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49 of 51 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Classic Overview Of 2nd World War Along The Eastern Front!, July 30, 2000
This review is from: Barbarossa: The Russian-German Conflict, 1941-45 (Paperback)
This very well written history of the German assault into the Soviet Union and the ensuing war along the Eastern front represents a kind of landmark in being one of the earliest of the many histories of that conflict to emphasize the enormous contribution of the Russians to the Allied effort. It was considered controversial in its time because of its emphasis on Soviet strengths and attributes as central to the eventual result. Most other historians had argued that blame for losing the war belonged to Hitler, the Wehrmacht and the well-debated arguments and disagreements among the German General Staff regarding the specifics of the waging the total war Hitler had envisioned must be fought to annihilate the Russian army. All the basics are here; the tragic misinterpretation of Soviet strength, especially as it applies to Soviet reserve and manpower resources, which were 300 percent higher than believed, the belief that by simply crushing the troops massed between the border and the Leningrad-Moscow-Crimea salient they would crush the communist government and send the country into anarchy, chaos, and ruin, and their own uniform arrogance in believing they could master and quickly dominate this gargantuan nation of several hundred million in a single season. Hitler and the German General Staff were shocked and amazed again and again by the tenacity, resourcefulness, and staying power of an army they had presumed to have already beaten in the opening weeks of the campaign. The author masterfully explains how the Russians, after losing two million men in a single two-month period could rally itself, reorganized, re-outfit, and send another two million into combat so quickly. This is truly one of the most maligned, misunderstood and mysterious aspects of the war in Europe. Alan Clark has succeeded in this book, which was first published in 1965, in providing an entertaining, edifying, and accurate overview of what the Russians referred to as the "Great Patriotic War". He centers in on four aspects of the more than four year long struggle; first, on the futile and badly coordinated attack on Moscow in the early winter of 1941-42; second, the siege at Stalingrad, a Wehrmacht blunder of catastrophic proportions; third, the Kursk offensive in 1943, which was the largest and most dramatic tank battle in history; and finally, the great Soviet offensive beginning in 1944 that drove the Wehrmacht to its knees, sending it crawling back inch buy inch and yard by yard all the way to the ashes and ruins of a ravaged Berlin. My recommendation is to combine this excellent book with "When Titans Clashed", a more recent tome, which provides an amazing nuts and bolts perspective that is even more strictly written from the Soviet perspective. With the two books combined, you will have a much better understanding of the war along the Eastern front and better appreciated ho the Russians did so much to help win the European theater of the Second World War. Enjoy!
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31 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Readable but dated, December 17, 2000
This review is from: Barbarossa: The Russian-German Conflict, 1941-45 (Paperback)
Alan Clark is a former Conservative British member of parliament who is now more famous for publishing a tell all series of diaries which are both witty and iconoclastic. Barbarossa is a book he wrote in the early sixties and is a history of the Nazi invasion of Russia. The book is a good narrative history of the campaign and one can learn about the ebbs and flows of the military strength of both sides and the key events. The book is now a little dated and probably the best one volume history is When Titans Clashed: How the Red Army stopped Hitler by David Glanz. The reason why it is dated relates to the partial opening of the former Soviet Archives which now allow for a better understanding of what happened. One example of this is the Mars operation, an attack which was launched on Army Group Centre by General Zhukov at the same time as operation Saturn the attack on the Sixth Army at Stalingrad. Operation Mars was a complete disaster. An initial penetration was cut off and the Soviets lost 200,000 men. After the war Zhukov covered up this failure for reasons of pure vanity. Clark in his history accepts the disinformation which was put out by Zhukov that it was a feint attack to prevent Army Group Centre reinforcing the Sixth Army. Other material has led to modern historians having a better understanding of the Stalingrad campaigns and the Battle of Kursk. In the past there has been a considerable debate about whether Paulus should have broken out from the Stalingrad encirclement. Glanz has shown that this was not a realistic possibility as the Sixth Army was only supplied on a shoe string and had low stocks of ammunition and petrol prior to the Soviet attack. Despite all of this Clarks book is interesting. As most people would be aware after the war the German Generals in their memoirs tried to deflect blame from themselves onto Hitler. Clark was one of the first writers to come to a more objective analysis of Hitler's role. (Although ironically this could be for the wrong reasons. In his diaries he confesses to being sympathetic to the Nazis.)
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24 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A NICE BROAD ANALYSIS OF THE RUSSO-GERMAN CONFLICT, August 12, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Barbarossa: The Russian-German Conflict, 1941-45 (Paperback)
Depending on how you look at this book, it rates 5 stars because of what the book covers and analyzes, or it rates 3 stars as my fellow reviewer from Moscow, Russia, (down below) points out so nicely. Author Clark covers several major fronts during the German attack on Russia, and at the same time provides some excellent analysis on the battles and the infrastructure, both political and military, that supported them. The book is very readable and helps provide a clearer understanding of that piece of history from the attack on Soviet territory to the Soviets entering Berlin as Hitler took his life. Therefore the 5 stars. Although Alan Clark presents his reasoning for what he chose to report on, I, the reader, still felt a little left out. - I expected more of Moscow, on the one hand, and more analysis on the Russian political picture towards the end, on the other. In some cases, Clark would lead us somewhere, but then not follow through. Thus the 3 stars. Overall, however, this book is must reading to the World War II scholar. In keeping with where Clark leads us (to Stalingrad and Soviet commandos' street fighting), I would recommend reading Commandos from the Sea : Soviet Naval Spetsnaz in World War II (Naval Institute Special Warfare Series) by Iurii Strekhnin, et al - For a broader view of where Clark takes us in his detailed "Barbarossa" analysis, I would strongly suggest the reader pick up a copy of Why the Allies Won by Richard Overy.
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