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Ivan's War: Life and Death in the Red Army, 1939-1945 Paperback – January 23, 2007

by Catherine Merridale (Author)

108 customer reviews

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A powerful, groundbreaking narrative of the ordinary Russian soldier's experience of the worst war in history, based on newly revealed sources

Of the thirty million who fought in the eastern front of World War II, eight million died, driven forward in suicidal charges, shattered by German shells and tanks. They were the men and women of the Red Army, a ragtag mass of soldiers who confronted Europe's most lethal fighting force and by 1945 had defeated it. Sixty years have passed since their epic triumph, but the heart and mind of Ivan -- as the ordinary Russian soldier was called -- remain a mystery. We know something about hoe the soldiers died, but nearly nothing about how they lived, how they saw the world, or why they fought.

Drawing on previously closed military and secret police archives, interviews with veterans, and private letters and diaries, Catherine Merridale presents the first comprehensive history of the Soviet Union Army rank and file. She follows the soldiers from the shock of the German invasion to their costly triumph in Stalingrad, where life expectancy was often a mere twenty-four hours. Through the soldiers' eyes, we witness their victorious arrival in Berlin, where their rage and suffering exact an awful toll, and accompany them as they return home full of hope, only to be denied the new life they had been fighting to secure.

A tour de force of original research and a gripping history, Ivan's War reveals the singular mixture of courage, patriotism, anger, and fear that made it possible for these underfed, badly led troops to defeat the Nazi army. In the process Merridale restores to history the invisible millions who sacrificed the most to win the war.

Ivan's War: Life and Death in the Red Army, 1939-1945

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Thirty million men and women served in the Red Army during WWII. Over eight million of them died. Living or dead, they have remained anonymous. This is partly due to the Soviet Union's policy of stressing the collective nature of its sacrifice and victory. It also reflects the continuing reluctance of most Soviet veterans to discuss their experiences—in sharp contrast to German survivors of the Eastern Front. Merridale, professor of history at the University of London, combines interviews, letters and diaries with research in previously closed official archives to present the first comprehensive portrait of the Red Army's fighters. She carefully details the soldiers' age and ethnic diversity, and she puts a human face on a fact demonstrated repeatedly by retired U.S. officer and Soviet military expert David Glantz: the Red Army learned from the experience of its near-collapse in 1941, and by 1945 its soldiers were more than a match for their Wehrmacht opponents. Most poignantly, Merridale reveals that frontline soldiers increasingly hoped their sacrifices would bring about postwar reform—"Communism with a human face." What they got instead was a Stalinist crackdown—and a long silence, broken now by this outstanding book. (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Bookmarks Magazine

Doing research in the Soviet archives seems like a trying task, but critics revere the work Catherine Merridale did to prepare Ivan's War. The professor from Queen Mary, University of London, conducted over 200 interviews with Soviet veterans and visited major battle sites, but the most enlightening information came from tireless vetting of diaries, transcripts, and officers' reports. That Merridale can plait all this information into "an attempt to fathom war's meaning, effect and legacy" (Foreign Affairs) proves her acuity as a social historian, a skill she displayed previously with the admirable Night of Stone (2002). Only a curious absence of maps mars an otherwise compelling testament to these tragic, unsung warriors.

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Product details

Paperback: 462 pages
Publisher: Picador; Reprint edition (January 23, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0312426526
ISBN-13: 978-0312426521
Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.3 inches
Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 108 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #95,723 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #268 in Books > History > Asia > Russia
- #835 in Books > History > Military > World War II

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108

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Top customer reviews

Good information from soldier's viewpoint.

ByM. Ogorzalekon November 6, 2016

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

A very interesting book about the Russian side of WWII against Germany. Has some interviews with surviving soldiers who present a very different viewpoint from that given by the official government propaganda history.

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We must let this happen in the USA

ByRedHeadEdon May 15, 2017

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

This is a great of work about the mode foot soldiers in the Russian Army and how Stalin betrayed then at the end of the war.

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Life in the frozen trenches

ByBrown, Walton August 15, 2017