2006, although heavily supplemented by commentary and other information not contained in the original. The present work omits these additions, while supplying its own commentary in places deemed necessary. The book is divided into two parts, dealing with the defensive and offensive phases of the battle, respectively. The first begins with a strategic overview of the situation along the Eastern Front by the spring and summer of 1943 and the Soviet decision to stand on the defensive. This is followed by a detailed examination of the Central Front's efforts to counter the expected German attack out of the Orel salient, and the Voronezh Front's attempts to do the same against the German concentrations in the Belgorod-Khar kov area.
The rest of this section is devoted to an exceedingly detailed day-by-day, tactical-operational account of the struggle, particularly along the southern face of the salient, where the Germans came closest to succeeding. The second part will be more of a revelation to the Western reader, who is likely to be more familiar with the defensive phase of the battle. Here the authors once again, in great detail, lay out the Red Army s preparations for and conduct of a massive counteroffensive to clear the Orel salient, which soon degenerated to a grinding struggle, which while ultimately successful, cost the Soviets dearly.
Likewise, the authors detail the Voronezh Front's preparations to reduce the Belgorod salient and seize the industrial center of Kharkov. This offensive, in conjunction with a simultaneous offensive in the Donets industrial region, pushed the German lines to the breaking point and set the stage for the follow-on advance to the Dnepr River and the eventual liberation of Ukraine.
Also posted in the New Release thread.
One more new release from the UK publisher Helion & Co, this one due out in June 2016:
Red Wind Over the Balkans: The Soviet Offensive South of the Danube, September-October 1944 by Kaloyan MatevDescription:
This book describes two Soviet offensive operations carried out during September and October 1944. The first was the operation for the occupation of Bulgaria - known as the 'Bulgarian operation'; the second was the Belgrade offensive operation, which was carried out immediately after the Bulgarian operation. Although separate, the two operations were closely linked to each other: the first was conducted in an almost peaceful manner, which saved resources. This necessitated that the Soviet Command carried out the second operation promptly, which seriously endangered the encirclement of German Army Group ? position in the Southern Balkans. Pressed by the advancing Red Army, the German troops withdrew from the territories of Greece and Albania. They also relocated fresh forces from the Western Balkans to the Bulgarian-Yugoslav Border in order to build up a defense line. The book describes in detail the heavy battles during the Belgrade offensive operation. Both combatants suffered from the same problems: heavy mountainous terrain; poor roads and infrastructure; and severe weather conditions. This is one of the few Soviet offensives which started without a large superiority of their forces over those of the enemy. The German soldiers were trained to fight in mountainous conditions, and the Soviets were not. The Soviet armament was more modern, but heavier. Additionally, it was not designed to move on the narrow and steep mountain roads. Therefore, the success of this offensive operation was unclear for a long time. The German Command was but a step away from turning Belgrade into a fortress, and slowing down the war in the region for months. The Soviet troops won, but as a result of very tough fighting. After Bulgaria joined the Allied forces, its military forces were subject to the command of the 3rd Ukrainian Front. The commander of the Front used this new ally to the max - thus conserving Soviet forces. There is also a short description of the activities of the Bulgarian troops, who undertook a secondary offensive from the Aegean Sea to the town of Nis in Southern Serbia. The book describes the operations of both ground and air forces. Special attention is paid to the Soviet tank and mechanized units which participated in both operations, and the book benefits from a detailed set of daily statistics and accompanying analysis which has not been attempted before. As well as a detailed narrative, the author also provides information covering camouflage, markings and unit insignia. The authoritative text is supported by more than 400 photographs (the majority of them previously unpublished); full-color profiles showing the aforementioned camouflage, markings and unit insignia; and also full-color battle maps. This book is a result of the author's years spent studying documents from the Russian Federation's Central Archives of the Ministry of Defense and the Bulgarian State Military Historical Archives. Such a detailed study on this topic has not appeared before - and the author's work is unlikely to be superseded.
Also posted in the New Release thread.
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by
Geevee, Assisting Moderator British & Commonwealth Forces
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Good ones thanks AR.
They could be a bit dry but they still sound like quite interesting books.
