Description
Book SynopsisRussia''s engagement with Germany on the Eastern Front during World War II was ferocious, unprecedented and bloody, costing millions of civilian and military lives. In this challenging new book, Lee Baker distinguishes myth from reality and deflates the idea that this war, while gargantuan in scale, was in essence a war like any other.
Trade ReviewIts to be welcomed when an author makes it his aim to close the gap between public perception and historiography. This is the goal of the Seminar Studies Series in which this slim overview by Lee Baker has appeared... The military operations and the battles are the historical focus of this volume. Baker succeeds in delivering a fascinating yet concise portrayal of events, illustrated through a selection of documents.
- Reviewed by Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas (Annals of the History of Eastern Europe)
Table of ContentsContents
Acknowledgments
List of Maps
List of Plates
Chronology
Who’s Who
Glossary
Maps
Part One: Analysis
1. Introduction
2. The Background
a. The Origins of the War on the Eastern Front
b. Planning ‘Operation Barbarossa’
c. Soviet Preparations for War
3. 22 June 1941: The Invasion
a. The Border Battles
b. The Battle for Leningrad
b. The Battle for Kiev
c. The First Major German Defeat: Rostov
d. Mass Murder in the USSR
d. The Battle for Moscow
4. The War turns against the Germans, 1942-43
a. ‘Operation Blue’
b. The Battle for Stalingrad
c. German Efforts to Halt the Red Army
d. The Partisans
d. Operation Citadel
5. The Soviet Union on the Offensive
a. Battles for the Ukraine
b. Relief of Leningrad
c. ‘Operation Bagration’
d. The Destruction of Army Groups North and South
d. The Battle for Berlin
6. Assessment
Part Two: Documents
1. Nazi-Soviet Pact, 23 August 1939
2. Hitler Letter to Mussolini, 21 June 1941
3. Directive for ‘Operation Barbarossa’
4. Directive for Special Areas during ‘Barbarossa,’ 13 March 1941
5. Decree for the Conduct of Courts-Martial in the East, 13 May, 1941
6. ‘Commissar Decree,’ 6 June, 1941
7. Stalin’s Speech on 3 July, 1941
8. Decree on Treatment of Civilians, 23 July, 1941
9. Halder’s Diary, 3 July 1941
10. Halder’s Diary, 11 August 1941
11. Field Marshal Walter von Reichenau’s order, 10 October, 1941
12. Hitler comments on motorization, 29 October, 1941
13. Order for German forces to go on the defensive, 8 December 1941
14. Hitler comments on the winter, 12 and 17 January, 1942
15. Order for ‘Operation Blue,’ 5 April 1942
16. Soviet order concerning discipline in the Red Army, 28 July, 1942
17. A German Witness to a mass shooting, 5-6 October, 1942
18. A German soldier describes the retreat in the Ukraine, summer 1943
19. ‘Fortified Areas’ Order, 8 March 1944
20. A Soviet soldier on combat during ‘Operation Bagration, 29 June, 1944
21. A German Soldier on the Eastern Front, 14 January, 1945.
22. Decree for the destruction of German industry, 30 March 1945
23. Hitler’s Last Proclamation to the Eastern Front, 15 April 1945
Guide to Further Reading
References
Index
