Jonathan M. House

Although there are some points when the authors fall into, what I see as, tropes and unevidenced conclusions (not about military matters, I could never judge that aspect, as I have no expertise on the matter), this book is a valuable insight into the titanic struggle that the Soviet Union undertook, and the enormous costs it paid to protect it's peoples, defend the revolution and extinguish the nazi scourge once and for all.

Although I went into the book with my eyes open to the fact that show more this is a military history, sometimes I found myself glazing over the details of a operations due to the level of detail; I suppose I expected, similar to Adam Tooze's book, some insight on the economic resources mobilized to effectuate this victory, instead of just the operational and strategical manoeuvres/ doctrine. The fault of expectation eh? show less

This is the classic deep operational analysis of the battle that permanently put the Germans back on their heels on the Eastern Front for the rest of World War II. Of particular importance is Glantz's revisionist point that, for all the Cold War excuses from German historians, there was nothing to suggest that the Germans would not tear another deep hole in Soviet defenses the way they did in 1941 and 1942; making the Soviet achievement even more impressive,

Really well-researched and detailed account of the Soviet side of the Eastern Front. Could have done with a scorecard, or at least a few more maps. Names and units were flying fast and it was difficult to keep up at times. Overall, a terrific addition to this field.

This book contains a lot of valuable information and some well thought out conclusions...unfortunately, they are buried under reams of figures and data. If one is an avid student of military history, I am sure this book would be fascinating. I found it something of a slog. That being said, the authors have arranged the book brilliantly, so that if you don't want to get into the nitty gritty, you can skim the details and focus on their conclusions. In that respect, I think any student of show more history can find much to ponder from this title and would recommend it on that basis. show less