Synopses & Reviews
The battles in Russia played the decisive part in Hitler's defeat. Gigantic, prolonged, and extremely bloody, the Russian front contrasted with the general nature of fighting on other fronts. The Russians fought alone in their theater of war and, since Stalinist Russia was radically differently different from its liberal democratic allies, they fought with an independent strategy while Hitler and the German high command conceived and carried out the Russian campaign as a singular "war of annihilation." This penetrating, broad-ranging report of this vast conflict investigates the Wehrmacht and the Red Army and the command and production systems that organized and sustained them. It includes a range of themes and political aspects and includes a wealth of new studies and source materials which have become available in the post-Cold War, post-Communist world.
Evan Mawdsley is Professor of International History at the University of Glasgow in Scotland. The battles in Russia played the decisive part in Hitler's defeat. Gigantic, prolonged, and extremely bloody, the Russian front contrasted with the general nature of fighting on other fronts. The Russians fought alone in their theater of war and, since Stalinist Russia was radically different from its liberal democratic allies, they fought with an independent strategy while Hitler and the German high command conceived and carried out the Russian campaign as a singular "war of annihilation."
This penetrating, broad-ranging report of this vast conflict investigates the Wehrmacht and the Red Army and the command and production systems that organized and sustained them.
Thunder in the East includes a wealth of new studies and source materials which have become available in the post-Cold War, post-Communist world. "Here at last is a concise and clearly written account of what happened on both sides of the hill that provides excellent comparisons of equipment, leadership, doctrine, organization, and personnel."The International History Review "Thunder in the East is now the state-of-the art general history of the Eastern front."James V. Koch, Old Dominion University
"Mawdsley is a Russian specialist, and much of his research is based on thousands of documents from the Soviet military archives published in the 1990s. These enable him, first, to avoid ovverreliance on self-serving Soviet military memoirs; second to provide an in-depth analysis of the Red Army's development into a highly effective military machine; and, third, to illuminate many neglected phases and episodes of the military campaign."Geoffrey Roberts, The Times Higher Education Supplement
"Here at last is a concise and clearly written account of what happened on both sides of the hill that provides excellent comparisons of equipment, leadership, doctrine, organization, and personnel."The International History Review
"This is a substantial contribution to the literature on the Soviet-German war . . . Mawdsley knows the material intimately. This is a high-class offering."Robert Service, Historian
Review
"Thunder in the East is now the state-of-the art general history of the Eastern front."—James V. Koch, Old Dominion University
"Mawdsley is a Russian specialist, and much of his research is based on thousands of documents from the Soviet military archives published in the 1990s. These enable him, first, to avoid ovverreliance on self-serving Soviet military memoirs; second to provide an in-depth analysis of the Red Army's development into a highly effective military machine; and, third, to illuminate many neglected phases and episodes of the military campaign."—Geoffrey Roberts, The Times Higher Education Supplement
"Here at last is a concise and clearly written account of what happened on both sides of the hill that provides excellent comparisons of equipment, leadership, doctrine, organization, and personnel."—The International History Review
"This is a substantial contribution to the literature on the Soviet-German war....Mawdsley knows the material intimately. This is a high-class offering."—Robert Service, Historian
Review
"Here at last is a concise and clearly written account of what happened on both sides of the hill that provides excellent comparisons of equipment, leadership, doctrine, organization, and personnel."--The International History Review
"This is a substantial contribution to the literature on the Soviet-German war....Mawdsley knows the material intimately. This is a high-class offering."--Robert Service
Synopsis
The battles in Russia played the decisive part in Hitler's defeat. Gigantic, prolonged, and extremely bloody, the Russian front contrasted with the general nature of fighting on other fronts. The Russians fought alone in their theater of war and, since Stalinist Russia was radically differently different from its liberal democratic allies, they fought with an independent strategy while Hitler and the German high command conceived and carried out the Russian campaign as a singular "war of annihilation." This penetrating, broad-ranging report of this vast conflict investigates the Wehrmacht and the Red Army and the command and production systems that organized and sustained them. It includes a range of themes and political aspects and includes a wealth of new studies and source materials which have become available in the post-Cold War, post-Communist world.
Synopsis
"Here at last is a concise and clearly written account of what happened on both sides of the hill that provides excellent comparisons of equipment, leadership, doctrine, organization, and personnel."—The International History Review
Synopsis
"Here at last is a concise and clearly written account of what happened on both sides of the hill that provides excellent comparisons of equipment, leadership, doctrine, organization, and personnel."The International History Review
Synopsis
The battles in Russia played the decisive part in Hitler's defeat. Gigantic, prolonged, and extremely bloody, the Russian front contrasted with the general nature of fighting on other fronts. The Russians fought alone in their theater of war and, since Stalinist Russia was radically differently different from its liberal democratic allies, they fought with an independent strategy while Hitler and the German high command conceived and carried out the Russian campaign as a singular war of annihilation. This penetrating, broad-ranging report of this vast conflict investigates the Wehrmacht and the Red Army and the command and production systems that organized and sustained them. It includes a range of themes and political aspects and includes a wealth of new studies and source materials which have become available in the post-Cold War, post-Communist world.
About the Author
Evan Mawdsley is Professor of International History at the University of Glasgow in Scotland.
Table of Contents
Part 1 Nakanune: On the Eve of War
1. Hitler's war
2. Preparations and perceptions
Part 2 Katastrofa: The Soviet defeat, 1941-2
3. Operation Barbarossa, June to September 1941
4. Moscow and the end of Barbarossa, September to December 1941
5. The first Soviet offensive, December 1941 to May 1942
6. Moscow, Stalingrad, Leningrad, June 1942 to February 1943
Part 3 Pobeda: The Soviet victory, 1943-5
7. Total war I: Wartime arms and armies
8. Total war II: Occupation and diplomacy
9. The turning tide, February to August 1943
10. The Ukraine and Leningrad, August 1943 to April 1944
11. To the Soviet frontiers, Summer and Autumn 1944
12. The advance into Eastern Europe, July 1944 to May 1945
13. The destruction of Nazi Germany, October 1944 to May 1945
Conclusion