And after reading this marathon, with its twists and turns, the endless fighting (only a three month break in 4 years), I am full of awe for the beligerents : yet also of endless questions and "what ifs". When exactly did Germany lose its ability to win the ware and how did it ever intend to defeat Russia in the first place ? Having failed to lose, when did Russia overcome possible stalemate on the Ostwall and become the inexorable winner ? Could Churchill and Roosevelt secured a better post war settlement ?
The enormity of the campaign, described in a free flowing narrative exclusively from the Russian perspective, unfolds over the pages and makes real the menacing characters of Hitler or Stalin, always at the end of a phone to their commanders.
So after the last page, I am left wanting to see more of the places, to know more of the soldiers on the ground to understand more. Beware, this book will begin an obsession !
Most of the well-known work on this main theater of World War II leans toward using German sources. This is understandable in light of the difficulties involved in gaining access to Russian war records prior to 1989. I was staggered by Erickson's ability to get as much as he did from the Soviet archives and surviving commanders.
An earlier review of this book noted that it is not for newcomers to the study of the Great Patriotic War. I fully agree. I was, like the earlier reviewer, very puzzled by the abscence of maps in the book. Unless you know the general outlines of the Barbarossa campaign, the winter campaign before Moscow and the German summer campaigns that led to Stalingrad in 1942, you will get bogged down rather quickly.
This is an indispensible reference work on the Russo-German War. And in a paperback edition, it's a very good buy.