Aussie Mike - I will buy Vassily Grossmann's A writer at warVasily GrossmanA Writer at War: Vasily Grossman with the Red Army - excuse the double link stuff - not adept at this site yet ! And that will be my first book about the Eastern Front - what you may recommend will be gratefully accepted as further reading....thanks in advance... ( right now I'm starting Anthony Blunt: His Lives by Miranda Carter
....... best wishes for the season.... P
Patrick wrote: "Aussie Mike - I will buy Vassily Grossmann's A writer at warVasily GrossmanA Writer at War: Vasily Grossman with the Red Army - excuse the double link stuff - not adept..."Russia's War: A History of the Soviet Effort: 1941-1945 byRichard Overy is an easy intro, When Titans Clashed: How the Red Army Stopped Hitler by David M. Glantzis a weighty upgrade. Often recommended but not personally vouched for is Absolute War: Soviet Russia in the Second World War
Patrick wrote: "Aussie Mike - I will buy Vassily Grossmann's A writer at warVasily GrossmanA Writer at War: Vasily Grossman with the Red Army - excuse the double link stuff - not adept..."Patrick: I have Carter's bio of Anthony Blunt too, but haven't read it yet. I'll appreciate your comments. Grossman's A Writer at War I thought was just "okay." Best wishes to you too.
Patrick wrote: "Aussie Mike - I will buy Vassily Grossmann's A writer at warVasily GrossmanA Writer at War: Vasily Grossman with the Red Army - excuse the double link stuff - not adept..."Hi Patrick, one of my favourite books on the Eastern Front is a first-hand account of German soldier:
In Deadly Combat: A German Soldier's Memoir of the Eastern Front (Modern War Studies by Gottlob Herbert Bidermann
Manray9: what did you find not so okay about Grossman ? I'll admit it is hard to see the forest to the trees with him if you seek an overview of the Eastern front.
Dimitri wrote: "Manray9: what did you find not so okay about Grossman ? I'll admit it is hard to see the forest to the trees with him if you seek an overview of the Eastern front."I found it "okay" -- not great or earthshaking.
Aussie, Dimitri and Manray: I Understand that Grossman is a bit too , what?, lyrical as opposed to pragmatic and gutsy ( like the Bidermann memoir of the Eastern Front). I have ordered the Grossmann but I will get a copy of the Bidermann today and will report opinion later. Thanks for your interest, guys ! { Maybe \Grossmann was overtaken by the epic russian style of Tolstoy or Gogol...?}
Will be keen to hear your thoughts Patrick.
Patrick wrote: "Aussie, Dimitri and Manray: I Understand that Grossman is a bit too , what?, lyrical as opposed to pragmatic and gutsy ( like the Bidermann memoir of the Eastern Front). I have ordered the Grossman..."Patrick: I've read it several times that the best 20th century Russian novels harken back to Tolstoy. It's true for Sholokhov and Solzhenitsyn.
Here are another two new release titles that may interest those who have a passion for books covering the conflict on the Eastern Front:
Confronting Case Blue: Briansk Front's Attempt to Derail the German Drive to the Caucasus, July 1942 by Igor' SdvizhkovDescription:
The author Igor Sdvizhkov takes a close look at the attempt by Briansk Front's Operational Group Chibisov to collapse the northern shoulder of the German drive to the Caucasus northwest of Voronezh in July 1942. Using both previously-classified Soviet documents and German documents, Sdvizhkov focuses in particular on General A.I. Liziukov's role in the counteroffensive as commander of the 2nd Tank Corps, after his 5th Tank Army was disbanded following failed counterattacks in early July. The Soviet attacks led to nine days of heavy, see-saw fighting involving tens of thousands of men and hundreds of tanks and guns on both sides, and threatened to isolate the German forces holding Voronezh. Sdvizhkov also describes the German reaction to the initial penetration made by Operational Group Chibisov s offensive: a counterattack primarily with the forces of the 9th Panzer Division, which at the time of the new Soviet offensive was in a reserve position, serving as a fire brigade. The German riposte blunted the Soviet attacks and encircled elements of Operational Group Chibisov, and ultimately stabilized the tottering German front northwest of Voronezh for the time being.General Liziukov would go missing during the 2nd Tank Corps attack, and the author discusses why the Briansk Front and Operational Group Chibisov command initially made little or no effort to find the general; Stalin's suspicions surrounding General Liziukov s disappearance; and the results of the official wartime investigation of the matter. Sdvizhkov also addresses the numerous controversies that later ensued due to erroneous and/or misleading recollections as well as the total inability to locate General Liziukov or his remains. Carefully examining the available evidence, Sdvizhkov offers a cogent and persuasive explanation of what happened.
