The Second World War (5) The Eastern Front 1941–1945

by JUKES, GEOFFREY

• ISBN13: 9781841763910
• ISBN10: 1841763918
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-07-25
• Publisher: Osprey Publishing

Summary

In 1940, fresh from the success in France, Hitler turned his attention to the East. In this volume 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. The Germans expected to conquer Russia in only four months, but at Stalingrad and then Kursk the Russians fought back. At a human cost of 27 million Soviet lives Hitler was forced into a humiliating retreat and Russia emerged from the war as a super power ready to take on the capitalist world.

Author Biography

After leaving Oxford in 1953 Geoffrey Jukes spent 14 years in the UK Ministry of Defence and Foreign and Colonial Office, specialising in Russian/Soviet military history, strategy and arms control. From 1967 to 1993 he was also on the staff of the Australian National University. He has written five books and numerous articles on the Eastern Front in the two World Wars.

Table of Contents

Introduction	7	(2)
Chronology	9	(6)
Background to war
A dictators' deal and a double-cross	15	(6)
Warring sides
Germany gambles on a quick win	21	(3)
Outbreak
Germany achieves surprise	24	(1)
The fighting
Red Army battered but not beaten	25	(55)
Portrait of a soldier
The German and the Russian view	80	(3)
The world around war
Propoganda, Lend-Lease and land grabs	83	(3)
Portrait of a civilian
`We were as mobilised as the soldiers'	86	(2)
How the war ended
Germany surrenders, Stalin joins the war on Japan	88	(1)
Conclusion and consequences
From alliance to Cold War	89	(4)
Bibliography	93	(1)
Index	94