War Without Garlands : Operation Barbarossa 1941-1942

by Kershaw, Robert J.

• ISBN13: 9781885119711
• ISBN10: 1885119712
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-10-21
• Publisher: Perseus Books Group

Summary

The German invasion of Russia in 1941 - Operation Barbarossa - was shrouded in the utmost secrecy. Using German sources, the author has investigated an important aspect of the pre-attack deception, the degree to which the German public and armed forces were themselves caught unawares.

Table of Contents

Glossary, Abbreviations and Rank Comparisons	6	(2)
Introduction	8	(1)
`The world will hold its breath'	9	(8)
Saturday, 21 June 1941	9	(1)
`Forget the concept of comradeship'	10	(2)
`The Fuhrer has got it all in hand'	12	(2)
Tomorrow `we are to fight against World Bolshevism'	14	(3)
`Ordinary men' -- the German soldier on the eve of `Barbarossa'	17	(6)
`Endless pressure to participate'	17	(2)
`Order and Duty' and the Fuhrer	19	(2)
`Prepared to face what is coming! The German Army, June 1941	21	(2)
The Soviet frontier	23	(6)
`There was no information'	23	(2)
`We've never had such a situation... Will there be any instructions?'	25	(4)
H-hour 03.15	29	(18)
The River Bug Brest-Litovsk	29	(2)
Air strike First light	31	(3)
The shortest night of the year H-hour	34	(3)
Daybreak Berlin	37	(10)
The longest day of the year	47	(9)
The first Soviet pocket is formed -- Brest-Litovsk	47	(4)
`Only 1,000km as the crow flies to Moscow'	51	(1)
Where was the Red Air Force?	52	(3)
Dusk 22 June 1941	55	(1)
Waiting for news	56	(12)
The home fronts Victory will be ours! Germany	56	(1)
Victory will be ours! Russia	57	(2)
`Don't die without leaving a dead German behind you'... Brest-Litovsk	59	(1)
Across the Dvina... Army Group North	60	(3)
No news	63	(2)
Brest-Litovsk `I wonder how it is I am still alive!'	65	(3)
Blitzkrieg	68	(22)
The `smooth' period... The Panzers	68	(2)
Frontier tank battles	70	(2)
Panzer vanguard	72	(4)
On to Smolensk	76	(2)
Finale: Brest-Litovsk	78	(12)
Smolensk	90	(27)
The infantry	90	(4)
The Smolensk pocket	94	(11)
`Do not cry' Soviet defeat in the West	105	(12)
Refocusing victory conditions	117	(16)
The longest campaign	117	(1)
Conditions for victory	118	(4)
A city `pulsing with life' Leningrad	122	(11)
A war without garlands	133	(19)
`Better three French campaigns than one Russian'	133	(2)
The pressures on the German soldier	135	(4)
`Kein Kindergarten Krieg'. Prisoners and partisans	139	(13)
`Kesselschlacht' -- victory without results	152	(12)
Cannae at Kiev	152	(6)
The reduction of the Kiev pocket	158	(6)
`Victored' to death	164	(16)
Objective Moscow	164	(1)
A logistic `trip-wire'	165	(4)
`Totsiegen'... victored to death	169	(7)
A dying army	176	(4)
The last victory	180	(12)
Double encirclement Vyazma and Bryansk	180	(7)
The great illusion	187	(5)
`The eleventh hour'	192	(13)
Moscow A defence crust forms	192	(4)
Dilemma at Orscha	196	(2)
`The eleventh hour'	198	(7)
The spires of Moscow	205	(18)
`Flucht nach Vorn	205	(2)
The frozen offensive	207	(3)
`The spires of the city' Moscow	210	(13)
The devil loose before Moscow	223	(10)
The Soviet counter-offensive	223	(3)
The German soldier does not go `Kaput!'... The crisis of confidence	226	(2)
The German Army in retreat	228	(5)
The order of the frozen flesh	233	(5)
`Not one single step back' -- the Hold Order	233	(2)
Frozen flesh	235	(3)
Postscript -- `Barbarossa'	238	(4)
Notes to the text	242	(9)
Appendices	251	(1)
1. German casualties Operation `Barharossa' 1941-42	251	(1)
2. German casualties reflected in division manning equivalents	251	(1)
3. The fighting elements within a German division	251	(1)
4. A snapshot of Soviet battle casualties	252	(1)
Sources	252	(3)
Index	255