Kharkov 1942: Anatomy of a Military Disaster [Hardcover]

David M. Glantz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 21, 1998

Kharkov was one of the last German victories on the Russian Front; this is a detailed examination of Soviet command decisions and German battlefield innovations in an important but neglected battle. In this eagerly anticipated book, America's foremost expert in Russian military studies addresses this neglected. Sandwiched as it is between more famous battles, every military history reader knows "about" Kharkov, but there has never been a book that focused exclusively on that campaign. David M. Glantz has now filled the gap.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Colonel David M. Glantz is widely considered to be America's foremost effort on Soviet military studies.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Sarpedon; First edition (August 21, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1885119542
• ISBN-13: 978-1885119544
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,538,459 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

David M Glantz is a former US Army intelligence specialist with a unique knowledge of the Russian army and Russian military history. His WHEN TITANS CLASHED is the standard single volume account of the war in Russia.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

50 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very dry and analytical, February 26, 2000

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Kharkov 1942: Anatomy of a Military Disaster (Hardcover)

This book is for the serious student of military history only. If you want a very detailed study of the battle of Kharkov, told mainly from the Soviet side, complete with orders of battle and a day-by-day retelling of the battle from the divisional level then this book is for you.

I very much enjoyed Glantz's "Clash of Titans," which is probably the best single volume history of the war in the East, and I was hoping this book would contain more of Glantz's excellent analytical scholarship only more sharply focused on a single battle. "Kharkov 1942" is definetly analytical; but the majority of the book is not original scholarship. It's mostly Glantz's translation of a Soviet study of the battle which explains its very dry style. Glantz fleshes out some details, and mentions some parts of the battle that were ignored for political reasons. Glantz really does not provide much of his own analysis on the battle. Where he does provide analysis is on the Soviet study itself. "Kharkov 1942" is as much of a study of how lost battles of "The Great Patriotic War" were viewed within the Soviet political system as it is a study of the battle itself.

29 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best military histories I've ever read., March 7, 1999

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[e-mail] (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kharkov 1942: Anatomy of a Military Disaster (Hardcover)

This is an excellent work. It's probably the best book I've read devoted to a single battle. The analysis is almost entirely from the Russian perspective, but the other side can be gleaned from other sources. The author gained access to recently available Soviet documentation to tell the Russian side of the confrontation. This is not to say the German side is ignored, however. There is very extensive use of quotations from the Soviet General Staff Study of the battle, yet the author counters any bias. The book covers everything you'd want in an analysis: terrain, force structure, order of battle, tactical and strategic decision making, etc. The maps are better and more numerous than in those in most works of this type. The only real problem I have with it is that the author doesn't really explain why the Russian 9th Army attacked at Maiaki. This was on the southeastern end of the Barvenkovo bridgehead. It was against this southern flank that the Germans launched their counterattack that doomed the Russian offensive and the Maiaki attack weakened the Russian forces on this flank. Except to say the attack was conducted and it was a bad idea, the book fails to explain what led the Russian commander to conduct it in the first place. Nevertheless, this is a very minor complaint with what is a very excellent book.

23 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars almost everything you'll ever want to know about this battle, August 18, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Kharkov 1942: Anatomy of a Military Disaster (Hardcover)

The book attempts to describe the battle of Kharkov by using both Soviet and Germans sources. Particularly interesting is the use of a hitherto-classified Soviet study of the battle, written a few years after the war. Both what the study says and what it ommits are very revealing. This book is a masterpiece in its genre and recommended to anyone with an interest in the Eastern Front, but I confess I would like both a more thorough OB, like the one in "Operation Mars", his other book, and better maps.