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Soviet Blitzkrieg: The Battle for White Russia, 1944 (Stackpole Military History Series)

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The serious student of World War II will appreciate the immense scholarship that lies behind the writing of "Soviet Blitzkrieg." The author, Dr. Walter S. Dunn, Jr., gives ample testimony to the high scholastic demands of his doctorate in history. In his years of researching the archives of World War II and its eastern front and amassing figures on the relative strength of Russian and German military forces, Dr. Dunn displays the rigorous discipline of the seasoned professional historian. So dedicated was Dr. Dunn to his reasearch tht he acquired a rudimentary knowledge of the German and Russian languages, the better to understand the written records of both sides.

The book describes in great detail each offensive of the blitzkrieg from beginning to ultimate outcome. This is the first time that such an epic description of the Russian-German struggles on the eastern front has appeared in English. "Soviet Blitzkrieg" is one of several authoritative descriptions of World War II events published by the author. Other books are "Second Front Now," "Hitler's Nemesis," and "Kursk."

The reader less familiar with the battles for White Russia will benefit from having on hand a detailed map of Russia. Chapter 1, titled "The Strategic Position," describes a complicated series of movement on the eastern front that would be more understandable were the reader able to follow the action on a map.

In its 248 indexed pages, the student of World War II will find this book to be a treasure trove of authoritative information.

This book recounts the catastrophic defeat of the German Army Group Center in Bielorussia in the summer of 1944 and the reasons behind the colossal Soviet success. It is full of operational details and no stone has been left unturned. The reader will not find in this book great war stories, personal accounts and first person narratives, but will discover how the soviet armies moved, how they achieved huge concentrations in short time, how they planned to overwhelm the enemy defenses, how they built their numerical superiority, how they used "maskirovka" to conceal their forces and how they executed the brilliant operation destroying more than 20 German divisions in a few weeks. There are also references to the German plans (albeit in less degree than those of the Soviets) and their tragic misconceptions about the axis of the next soviet main offensive, which they awaited in Ukraine and happened in Belorussia.

Veteran historian and military author, Walter S. Dunn Jr's latest work is an exhaustive analysis of the nearly complete destruction of Hitler's Army Group Center by the Red Army -- pitting two million Russians against 800,000 Germans. As one learns from this detailed and researched book, this decisive Soviet campaign effectively cleared Nazi forces from White Russia and eastern Poland. Stalin's Operation Bagration resulted in "the worst defeat suffered by the German Army in World War II," cites the author.

Mr. Dunn has based much of his results from the interpretation of a massive database he has complied from many sources -- including recently released records in Russia. In his own words, Mr. Dunn explains, "I have made a determined effort to compare quantitative data from numerous sources and to present rational interpretations of events."

In support of his narrative and analysis, Mr. Dunn leads off with some heavy-duty background chapters: "The Strategic Position", Comparison of German and Soviet Units", and "Production Battle." If you like your history dense -- very dense -- this is the book for you.

Mr. Dunn, also the author of Kursk: Hitler's Gamble, 1943 (Stackpole Military History Series) and Hitler's Nemesis: The Red Army, 1930-45 (Stackpole Military History Series), set himself a monumental task in this book. He has organized his operational coverage into six offensive drives rather than the usual chronological or north-to-south presentation. "Dividing the action into separate drives allows the reader to appreciate the amazing performance of the Soviet armored columns as they plunged forward in true blitzkrieg fashion...", argues Mr. Dunn.

The author's impressive 231 page analysis can be boiled down to one sentence: "The Red Army was able to inflict the catastrophic defeat of Army Group Center by the application of eight factors: local superiority, deception, surprise, leadership, timing, use of terrain, training, and better technology. The crushing victory in White Russia was possible because the Soviets had the men, weapons, training, and experience to execute the blitzkrieg."

Mr. Dunn's arguments will sound very familiar to the readers of his other masterful effort: Stalin's Keys to Victory: The Rebirth of the Red Army in World War II (Stackpole Military History Series). Even so, there are some fascinating new details to be found in the book.