Operation Bagration, 23 June-29 August 1944: The Rout of the German Forces in Belorussia by Richard W HarrisonDescription:
The Rout of the German-Fascist Troops in Belorussia in 1944 covers the Red Army's Belorussian strategic operation the linchpin of the ten major Soviet offensive efforts launched that year to clear the country of the invader. During the course of this operation the German position along the western strategic direction was destroyed and the stage set for an advance into Poland and Germany. The success of this operation also set the stage for the Red Army's subsequent advance into the Baltic and south-eastern Europe.
Like most works generated by the General Staff, the Belorussian study divides the operation into two parts: preparation and conduct. The first deals with the massive efforts by the First Baltic and First, Second and Third Belorussian fronts to accumulate the men and materiel to break through the German defences in the swampy and forested terrain of Belorussia. This section contains valuable information on the overall correlation of forces, equipment and troops densities along the breakthrough sectors and Soviet plans for supplying the offensive, as well as detailed information regarding the employment of the various combat arms. The second part deals with the actual conduct of the several front operations that made up the overall effort. This section covers the initial breakthrough battles and the encirclement of the Vitebsk and Bobruisk garrisons, followed by the capture of Minsk and the encirclement of sizeable German forces east of the city.
The narrative then continues with the the follow-on operations to cut off German forces in the Baltic States and to seize crossings over the Vistula River in eastern Poland. Compiled and written by professional staff officers, this study provides a detailed look at the conduct of one of the major operations of the Second World War. This latest work, along with other studies in this series, offers another insight into the Red Army's conduct of the war at the operational-strategic level.
Also posted in the New Release thread.
Do any books exist for the Russian side on the fight against the Finnish army, both Winter War and the Continuation War near Leningrad ?
That's a good question Dimitri, I can't recall any titles off the top of my head but I will have a look around and see what I can find.
Dimitri wrote: "Do any books exist for the Russian side on the fight against the Finnish army, both Winter War and the Continuation War near Leningrad ?"That's a good question, Dimitri. I have read several books on the Winter War, but they all emphasized the Finnish side.
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by
Geevee, Assisting Moderator British & Commonwealth Forces
(new)
Good question and like the other folks I can't think of a specific title.
Here is another new book, due out in April 2017, that may be of some interest to a few group members:
Avenging Angels: Young Women of the Soviet Union's WWII Sniper Corps by Lyuba VinogradovaDescription:
The girls came from every corner of the U.S.S.R. They were factory workers, domestic servants, teachers and clerks, and few were older than twenty. Though many had led hard lives before the war, nothing could have prepared them for the brutal facts of their new existence: with their country on its knees, and millions of its men already dead, grievously wounded or in captivity, from 1942 onwards thousands of Soviet women were trained as snipers.
Thrown into the midst of some of the fiercest fighting of the Second World War they would soon learn what it was like to spend hour upon hour hunting German soldiers in the bleak expanses of no-man's-land; they would become familiar with the awful power that comes with taking another person's life; and in turn they would discover how it feels to see your closest friends torn away from you by an enemy shell or bullet.
In a narrative that travels from the sinister catacombs beneath the Kerch Peninsula to Byelorussia's primeval forests and, finally, to the smoking ruins of the Third Reich, Lyuba Vinogradova recounts the untold stories of these brave young women. Drawing on diaries, letters and interviews with survivors, as well as previously unpublished material from the military archives, she offers a moving and unforgettable record of their experiences: the rigorous training, the squalid living quarters, the blood and chaos of the Eastern Front, and those moments of laughter and happiness that occasionally allowed the girls to forget, for a second or two, their horrifying circumstances.
Avenging Angels is a masterful account of an all-too-often overlooked chapter of history, and an unparalleled account of these women's lives.
Also posted in the New Release thread.
