Osprey Essential Histories 24 : The Second World War (5) : The Eastern Front 1941-1945

In 1940, fresh from the success in France, Hitler turned his attention to the East. In this book Geoffrey Jukes explains what led to Hitler's decision to instigate the invasion of the Soviet Union (Operation Barbarossa) and offers a concise account of the campaign that followed. After lightning victories over Poland and France, and believing that Stalin had had the Red Army's best generals shot in 1937-38, the Germans expected to win in only four months. At first they appeared successful: capturing almost four million Soviet soldiers, besieging Leningrad and getting to within 14 miles of the Moscow Kremlin. But there, in December 1941, the tide began to turn and they suffered their first major land defeat of the war. In 1942 they were again defeated at Stalingrad, and this was a turning point of the war. Following an even bigger Soviet victory at Kursk in 1943, Germany went into 22 months of retreats, finally ending with the Battle of Berlin, Hitler's suicide and Germany's surrender in May 1945. The Soviet Union, forced into a war it had always sought to avoid, paid the price of 27 million Soviet lives. Yet it emerged as a super power, ready to challenge the capitalist world until its own collapse in 1991. Text by Geoffrey Jukes.

Contents

• Introduction
• Chronology
• Background to War : A Dictators' Deal and a Double-Cross
• Warring Sides : Germany Gambles on a Quick Win
• Outbreak : Germany Achieves Surprise
• The Fighting : Red Army Battered but not Beaten
• Portrait of a Soldier : The German and the Russian View
• The World around War : Propaganda, Lend-Lease and Land Grabs
• Portrait of a Civilian : 'We were as Mobilised as the Soldiers'
• How the War Ended : Germany Surrenders, Stalin joins the War on Japan
• Conclusion and Consequences : From Alliance to Cold War