1st Edition

The Second World War on the Eastern Front

By Lee Baker Copyright 2010
    180 Pages
    by Routledge

    102 Pages
    by Routledge

    Russia's engagement with Germany on the Eastern Front during World War II was ferocious, unprecedented and bloody, costing millions of civilian and military lives. In this challenging new book, Lee Baker distinguishes myth from reality and deflates the idea that this war, while gargantuan in scale, was in essence a war like any other. 

    Contents

     

    Acknowledgments

    List of Maps

    List of Plates

    Chronology

    Who’s Who

    Glossary

    Maps

     

    Part One:    Analysis   

     

    1.   Introduction

     

    2.    The Background

    a.    The Origins of the War on the Eastern Front

    b.    Planning ‘Operation Barbarossa’

    c.    Soviet Preparations for War

     

    3.    22 June 1941: The Invasion

    a.    The Border Battles

    b.    The Battle for Leningrad

    b.    The Battle for Kiev

    c.    The First Major German Defeat: Rostov

    d.    Mass Murder in the USSR

    d.    The Battle for Moscow

     

    4.    The War turns against the Germans, 1942-43

    a.    ‘Operation Blue’

    b.    The Battle for Stalingrad

    c.    German Efforts to Halt the Red Army

    d.    The Partisans

    d.    Operation Citadel

     

    5.    The Soviet Union on the Offensive

    a.    Battles for the Ukraine

    b.    Relief of Leningrad

    c.    ‘Operation Bagration’

    d.    The Destruction of Army Groups North and South

    d.    The Battle for Berlin

     

    6.    Assessment

     

    Part Two:    Documents


    1. Nazi-Soviet Pact, 23 August 1939

    2. Hitler Letter to Mussolini, 21 June 1941

    3. Directive for ‘Operation Barbarossa’

    4. Directive for Special Areas during ‘Barbarossa,’ 13 March 1941

    5. Decree for the Conduct of Courts-Martial in the East, 13 May, 1941

    6. ‘Commissar Decree,’ 6 June, 1941

    7. Stalin’s Speech on 3 July, 1941

    8. Decree on Treatment of Civilians, 23 July, 1941

    9. Halder’s Diary, 3 July 1941

    10. Halder’s Diary, 11 August 1941

    11. Field Marshal Walter von Reichenau’s order, 10 October, 1941

    12. Hitler comments on motorization, 29 October, 1941

    13. Order for German forces to go on the defensive, 8 December 1941

    14. Hitler comments on the winter, 12 and 17 January, 1942

    15. Order for ‘Operation Blue,’ 5 April 1942

    16.  Soviet order concerning discipline in the Red Army, 28 July, 1942

    17. A German Witness to a mass shooting, 5-6 October, 1942

    18. A German soldier describes the retreat in the Ukraine, summer 1943

    19. ‘Fortified Areas’ Order, 8 March 1944

    20. A Soviet soldier on combat during ‘Operation Bagration, 29 June, 1944

    21. A German Soldier on the Eastern Front, 14 January, 1945.

    22. Decree for the destruction of German industry, 30 March 1945

    23. Hitler’s Last Proclamation to the Eastern Front, 15 April 1945

     

    Guide to Further Reading

    References

    Index

     

    Biography

    Dr. Lee Baker is Associate Professor in the Department of History at the University of Cincinnati.