Operation Barbarossa

This was an interesting read, covering the initial phases of Operation Barbarossa, effectively until the end of the 1941 campaign season when the Wehrmacht's advance ground to a halt in the snows of the Russian winter. The book gives a useful overview of the campaign and sits very much at the operational/strategic level, with much detail of the ebb and flow of the respective forces at army, corps and divisional level. For me, here lies the book's greatest weakness as there is frequent reference to numbered formations (divisions, corps and armies) and their commanders and it is impossible to keep on top of who is doing what to whom. The maps, as with the Kindle version (I gather), are at the back of the book so one has to keep referring there to try and get a visual feel for what is going on. And the simple fact is that these are large scale maps showing the broad sweep of the invasion, so often the necessary detail is missing. Nonetheless, overall Glantz does a good job of depicting the general picture of the initial successes of the Wehrmacht and how it starts to slow down in the face of Russian geography, poor logistics support and the simple belligerence of the Russians in resisting the Nazi onslaught. The book also highlights the strengths and weaknesses of the opposing sides, through well-considered conclusions and summaries, and makes all too clear the Soviet stavka's constant (and unhelpful) interference and the continuous reorganisation of fronts,army groups and armies. In particular, the final conclusion provides a superb overview of 'why it went wrong' for the Germans who based their offensive and expectation of success on a doctrine (blitzkrieg) which, arguably, was never going to work on the vast areas of the western Soviet Union, and how they had become victims of their own mythologising of that doctrine.

This is more in the vein of an academic review so if you are looking for something that desribes the 'action' in detail then this is not the book for you.There is obviously a large amount of detailed research behind the finished version and it is interesting to understand the approach that both sides took to the conflict.Overall an interesting and informative read

A much better insight into this event

Excellent,thank you.

An excellent description of Hitler's campaign against Stalin. The Kindle edition suffers from having all the maps at the end of the text. Reading the book with simultaneous access to Google Earth proved a great advantage. What would now be interesting would be to read the story from the point of view of one or more of the soldiers involved.Thoroughly recommended.