Customer Reviews

Moscow 1941: A City and Its People at War

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Ambassador Braithwaite has written a fine book for the person interested in one of history's greatest battles, that for Moscow in 1941. While lightly covering the direct military engagement, the focus really is on the civilians in Moscow and how they heroically survived the threat of the German army, harsh weather, scant supplies, and their own, often dysfunctional, leadership. Or, died trying.

If you are only familiar with the U.S. and British work against the Germans in World War II, buy and read this book.

(The British ambassador's earlier book on events in Moscow from 1988-1992--Across the Moscow River: The World Turned Upside Down---is one I also recommend.)

and innocent Russia squirmed
under the bloody boots . . . "
Anna Akhmatova: "Requiem"

After June 22, 1941, when Hitler's armies launched a massive invasion of the Soviet Union, it is fair to say that Russia squirmed not (just) under the boots of the NKVD (the actual subject of Akmatova's poem) but under the boots of millions of German soldiers, under the treads of thousands of German tanks, and under the bombs of thousands of German bombers.

The first year or so of the war on the eastern front saw the Germans advance toward Moscow, Leningrad, and Stalingrad. Historical accounts of the battles of Stalingrad and Leningrad are legion. For some reason, accounts of the advance on Moscow have commanded less attention even though the Battle of Moscow was fought over territory the size of France and involved seven million soldiers. Rodric Braithwaite, former British Ambassador to the USSR/CIS from 1988 through 1992, has evened the scales a bit in his well-crafted "Moscow 1941: A City and Its People at War".

"Moscow 1941" is not a military history of the Battle of Moscow. Although there are maps and a discussion of the key battles sufficient to give the reader a feel for the order of battle, this is really a compilation of stories about how Moscow and its citizens dealt with the war and the threat of the approaching German armies. As such it has something of the feel of an oral history about it. Joseph Stalin is reputed to have said: "[a] single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic." Braithwaite has taken the Battle of Moscow and interlaced a general discussion of the battle with the accounts of soldiers, schoolgirls, actors, factory workers, party leaders, and people from all walks and stations of life. In so doing he has taken the story of the Battle of Moscow out of the realm of statistic and into the realm of tragedy, survival and, ultimately, triumph.

I found Braithwaite's writing style to be to the point. His writing is concise and not overly dramatic or florid. He seems content (rightfully I think) to let his sources speak for themselves. Braithwaite also does a good job providing general background information sufficient for any reader not thoroughly immersed in the history of the USSR to get a feel for the socio-political context of the times. Braithwaite provides a concise summary of the events leading up to the war on the eastern front, including Stalin's devastating purge of the Red Army's high command (from Tukachevsky on down through the officer ranks) to the Army's poor showing in its Winter War with Finland in the winter of 1940-1941.

I think that Braithwaite's "Moscow 1941" makes for a valuable addition to the historical record of the war on the eastern front. In particular I think Braithwaite has done an excellent job in personalizing one of World War II's greatest battles by presenting the reader with some insight into how it must have felt to be a citizen of Moscow during those dark hours. I was pleased to see Braithwaite make ample use of some excellent source material. For example, Braithwaite makes good use of the war reporting of Soviet author and journalist Vasily Grossman whose war reporting was admired by millions of Soviet soldiers and citizens. (I think Antony Beevor's "A Writer at War: Vasily Grossman with the Red Army 1941-1945" makes an excellent companion volume for "Moscow 1941".)