The heart of his work is seven chapters of thick battle narrative -- much of it on the operational level. the author has taken on the difficult task of producing a digestible analysis of the colossal campaign -- Operation Bagration. This is definitely not popular history, and promises to be a difficult, trying read. I found myself lost in a blizzard of military units Mr. Dunn's story was tracking -- in places over 50 fighting units are mentioned per page.

"Soviet Blitzkrieg: The Battle For White Russia, 1944", a Stackpole Military History Series book contains 12 maps. 20 data-tables and figures, and a gallery of uncommon photographs from the campaign. You may run across the original hardbound version that was published in 2000 by Lynne Rienner Publishers, Inc. Mr. Dunn's book is rigorous, with valuable insights, and will stand as a formidable read for students of the eastern front.

With the thoroughness of "Hitler's Nemesis" and the detailedness of "Kursk 1943", this book is a comprehensive, demanding study of what Zhukov tried to achieve since the Moscow offensive and Operation Mars: the destruction of AGC.
The introduction is especially important for Mr Dunn explains the Soviet's evolving theory on winning wars. Some of the ideas are Local Superiority, Deception, Surprise, Leadership, Timing, Use of Terrain, Training, Technology. These topics are expanded upon in the first 4 chapters.

The first four chapters explains the introduction in greater detail. The topics that caught my attention are: the relative strategic positions of the two enemies as well as the disposition of troops prior to the offensive, discussing the organizational differnces and comparing the strengths and weaknesses of each army. The author shows the organizational difference between a Russian Front and a German Army Group. Also a Panzer Division is compared to a Tank Brigade among other entities. Then the author describes the determined effort by both sides to rebuild their forces as well as the attempt to increase the production and logistic aspects of the current situation. The author shows the lengths the Russians went to, to bring five million tons of supplies and equipment to the front. This book like Mr Dunn's other books, is Russian-centric.
With the recent landings at Normandy, Stalin also had to decide his best strategic plan of not only defeating the Axis but also how to conquer as much of Europe as possible. This victory would be the culmination of hard work by Stavka of reorganizing their tank formations, improving their technology, utilizing Lend Lease weapons and trucks better and much more. This victory was so successful that Stavka used the same concepts in planning August Storm, the invasion of Manchuria in August 1945.

The next 7 chapters discuss the actual offensive where the Soviets actually attacked along the line. Each chapter covers an axis of attack and is delivered on a day by day basis. The Soviets chose specific attack zones, leveraging their strengths instead of a equally developed broad front attack. The attack zones would be centered around Vitebsk, Bogushevsk (halfway between Vitebsk and Orsha), Orsha, Mogilev and Bobruysk. It also includes rolling up the northern and southern boundaries of the salient as well. The book ends with the author's conclusions which cover military and political considerations to the end of the war and beyond. The book covers the first phase of the campaign which was to reach the Molodechino-Stolbtsy line by July 15. Mr Dunn provides coverage that many other books don't have. North of Vitebsk, the disposition and duties of the 2nd Baltic Front against 16th Army in the Obol, Dvinsk, Polotsk areas is given good coverage. This includes the efforts by the Baltic Front to separate AGN and AGC. The southern shoulder of the salient is also given good coverage in the Soviet 28th and 65th Armies" sectors against 2nd and 9th Armies.

Though the book is dry, I was very impressed with the detail and thoroughness of the tactical descriptions of the individual battles. The level of detail is daunting but for those who are looking for that detail, its surely will be appreciated. Though daunting, this book clearly shows the superiority of Russian strength and mobility better than books by Hinze, Zaloga and Adair. All field units are specifically mention; there is none of: "the Soviet forces charged the line..." It reminds me of a David Glantz book. Besides having superior numbers in men, tanks, guns, the superior planning and execution was far too much for the Germans in their current state to handle.