One more new book to tantalise those members who may be receiving some book or gift vouchers for Christmas:
Blood in the Forest: The End of the Second World War in the Courland Pocket by Vincent HuntDescription:
Blood in the Forest tells the brutal story of the forgotten battles of the final months of the Second World War. While the eyes of the world were on Hitler's bunker, more than half a million men fought six cataclysmic battles along a front line of fields and forests in Western Latvia known as the Courland Pocket. Just an hour from the capital Riga, German forces bolstered by Latvian Legionnaires were cut off and trapped with their backs to the Baltic. The only way out was by sea: the only chance of survival to hold back the Red Army. Forced into uniform by Nazi and Soviet occupiers, Latvian fought Latvian - sometimes brother against brother. Hundreds of thousands of men died for little territorial gain in unimaginable slaughter. When the Germans capitulated, thousands of Latvians continued a war against Soviet rule from the forests for years afterwards. An award-winning documentary journalist, the author travels through the modern landscape gathering eye-witness accounts from seventy years before piecing together for the first time in English the stories of those who survived. He meets veterans who fought in the Latvian Legion, former partisans and a refugee who fled the Soviet advance to later become President, Vaira Vike-Freiberga, A survivor of the little-known concentration camp at Popervale and founder of Riga's Jewish Museum, Margers Vestermanis has never spoken about his personal experiences. Here he gives details of the SS new world order planned in Kurzeme, his escape from a death march and subsequent survival in the forests with a Soviet partisan group - and a German deserter. With eyewitness accounts, detailed maps and expert contributions alongside rare newspaper archive, photographs from private collections and extracts from diaries translated into English from Latvian, German and Russian, the author assembles a ghastly picture of death and desperation in a tough, uncomfortable story of a nation both gripped by war and at war with itself.
Also posted in the New Release thread.
I think the Courland Pocket book sounds extremely interesting ...
Dachokie wrote: "I think the Courland Pocket book sounds extremely interesting ..."Its on my wish list :)
About halfway through David Glantz's second volume in his Stalingrad trilogy. Here is a quote from Chuikov, the Russian general defending Stalingrad, in regards to the intense fighting for the Tractor Factory in October 1942:"We felt not only our own ranks were thinning and our strength ebbing but also the enemy could not go on indefinitely launching his insane attacks. They were being drowned in their own blood. The enemy's material resources were also being exhausted. The Luftwaffe's sorties had dropped from three thousand to one thousand a day.
Nevertheless, despite his tremendous losses, Paulus did not give up the idea of taking the city. Some inexplicable force drove the enemy to go on attacking. Fresh infantry and panzer units appeared, and, regardless of losses, they rolled forward to the Volga. It seemed as though Hitler was prepared to destroy the whole of Germany for the sake of this one city.
But the Germans were no longer what they had been. Even the fresh units and reinforcements knew the meaning of battle by the Volga."
I found this information interesting, this is from the chapter on the German assaults on the Krasnyi Oktiabr and Barrikady Factories in late October 1942:" ... the strength of LI Army Corps' panzer-grenadier battalions ranged from 350 to 400 men each, and its infantry battalions from as low as 150 men (305th Infantry Division) to almost 500 men (100th Jager Division). Surprisingly, the number of Russian auxiliaries in many of its divisions (Hiwis), which were above and beyond the divisions' ration strength, outnumbered the divisions' German infantrymen and panzer-grenadiers."
Armageddon in Stalingrad: The Stalingrad Trilogy v. 2: September - November 1942 by David M. Glantz
Another account from the German assaults on the Krasnyi Oktiabr and Barrikady Factories in late October 1942:" ... By this time Stempel's group which had numbered only 40 men the day before, was fighting against Soviet forces made up largely of staff officers, walking wounded, and sailors from the ferry line. Stempel urgently requested and ultimately received 80 fresh soldiers directly from Sixth Army's replacement center, but all of them were '18 to 19 years old, who haven't fired a shot in anger out here.' Yet within 48 hours, most of the men were either wounded or killed, and shortly thereafter fresh Soviet forces appeared, attacked, and forced 103rd Regiment to relinquish its tenuous foothold on the Volga."
Pretty amazing details of the attrition the German forces were being asked to undertake to seize Stalingrad:" ... all of Paulus's divisions fighting in Stalingrad suffered grievous losses, virtually all of his infantry divisions were rated 'combat ineffective', and his panzer divisions and assault-gun battalions were shells of their former selves. By 31 October, for example, 14th Panzer mustered 11 tanks; 24th Panzer, despite being rested for almost a week, reported its armor strength was only 16 tanks. Between them 244th and 245th Assault Gun Detachments fielded only six guns."
Armageddon in Stalingrad: The Stalingrad Trilogy v. 2: September - November 1942 by David M. Glantz
It seems that David Glantz's abridged volume on his Stalingrad trilogy is to be released in March 2017, bound to attract some interest within this group:
Stalingrad by David M GlantzDescription:
The long awaited one-volume campaign history from the leading experts of the decisive clash of Nazi and Soviet forces at Stalingrad; an abridged edition of the five volume Stalingrad Trilogy. David Glantz has done something that very few historians achieve. He has redefined an entire major subject: The Russo-German War of 1941-1945. His exploration of newly available Russian archive records has made him an unrivaled master of Soviet sources. His command of German material is no less comprehensive. Add to this perceptive insight and balanced judgment, and the result is a series of seminal and massive volumes that come as close as possible to 'telling it like it was.' Glantz has done some of his best work with Jonathan House. The Stalingrad Trilogy is the definitive account of World War II's turning point.