Rodric Braithwaite's "Moscow 1941" is an excellent popular history of the Moscow home front during the early stages of World War II on the eastern front. I think it can be enjoyed by those with any level of interest or knowledge of the subject matter. Highly Recommended. L. Fleisig

Sir Winston Churchill cogently described Russia as "an enigma wrapped in a mystery.' The Russian soul has endured centuries of oppression by tsars and dictators. The Russian soul has produced geniuses in literature such as Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Gogol, Chekhov and many others; musicians such as Tchiakovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov and Rachmaninoff to name a few. The Russians are a tough lot. Napoleon discovered that following his disastrous invasion of Russia in 1812. Adolf Hitler and the over three million man army he launched against his erstwhile ally the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941 would learn this sanguinary lesson as well.
Over 80& of German casualties in World War II took place in the Eastern Theatre of War. Statistics show that for every American/ British soldier who died in battle, eighty-five Russians died. Over 25 million Soviet soldiers and civilians died in the struggle of the two worst dictatorship of the twentieth century.
Stalin ruled the Soviet Union with cunning, unbelieavable cynicism and cruelty on a monumental scale of evil. He had murdered many of his leading generals in pre-WW II purges. Millions had been sent to the gulags in Siberia while whole peoples suffered cruel deportations. The Soviet Union was a land under lock and key in 1941. Famine, starvation and disease ran rampant. The Soviets did have a mechanized army and after the shock of the Nazis suprise attack rebounded to fight the Germans to the hilt in the battle of Moscow costing them almost one million casualties. Such battles as Kursk, Leningrad and Stalingrad destroyed Hitler's Faustian dream of world conquest and destuction of Communism.
Bratihwaite was British ambassador to Russia from 1988-1992. His book is based on countless first person accounts from survivors and their family members. He knows the primary and secondary literature on the little reported battle of Moscow. He writes with sober insight. Many readers will be amazed at the horrific events this popular historian describes in detail which is easy to understand for the non-military buff.
This book is recommended for anyone interested in World War II; Stalin and the Soviet Empire.

I picked this book up based on the other reviewers and expected a compelling account of the battle for Moscow. Unfortunately this book is confusing jumble of personal vignettes (some only about the battle - others covering the characters for the length of the war - others covering a good deal of the characters lives before and after the war) and an overview of the actions of Stalin and a couple of generals. The writing style gives no immediacy to the fighting and develops no particpants characters usfficiently for the reader to feel invested.

I give 3 stars because it is clearly well researched and provides information not covered elsewhere.

Braithwaite has provided a vivid if occasionally disjointed picture of Moscow citizens at the time of the German invasion. The anecdotes he has gathered from wartime Soviet archives, letters, diaries and the memories of now aging citizens paint an interesting picture of the varied and complex attitudes of Russians both to the war and the brutal Stalin regime. Regrettably, the book fails effectively to integrate these personal stories with the broader aspects of the conflict, particularly the crucial battle for Moscow itself. There are odd gaps in the story, and the strategic and tactical objectives, victories and defeats of the Russian and German armies in the battle of Moscow presented in blurry fashion or left untold. While "Moscow 1941" contains much fascinating material, there are too many holes in the narrative to make it an important or satisfying addition to the annals of the war.

As Britain's former ambassador to the USSR, Braithwaite had access to witnesses and the "feel" of the City of Moscow necessary to tell the story of the repulse of the Nazi invasion at the end of 1941.

Braithwaite's thesis is that the Soviets won because of their ability to mobilize their tremendous resources. This ability to mobilize was, in turn, gained by virtue of being on a permanent war footing during almost 20 years of Stalnist rule. The bureaucracies, institutionalized terror, and fear instilled by Stalin allowed him to command volunteers and resources and to make men too afraid to run or give up like the French did in 1940. Unlike the British, the Soviets were able to muster the volunteers and anti-aircraft resources necessary to fend off an attempted air blitz of Moscow.

Braithwaite also shows that Soviet technology, always underestimated by the West, was quite advanced. Even at the beginning of the war, Soviet tanks were better than those of the Germans. The planes were not as good, but the Soviets had a new generation of competitive planes on the way and a highly motivated air corps to fly them.

Braithwaite is acid, and convincing, in his criticism of the bone-headed strategic decisions of Stalin. But Stalin, after a rough start including a near nervous breakdown after the Nazis first attacked, proved to be an effective war leader if only because of his absolute command of bureaucracies and propaganda.

