Stalin and the Soviet-Finnish War, 1939-1940 (Soviet (Russian) Study of War) [Hardcover]

E.N. Kulkov (Editor), Oleg Aleksandrovich Rzheshevskii (Editor), Harold Shukman (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 30, 2002 | ISBN-10: 0714652032 | ISBN-13: 978-0714652030 | Edition: 1

This is the verbatim record of a secret and hitherto unpublished meeting, held in the Kremlin in April 1940, devoted to a post mortem of the Finnish campaign.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'Remarkably interesting .. it is intriguing to read a book that just a little over ten years ago would not have been available in the West.' - Military Review

Product Details

• Hardcover: 328 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (January 30, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0714652032
• ISBN-13: 978-0714652030
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,289,406 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book!, October 8, 2005

By 

T. Kunikov (United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Stalin and the Soviet-Finnish War, 1939-1940 (Soviet (Russian) Study of War) (Hardcover)

A great source for understanding why the Winter War turned out to be such a disaster for the Red Army. You will have a chance to see the opinions of Regimental commanders, artillery commanders, cheifs of engineer troops, divisional commanders, front commanders, tank brigade commanders, and so on and so forth. You will see Stalin's reaction to various problems encountered int he field and his opinions and suggestions, some of which did in fact take place (like a mention that the KV's future gun should be a 75mm gun, an upgrade from the 45mm). A surprise for me was the fact that many of the recruits did not even know how to use their guns, the amount of catridges used throughout the war was way below regular usage, artillery many times had to pick up the slack. Intelligence was lacking to a degree, the Mannerheim line was underestimated by many and recon was not undertaken. Many times the same roads were used for many formations, resulting in day long traffic jams and the result being offensive operations being put off. Communications were a large problem, much of it taking place in the open with the result that Finns knew all the units they were facing as well as their commanders and positions. Many more details are disclosed, in the end an expensive buy but the accounts given will shed new light on why what happened to the Red Army took place. The potential was there, many times it just wasn't tapped into and exploited to produce the desirable results for the Red Army.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great source material on the Russo-Finnish Winter War, October 21, 2011

By 

Kiwi (Mississauga, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Stalin and the Soviet-Finnish War, 1939-1940 (Soviet (Russian) Study of War) (Hardcover)

Between April 14 and April 17 1940, the leaders of the Soviet Union gathered to ponder the lessons of the Russo-Finnish Winter War. The book contains the transcripts of the secret meetings in the Kremlin. Summoned before Stalin and his key lieutenants were 46 commanders, ranging from senior generals to regimental commanders. These transcripts show in what detail the Soviet leadership probed its operational and technical (but not political and strategic) errors. Within those important bounds, the candor of the Soviet high command is striking, in fact so candid that some of them paid with their lives later on for their comments. In respect to both the brutal thoroughness of its self-criticism on tactical matters and its discreet silence about larger ones, one sees foreshadowed the successes and calamities of coming years.

The book paints a good picture not only of the Cult around Stailn, but also of the mentality and thinking of the Soviet Army. Very interesting source material.

(BTW ThorBjorn, Amazon still has my commenting capability locked, if you want to get back in touch, go to forum dot axishistory dot com and take a look at the Winter and Continuation War thread, I'm there as Cankiwi2).