In Conclusion, the author summarizes the casualties of both sides as well as the impact this offensive had on the Germans for the rest of the war. The author's thoughts were concise and insightful. In addition to the narrative, there are 12 full page maps; 7 maps cover the northern sector and 5 maps for the southern end. The maps, though simple, are well populated and support the narrative well. Also included are 40 statistic tables and Orders of Battle providing further information. The Bibliography is revealing for the author used leading resources.

This book is clearly another well thought out reference book like the other two mentioned; if you're interested into knowing more of the operational aspects of Operation Bagration or reading about the Soviet's improving fighting skills, this book is for you.

On the whole, I was not disappointed by this book. It is a solid, workman-like account of Operation Bagration, told from the Red Army perspective, which is what I paid for. It is vastly superior to Adair's "Hitler's Greatest Defeat", but frankly that is a low bar to cross. If I could, I'd give it 3.5 stars, but I'm feeling generous.

Given today's computer technology, the maps provided could be much, much better. I understand that Stackpole is a reprint publisher, but is it too much to ask to have spelling and grammar mistakes cleaned up from the original? A little proofreading would make Stackpole books much better.

A lot of the book is taken up by laundry lists of Red Army formations participating in each operational sector, which could just as well have been relegated to an appendix.

On the other hand, the book reads well, and the author has produced a strong narrative. I didn't gain any great new insights, but I certainly wasn't bored.

As a student of WW2, I have not read a book less readable or comprehensible in my many, many years of life. I had high hopes for this book as it deals with the often overlooked, titanic battles on the Eastern Front in 1944. The author assumes you know Russian and Ukrainian geography as there are but a few maps, crudely drawn, with not a single overall map of the battlefields.

But that is presumably not the author's fault. What is his responsibility is taking the wealth of information he researched and distilling it into something that a human being can actually take pleasure in reading. Who edited this book? Who approved it for publication? I love history books and find most of them generally well-written, some more than others. This one is in a class by itself in the worst way.

I appreciate the consummate research the author has done, but give him a D- for the miserably unreadable tome that is now in my recycling bin. History is exciting. This book is tragically plodding, myopic and devoid of human personality.

I just began "The German Defeat in the East 1944-45" which is a title in this same series of books. Although I just started reading it, it is clearly superior.

Thank you for your time.

This is an excellent book for a number of reasons:

A very good overview of the German and Soviet army replacement system.
A very good overview of the strength and equipment of both armies units from a battalion level up.
Mentions of the effect partisan operations had on the transportation net.
Mentions the Ost battalions, and different German Security Divisions.

For Operation Bagration this is not the book that describes that operation in detail. That book has not been written in English yet. When it is published it will probably run 3 volumes. What you get is a very good overview. I used it to get the names of the divisions operating in a specific area during the operation. From there you can begin the process of drilling down.

The author does write clearly. In parts it flows like a novel. In other parts the list of units partcipating tends to be rather overwhelming.

Some call it "a masterpiece of World War II History" but how can it be one, if the author could not even get the name of the country right?

The country of which Walter S. Dunn (Jr.) is writing about is called Belarus...

One might ask then: "But doesn't the word Belarus actually mean White Russia, if you translate it literally from Belarusan?" This is a widespread misconception. "Rus" refers to the Eastern Slavic lands that nowadays belong mostly to Belarus and Ukraine.

There is a Latin term for Rus which has been used in English scholarly works as well: Ruthenia. So, etymologically, the word Belarus means "Ruthenia Alba" or "White Ruthenia."

Indeed, for centuries Russian historians have tried to confuse the situation by equating Ruthenian with Russian. But in Belarusian language there is a clear distinction between ruski (refering to Ruthenia) and rasiejski (refering to Russia).

Unfortunately, in many other languages there is no special word for Ruthenia (Rus), so this differentiation may be difficult. But, essentially, it must be clear that "Belarus" does not mean "White Russia", but rather "White Ruthenia."

That said, I think I should praise Dunn for writing this book. I have not finished reading it yet, but the parts that I've read I've really enjoyed. So I actually recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the World War II. And I sincerely hope that in the next edition Mr. Dunn will call "Belarus" by its proper name, and will use the word "Soviets" instead of the word "Russians" in his book.