One very interesting point that Braithwaite makes is the extreme importance of Moscow to the entire Soviet economy. A tremendous amount of industry was focused in Moscow and in the environs. Thus, while Hitler thought he was avoiding Napoleon's mistake by choosing not to roll everything on capturing Moscow in 1941, he may have miscalculated. Capturing Moscow would have been far from simply symbolic -- it may well have wrecked the Soviet war machine. Thus, Hitler may have been better off focusing the attack waves on Moscow, instead of advancing on so many different fronts.

Braithwaite's account could benefit from some better organization and I was disappointed he did not use even more interviews, documents, and other primary sources. Still, the book is well written and persuasive.

This account of the epic history of the battle for Moscow in 1941 also covers a lot of modern Russian history as well. The writing style is very easy to follow and I recommend this book to any student of WWII in particular. The stories of ordinary citizens and their trials were particularly engaging and I could imagine a horror such as this happening in the future given the rise of non-democracies.

Rather than evaluate "Moscow 1941" as a whole, I offer the following examples of why I liked book:
1) The author included biographical profiles of a number of Russian participants in the battle for Moscow, rather than merely relating which regiment was behind which tree. For example, Marshal Konstantin Rokossovski survived Stalin's purge of the Soviet military with only 3 broken ribs and 8 teeth knocked out. After being released from prison, he emerged as one of the top three Soviet heroes of the war. I also found the author's account of the career of Gen. Andrei Vlasov fascinating. He was a hero in the battle for Moscow before being captured by the Germans. He then commanded a force of Russian POWs in the German Army and was executed for treason after the War.
2) The author's demonstration that the Russians prevailed due to factors in addition to greater numbers, such as their courage, determination, willingness to sacrifice and their ability to produce military equipment, such as tanks, that were superior to the Germans' equipment.
3) The Russians may not have prevailed without the help of western allies in providing war material and keeping the Luftwaffe occupied defending Germany from American and English bombers. However, as the author states, "Two-thirds of the German army were in the East even after D-Day. Indeed, had they not been fighting the Russians, they would have been in France, and there would have been no D-Day."
4) Finally, the author demonstrates why many Russians are unable to simply dismiss Stalin as a monster, which he certainly was. Despite all the errors he made and all the people imprisoned, murdered and tortured on Stalin's account, his "ruthless willpower" was certainly an important factor in keeping the Germans from capturing Moscow in 1941 and ultimately winning the war.

As a casual reader of Second World War histories, I found Braithwaite's text a bit heavy on minutia. The writing can be quite compelling at times and at other times gets bogged down in dates, statistics and marginalia that made me want to skip ahead.

That being said, the battle for Moscow was among the most interesting of the war and for those with the patience to keep reading, the picture painted is quite vivid.

The Battle of Moscow was, in terms of the number of combatants involved, the greatest battle of the Second World War and one of the greatest battles of history. More than seven million officers and men of both sides took part, compared with the four million who fought at Stalingrad in 1942, the two million who battled at Kursk in 1943, and the three and a half million that struggled at Berlin in 1945.

Lasting for six month, from September 1941 to April 1942, the Battle of Moscow took place over a territory the size of France. The Soviet Union lost more people in this one battle - 926,000 soldiers killed, to say nothing of the wounded - than the British lost in the whole of the First World War. The casualties in this one battle were greater than the combined casualties of the British and American armies in the whole of the Second World War.

The Battle of Moscow was the beginning of the end of the German Wehrmacht. Despite horrendous losses, the Red Army fought Hitler's legions to a standstill, bled them white, and then hurled them back hundreds of miles from the very walls of the capital.

It is odd that two news histories of the same battle have appeared in the same year, but an important story is worth telling again and again. Braithwaite's "Moscow 1941" focuses on the people that took part in the battle, the everyday Muscovites, rather than the commanders or their armies. It is this approach that makes this book so interesting.

"Moscow 1941" is a well researched, well written and compelling narrative!