David Glantz makes mention of a Soviet officer, Colonel Sabir Umar-Ogly Rakhimov; "who was one of the highest ranking Uzbek officers in the Red Army and was known for his tenacity and bravery under fire, ultimately becoming a Hero of the Soviet Union twenty years after his death in combat in 1945."Here is a bit of information on this officer:
http://wikivisually.com/wiki/Sobir_Ra...
During the fighting on the Trans-Caucasus front the author mentions a special German unit:" ... To the south, Special Corps Fermy, an aggregation of 6,000 primarily Muslim soldiers recruited from German prisoner-of-war camps and commanded by Air Force General Helmut Fermy, was based in the Achikulak region, south of the Kuma River roughly 180 kilometres west of Kizliar."
I haven't been able to find any information on this German unit so far.
All Soviet soldiers (mostly conscripts) who hated Stalin were organized under the overall command of Freiwilligen Ost, and Intel Chief Maj. Gen. Reinhard Gehlen, with the Cossacks falling under the command of Maj. Gen. Lothar Pannwitz. Great story there also, which I wrote about in German Anti-Partisan Warfare in Europe, 1939-1945 almost 20 years ago.
From my book on Stalingrad:"The 16th Panzer Division's history provides a fitting epitaph for the division's fight at Rynok, portraying the struggle elsewhere in the Stalingrad region in microcosm: 'The operation of the division against Rynok had failed. The heavy losses had weakened its fighting power again. Already 4,000 of its bravest men were lying in the division's grave-yard along the Frolow [Frolov]-Stalingrad railroad line. A vast field of crosses spread across the white steppe. At that moment the battle for Stalingrad had entered a new phase'."
Here is an interesting link to a timeline for the Battle of Stalingrad:
http://balagan.info/timeline-of-the-b...
A lot of the maps used in David Glantz's book on Stalingrad really aren't worth the paper they are printed on, just not enough detail however some of the city maps show the inch-by-inch struggle the German forces were forced to make to reach the Volga. Late October and early November the advances made by the 6th Army in Stalingrad are measured by houses or streets captured and some of the maps in the book highlight this grinding and horrendous struggle towards the Volga with OKW daily reports fixated on individual houses like the "Red House” (Commissar’s house).
Here is a great link which provides some great information on aspects of this struggle:
http://www.stalingrad.net/german-hq/o...
Towards the end of my book David Glantz provides some interesting observations on the campaign to seize the Caucasus and Stalingrad:"Whether or not Gehlen [AR note - Reinhard Gehlen was a German general who served as chief of the Foreign Armies East (FHO) military intelligence unit during WW2] provided Hitler and his senior commanders with sufficient warnings about future Soviet offensive activity, the fact remains that - from the perspective of those commanders who had engaged and defeated countless offensives by numerically superior Soviet forces in the past and had done so with relative ease - it was one thing to predict Soviet offensive and an altogether different thing to fear its consequences. Because their forces had detected and defeated Soviet offensives on numerous occasions since late August both north and south of Stalingrad, usually with devastating impact on the attacking Red Army forces, in their eyes there was no reason why they should not do so in the future."
One final comment from my book on Stalingrad, just to highlight the ingenuity of the Russians in fighting in urban areas like Stalingrad:" ... Between these strongpoints, the assault groups remained mobile, crawling down sewers and breaking through the walls of adjacent buildings so that they could move behind the German spearheads without exposing themselves on the street. In one instance, an assault group of the 45th Rifle Division needed to break through a major building wall in the Krasnyi Oktiabr' sector in order to attack their opponents from an unexpected direction. Piece by piece, the Soviet soldiers moved an entire 122mm howitzer inside the building, then fired it at point-blank range to break through the wall!
This combination of intelligence, discipline, and determination enabled 62nd Army to continue the battle of Stalingrad when, by all conventional measures, the Germans had won."
I have started collecting the series of books produced by the Soviet General Staff and published by Helion & Company (UK) in cooperation with the Association of the United States Army. So far I have four volumes, with another two on the way (Moscow 1941-42 and Kursk). These are the next two volumes due for release in the next few months:
The Budapest Operation: An Operational-Strategic Study by Richard Harrison
The Iasi Kishinev Operation, 20-29 August 1944: The Red Army's Summer Offensive Into the Balkans by Richard HarrisonAlso posted in the New Release thread.
