The Road to Stalingrad: Stalin`s War with Germany, Volume One [Paperback]

Professor John Erickson (Author)

Book Description

Series: Stalin's War With Germany | Publication Date: June 10, 1999

In this first volume of John Erickson`s monumental history of the grueling Soviet-German war of 1941-1945, the author takes us from the pre-invasion Soviet Union, with its inept command structures and strategic delusions, to the humiliating retreats of Soviet armies before the Barbarossa onslaught, to the climactic, grinding battle for Stalingrad that left the Red Army poised for its majestic counteroffensive.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Erickson's two-volume series appeared individually in 1975 and 1983, respectively. The first volume traces the roots of Russia's war with Germany as Hitler's crack ground troops pushed their way into Stalin's territory. The second installation continues the story as the Red Army struggles to force the invading enemy from its borders. A top-shelf military history.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 606 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press (June 10, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300078129
• ISBN-13: 978-0300078121
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #432,557 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

59 of 66 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars There are three classics on Stalingrad. This IS one of them!, June 7, 2003

By 

G E Berthout (Montpellier ; now in Bertrix, Luxembourg) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Road to Stalingrad: Stalin`s War with Germany, Volume One (Paperback)

If you're studying Stalingrad or building up a credible military library, you really need this book, which stands alongside Antony Beevor's best-selling "Stalingrad: The Fateful Siege" and Joel Hayward's definitive "Stopped at Stalingrad: The Luftwaffe and Hitlers Defeat in the East 1942 - 1943". Make sure you have all three.

Erickson's book explains Soviet grand strategy, operational art, and tactics, and does so during a narrative that is gripping and informative. Yes, it is true that you need maps to help you locate the place names but check out the good maps in Hayward's book while you are reading Erickson's.

Erickson cut a trail with his meticulous use of Soviet russian-language archival documents. This gives the book real strenth and reliabilty.

Soviet sacrifices were as great as Soviet suffering. I would like to shake the hand of every Soviet commander Erickson mentions. Thank God for them is all I can say. THEY won World War II.

The books I mention in this book review are so far ahead of the rest that I would give them all six stars. You must get them. Erickson's companion volume, by the way, is about the period from Stalingrad to Berlin. It is also magnificent.

By the way, I once met Professor Erickson and I can affirm that he is a thoroughly nice gentleman. He signed his book for me and happily answered my dumb questions. Isn't it nice that at least some of our paramount scholars aren't ivory-tower types?

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Don't buy the paperback, June 13, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Road to Stalingrad: Stalin`s War with Germany, Volume One (Paperback)

Ericksons Road to Stalingrad is masterly insofar as it documents in huge detail the unit to unit, army to army cross-currents from June 1941 until the battle for Stalingrad. At times when the author digresses to discuss the strategic concepts and preconceptions, he is authoritative. BUT, the paperback suffers enormously from the absence of maps....and it becomes virtually impossible to fathom who is where and how far apart different actions are. The book is written very much from the Russian point of view and there is little analysis of German methods or mentality. There are too few signposts in the text to aid the reader; eg at times the text jumps from one front or time to another with few clues that a flashback is occurring or that the action is now hundreds of miles different from previous paragraphs. Talk about the fog of war; here you can be in it and never leave your armchair.

30 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent detailed account of the "Great Patriotic War", March 11, 2003

By 

Liam R. Sullivan "liams" (Grand Rapids, MI United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Road to Stalingrad: Stalin`s War with Germany, Volume One (Paperback)

This is an excellant book for those seeking detailed accounts of the war between the USSR and Germany. Mr. Erickson does a masterful job of detailing the Soviet failures at the beginning of the war through their successful defense of Moscow to the fall of the Crimea setting the stage for Germany's catastrophic defeat at Stalingrad. This account is largely from the Soviet perspective, but I do not believe that detracts from its value. The author displays little bias, he rather lets the facts speak for themselves. This has one weakness: as others have said, it has no maps. The lack of maps make it somewhat difficult to follow unless one has some idea of the geography of the USSR; even then, it is still difficult to follow at times. However, overall this is an excellent work for anyone seeking more detail about the Great Patriotic War.