Barbarossa: The Russian-German Conflict, 1941-45

One of the best single volume accounts of WWII I have read. Clark really captures the essence of this monstrous conflict, which is so little understood in the West. Two monstrous ideologies grinding away at each other in a orgy of slaughter that makes the much-vaunted campaign of the Allies in Western Europe look like a children's tea party. The losses are simply staggering. The Allies lost about 150000 men between D-Day and the German surrender - the Soviets lost that many in mere days at Stalingrad. The Germans lost approximately 4.5 million soldiers in the whole of WWII - 3/4 of those were on the Eastern Front. Clark's admiration for the Russian fighting spirit is clear - among other things he demolishes the myth that the Russian show more armies surrendered meekly in the opening days of the German invasion, As Clark shows, they fought savagely and desperately, much more so than the Germans thought they would. A fantastic book, which can be read and re-read with no loss of interest. show less

Insightful, well written and researched epic of the largest and most destructive land battle of WW2. Classically trained and politically astute the author; with occasional effete slips of opinion and frequent pedantic flaunting of his university based foreign vocabulary delivers a book well worth reading. His notes and maps describe and help clarify the decision making process or lack thereof that allowed criminally inept and politically driven leaders to kill millions of German professional soldiers, incredibly brave and driven Russian peasants as well as countless civilians.

superbly written high-level account of the eastern front, from 22 june 1941 all the way through the fall of berlin. this book is a little dated, however (first edition was published around 1965), and the author didn't have access to any soviet documents or historical archives (many of which didn't become available until after 1991). hence much of the book focuses on the inner workings of the german command structure, with little insight into how the soviets actually conducted the war. a much larger portion of the book is dedicated to operations during 1941 and '42 - very little detail is given regarding the soviet offensives beginning in late '43. despite the flaws, still a seminal work and a great read, especially if you're interested show more in how the germans managed to beat themselves in a war they probably should have won.

if you want to understand how the soviets managed to rally and overwhelm the germans after the first two disastrous years, try the glantz or erickson books. show less

Dated, with some errors,but still perhaps the single best one volume summary on the Eastern Front. It captures the spirit of the Russian people, along with the determined brutality of the German Army. It was my first read on the Eastern Front, and along with "The Forgotten Soldier" shaped my interest into this massive conflict.

A good general history of Barbarossa. Clark was a practicing politician at the time and the book benefits from those insights.

A drier writing style. I liked Army At Dawn better.

Top class history of German invasion of Russia