Tonight I've started:
Stalin's Claws: From the Purges to the Winter War: Red Army Operations Before Barbarossa 1937-1941 by E. R. Hooton
Manray9 wrote: "Tonight I've started: [book:Stalin's Claws: From the Purges to the Winter Wa..."Oooh, I'll be keen to hear your thoughts on that book MR9 as I purchased a copy a while back on a trip to Sydney but haven't gotten around to reading it yet. I am hoping it will be quite an interesting account.
On a similar theme I ordered a copy of this book, sadly I haven't gotten around to reading it yet either!
On the Precipice: Stalin, the Red Army Leadership and the Road to Stalingrad, 1931-1942 by Peter Mezhiritskiy
Manray9,I also would like to hear your thoughts on the book Stalin's Claws. In Robert Robinson's book "Black on Red" he had heard that soldiers only had two days of training before they were sent to the front during the Finland conflict. It sounds more like propaganda, but I definitely plan on reading more on the Western front and Russia's military training.
Stalin's Claws: From the Purges to the Winter War: Red Army Operations Before Barbarossa 1937-1941
Black on Red: My 44 Years Inside the Soviet Union: An Autobiography
April 'Stacy' wrote: "Manray9,I also would like to hear your thoughts on the book Stalin's Claws. In Robert Robinson's book "Black on Red" he had heard that soldiers only had two days of training before they were sent ..."
April; You may be interested in --
A Frozen Hell: The Russo-Finnish Winter War of 1939-1940 by William Trotter
Dimitri wrote: "Do any books exist for the Russian side on the fight against the Finnish army, both Winter War and the Continuation War near Leningrad ?"I found this book Dimitri but I think it may be a tad expensive unless a local library has a copy:
The Soviet Invasion of Finland, 1939-40 by Carl Van DykeDescription:
Western accounts of the Soviet-Finnish war have been reliant on Western sources. Using Russian archival and previously classified secondary sources to document the experience of the Red Army in conflict with Finland, Carl Van Dyke offers a reassessment of the conflict.
April 'Stacy' wrote: "Yes, I agree... Thanks!"Plus you could have a look at this one as well:
The Hundred Day Winter War: Finland's Gallant Stand Against the Soviet Army by Gordon F. Sander
'Aussie Rick' wrote: "Dimitri wrote: "Do any books exist for the Russian side on the fight against the Finnish army, both Winter War and the Continuation War near Leningrad ?"I found this book Dimitri but I think it may be a tad expensive unless a local library has a copy:"
Slim chance but thanks a lot anyway, good to know the other POV exists.
Rick,Thanks for the recommendation! Looks like another great book.
Not a book but you all might this worth listening to. Free podcast on air campaign on the Eastern Front.
http://ww2podcast.com/ww2-podcast/air...
From E. R. Hooton's Stalin's Claws: From the Purges to the Winter War: Red Army Operations Before Barbarossa 1937-1941.Hooton is off to a shaky start. From Page 10;
...Shaposhnikov being the only military leader apart from Voroshilov who would call Stalin by his name and patronymic (Iosef Vassilievich)....
Iosef Vassilievich?
I just noticed a couple of pages back the discussion on Grossman's A Writer at War. Just to add my opinion, and bear in mind I am only about half way through at this point in time, I am finding myself engrossed. I consider Life and Fate as good a novel as I have ever read. So now to read what he, Grossman, witnessed and also the various interviews he had I am finding it invaluable in the context of understanding how and why he came to write Life and Fate. I find the way that Beevor and Vinogradova have presented his notes and essays very easy to read and chronological. I was under the understanding that A Writer at War was one of the only eyewitness accounts of the eastern front that escaped the Soviet censors. Am I mistaken? If not it is surely one of the more important eye witness accounts.
THE WORLD WAR TWO GROUP
Books mentioned in this topic
Opening the Gates of Hell: Operation Barbarossa, June–July 1941 (other topics)Opening the Gates of Hell: Operation Barbarossa, June–July 1941 (other topics)
Opening the Gates of Hell: Operation Barbarossa, June–July 1941 (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Richard Hargreaves (other topics)Richard Hargreaves (other topics)
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Hell's Gate: The Battle of the Cherkassy Pocket January to February 1944