An absorbing study of the tanks and the tank tactics of the Red Army and the Wehrmacht during the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union in World War II. When the Germans invaded the Soviet Union in 1941, the Red Army had four times as many tanks as the Wehrmacht and their tanks were seemingly superior, yet the Wehrmacht won the border battles with extraordinary ease. The Red Army’s tank force was pushed aside and for the most part annihilated. How was this victory achieved, and were the Soviet tanks really as well designed as is often believed? These are the basic questions Boris Kavalerchik answers in this compelling study of tank warfare on the Eastern Front. Drawing on technical and operational documents from Russian archives, many of which were classified until recently and are unknown to Western readers, he compares the strengths and weakness of the tanks and the different ways in which they were used by the opposing armies. His work will be essential reading for military historians who are interested in the development of armored warfare and in this aspect of the struggle on the Eastern Front. “So much has been written on this subject, and yet this book dispels myths and offers fresh insights in a study of Soviet and German tanks at the beginning of the war on the Eastern Front . . . a fascinating selection of images.”—Firetrench “This book is highly recommended due to the excellent use of data, the organization of the book established by the author, and thoughtful and comprehensive coverage of the subject.”—IPMS/USA
“A stark picture of war between the Germans and the Soviets, including some very interesting illustration . . . fascinating, if chilling, reading.”—Firetrench The Red Army’s casualties during the Second World War and the casualties sustained by the German army they fought are a key element in any assessment of the conflict on the Eastern Front. Since the war ended over seventy years ago, the statistics have been a source of bitter controversy, of claim and counterclaim, as each generation of historians has struggled to uncover the truth. This contentious issue is the subject of this absorbing book. The figures reveal much about the way the war was fought, and they demonstrate the enormous human price the Soviet Union paid for its victory. That is why the statistics have been so strongly contested. Distortion and falsification by official historians have obscured the facts because the issue has been so heavily politicized. Using recently declassified information from the Russian archives, the authors focus in forensic detail on the way the figures were recorded and compiled and seek to explain why, so many years after the war, the full truth about the subject is still far from our reach.
An absorbing study of the tanks and the tank tactics of the Red Army and the Wehrmacht during the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union in World War II. When the Germans invaded the Soviet Union in 1941, the Red Army had four times as many tanks as the Wehrmacht and their tanks were seemingly superior, yet the Wehrmacht won the border battles with extraordinary ease. The Red Army’s tank force was pushed aside and for the most part annihilated. How was this victory achieved, and were the Soviet tanks really as well designed as is often believed? These are the basic questions Boris Kavalerchik answers in this compelling study of tank warfare on the Eastern Front. Drawing on technical and operational documents from Russian archives, many of which were classified until recently and are unknown to Western readers, he compares the strengths and weakness of the tanks and the different ways in which they were used by the opposing armies. His work will be essential reading for military historians who are interested in the development of armored warfare and in this aspect of the struggle on the Eastern Front. “So much has been written on this subject, and yet this book dispels myths and offers fresh insights in a study of Soviet and German tanks at the beginning of the war on the Eastern Front . . . a fascinating selection of images.”—Firetrench “This book is highly recommended due to the excellent use of data, the organization of the book established by the author, and thoughtful and comprehensive coverage of the subject.”—IPMS/USA
“A stark picture of war between the Germans and the Soviets, including some very interesting illustration . . . fascinating, if chilling, reading.”—Firetrench The Red Army’s casualties during the Second World War and the casualties sustained by the German army they fought are a key element in any assessment of the conflict on the Eastern Front. Since the war ended over seventy years ago, the statistics have been a source of bitter controversy, of claim and counterclaim, as each generation of historians has struggled to uncover the truth. This contentious issue is the subject of this absorbing book. The figures reveal much about the way the war was fought, and they demonstrate the enormous human price the Soviet Union paid for its victory. That is why the statistics have been so strongly contested. Distortion and falsification by official historians have obscured the facts because the issue has been so heavily politicized. Using recently declassified information from the Russian archives, the authors focus in forensic detail on the way the figures were recorded and compiled and seek to explain why, so many years after the war, the full truth about the subject is still far from our reach.
Since Plato, philosophers have dreamed of establishing a rational state ruled through the power of language. In this radical and disturbing account of Soviet philosophy, Boris Groys argues that communism shares that dream and is best understood as an attempt to replace financial with linguistic bonds as the cement uniting society. The transformative power of language, the medium of equality, is the key to any new communist revolution.
“This English translation of the original Russian work is thought provoking, challenging the ‘official’ version of what happened” during World War II (Firetrench). The memory of the Second World War on the Eastern Front—still referred to in modern Russia as the Great Patriotic War—is an essential element of Russian identity and history, as alive today as it was in Stalin’s time. It is represented as a defining episode, a positive historical myth that sustains the Russian national idea and unites the majority of Russian citizens. As a result, as Boris Sokolov shows in this powerful and thought-provoking study, the heroic and tragic side of the war is highlighted while the dark side—the incompetent, negligent and even criminal way the war was run—is overlooked. Although almost eighty years have passed since the defeat of Nazi Germany, he demonstrates that many of the fabrications put forward during the war and immediately afterwards persist into the present day. In a sequence of incisive chapters he uncovers the truth about famous wartime episodes that have been consistently misrepresented. His bold reinterpretation should go some way towards dispelling the enduring myths about the Great Patriotic War. It is necessary reading for anyone who is keen to understand how it continues to be distorted in Russia today.
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