Customer Reviews

Hitler's Arctic War: The German Campaigns in Norway, Finland, and the USSR 1940-1945

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I was surprised when I read this book, at the number of errors, inaccuracies, and untruths I found in it. It is painfully apparent that no one with any knowledge of that theater checked this book before it was published.

I also had a problem with reading it. It felt like the authors each wrote what they wanted, and didn't bother to compare their efforts before putting them together. There is nothing wrong with reinforcing information in previous chapters. Telling it to the reader again, though, is a different matter.

I ordered this book to aid my own research into the campaigns in the North. I kept it only as a reminder of what not to publish. I was sorely disappointed with this product.

Hitler's Arctic War is a useful introduction to that theater of WWII. The book starts by covering the Soviet invasion of Finland in 1939. Although this seems odd, given the title, it makes sense since strategically that war was important for later actions in Scandinavia. Next, the invasion of Norway is fairly well-covered, although without a lot of detail.

The German/Finn invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 is covered in much more detail. Included is a chapter on the naval convoys to send Lend-Lease material to the USSR via the arctic port of Murmansk. This is very interesting stuff, and is a topic that is only lightly addressed elsewhere. This is probably the main contribution of the book. The Soviet (re)invasion of Finnland in 1944 is also covered in solid fashion. Glantz provides more detail in his Battle for Leningrad, but this book will do if you just want the general overview and highlights of the battle. The book concludes with by examining covert operations and commando raids in Norway during the war.

If you are looking for an exhaustive source on WWII in Scandinavia, this is not for you. If you're looking for a solid introduction to the topic, this book will do nicely.

This is a picture book covering all aspects of the Northern Campaign including the 1939 Russo-Finnish War, the 1940 invasion of Norway, the campaigns in Finland and Karelia from 1941-1944, and all aspects of the naval war in the Barents and Arctic over the same period. As a history of the events and campaigns, this is little more than a brief overview. The topics are so broad and the text so short that only the merest overview is given. All of the information can be found elsewhere, there is virtually nothing new. If you want to know anything about any of the campaigns nominally covered in this work, I strongly recommend that you find other books that are better written and more narrowly focused (such as Trotter's book on the 1939 Winter War or Ziemke's book if you are interested in the Karelia). There are lots of great (and rare) photos in this book, but little more. One thing that really annoyed me about this book was that the authors openly present a strong pro-Soviet bias. This is unacceptable in a scholarly historical publication by two professional historians (both have Ph.D.s). This should have been written with more balance, I can only conclude that this is not a serious work. My rating of three stars is, I believe, generous and I would not disagree with anyone who gave it two. This is a picture book of the Arctic war, and if you are looking for more than this, you will disappointed by this volume. Not recommended for a serious student of the era.

a total picture of the cold and bitter fighting with pictures included. Comprhensive while still remaining a good read with an easy understanding of a sometimes complex situation.

Having recently returned from Norway I was interested in how the Norweigians repelled the Nazis. The book detailed the information I was seeking. Amazon found the title for me, and made delivery in a very timely manner.