The Red Army And The Second World War

Description

In a definitive new account of the Soviet Union at war, Alexander Hill charts the development, successes and failures of the Red Army from the industrialisation of the Soviet Union in the late 1920s through to the end of the Great Patriotic War in May 1945. Setting military strategy and operations within a broader context that includes national mobilisation on a staggering scale, the book presents a comprehensive account of the origins and course of the war from the perspective of this key Allied power. Drawing on the latest archival research and a wealth of eyewitness testimony, Hill portrays the Red Army at war from the perspective of senior leaders and men and women at the front line to reveal how the Red Army triumphed over the forces of Nazi Germany and her allies on the Eastern Front, and why it did so at such great cost. Of horses and men: the Red Army of the late 1920s -- Tanks, aircraft and deep battle: the Red Army transformed 1928-1936 -- The enemy within: the Red Army during and in the aftermath of the great purges, 1937-1940 -- More than manoeuvres: Red Army experience in Spain and at Lake Khasan -- Khalkin Gol -- Keeping up with the Schmidts and the Suzukis: Soviet military equipment and the small wars of the 1930s -- Voroshilov's lightning war: the Soviet invasion of Poland -- The Finnish debacle -- Reform and the road to war -- Barbarossa: from Minsk to Smolensk -- Barbarossa: from Smolensk to Moscow -- The end of Typhoon -- Lost opportunity -- More men, women and machines -- Not a step back! -- Change at the top -- Stalingrad and Uranus -- The wrath of the Gods -- The defence of the Kursk salient and the battle for Prokhorovka -- To the Dnepr and beyond -- The ten Stalinist blows of 1944 -- The end in sight -- The fall of Berlin and the end of the reich -- Conclusion.