Russia at War, 1941–1945: A History

1009 Pages·2004·10.29 MB·English

by  Alexander Werth

PRAISE FOR RUSSIA AT WAR 1941–1945
“Magnificent. … It fills a great void. … the best book we probably shall ever
have in English on Russia at war.”
—William Shirer, author of The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
“This is not merely a history (although it happens to be an excellent one). It is
not a collection of personal reminiscences (although it incorporates many). It is
not a scholarly examination of Russia during the critical years 1941–1945
(although it puts under close analysis many events during that period). …
[Werth’s] Russian panorama has the depth and vividness of a Vereshchagin
warscape. His descriptions of Nazi atrocities … are almost too terrible to read.
… [Russia at War] overflows with the contradictory, the half-understood, the
mysterious, the impossible to explain. … It bears comparison with William L.
Shirer’s The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich as a work of scope and power. …
One of the most important books yet written about WWII … superbly dramatic.”
—Harrison E. Salisbury, The New York Times Book Review
“There is no book in any language with which to compare this monumental but
exceedingly readable history of the Nazi-Soviet war … in savagery and hatred it
was the biggest war in history … an engrossing and terrifying book.”
—Life
“Engrossing history … spellbinding narrative.”
—Newsweek
“Monumental and absorbing. … An epic work that will fascinate the ordinary
reader.”
—Saturday Review
“An illuminating book.”
—Elbridge Colby
“Alexander Werth was one of the greatest war correspondents of the Second
World War.”
—Antony Beevor
ALSO BY ALEXANDER WERTH: France in Ferment (1934) The Destiny of
France (1937) France and Munich: Before and After the Surrender (1939) The
Last Days of Paris (1940) The Twilight of France (1942) Moscow ’41 (1942)
Leningrad (1944)
The Year of Stalingrad (1946) Musical Uproar in Moscow (1949) France 1940–
1955 (1956) The Strange History of Pierre Mendès-France (1957) America in
Doubt (1959) The de Gaulle Revolution (1960) The Khrushchev Phase (1961)

To the Memory of
MITYA KHLUDOV
aged 19
Killed in Action
in Belorussia
July 1944
CONTENTS
Foreword
Introduction
PART ONE PRELUDE TO WAR
I Russia’s 1939 Dilemma
II The Soviet-German Pact
III The Partition of Poland
IV From the Finnish War to the German Invasion of France
V Russia and the Fall of France—Baltic States and Bessarabia
VI Russia and the Battle of Britain: a Psychological Turning-Point?
VII Display of Russian Military Might—Molotov’s Tragi-comic Visit
to Berlin
VIII “1941—it will be a Happy Year”
IX The Last Weeks of Peace
PART TWO FROM THE INVASION TO THE BATTLE OF
MOSCOW
I Soviet Unpreparedness in June 1941
II The Invasion
III Molotov and Stalin Speak
IV Smolensk: the First Check to the Blitzkrieg
V Close-Up One: Moscow at the Beginning of the War
VI Close-Up Two: Autumn Journey to the Smolensk Front
VII Advance on Leningrad
VIII Rout in the Ukraine: “Khrushchev versus Stalin”
IX The Evacuation of Industry
X Battle of Moscow Begins—The October 16 Panic
XI Battle of Moscow II—Stalin’s Holy Russia Speech
XII The Moscow Counter-Offensive
XIII The Diplomatic Scene of the First Months of the Invasion
PART THREE THE LENINGRAD STORY
I The Dead of Leningrad
II The Enemy Advances
III Three Million Trapped
IV The Ladoga Lifeline
V The Great Famine
VI The Ice Road
VII Leningrad Close-Up
VIII Why Leningrad “Took It”
IX A Note on Finland
PART FOUR THE BLACK SUMMER OF 1942
I Close-Up: Moscow in June 1942
II The Anglo-Soviet Alliance
III Three Russian Defeats: Kerch, Kharkov and Sebastopol
IV The Renewal of the German Advance
V Patrie-en-Danger and the Post-Rostov Reforms
VI Stalin Ropes in the Church
PART FIVE STALINGRAD
I Stalingrad: the Chuikov Story
II The “Stalingrad” months in Moscow—the Churchill visit and
after
III Russians encircle the Germans at Stalingrad
IV Stalingrad Close-Ups.
I: The Stalingrad Lifeline
II: The Scene of the Manstein Rout
V Stalingrad: the Agony
VI Close-Up: Stalingrad at the Time of the Capitulation
VII “Caucasus Round Trip”
PART SIX 1943: YEAR OF HARD VICTORIES—THE POLISH
TANGLE
I After Stalingrad—The Birth of “Stalin’s Military Genius”
II The Germans and the Ukraine
III Kharkov under the Germans
IV The Economic Effort of 1942–3—the Red Army’s New Look—
Lend-Lease
V Before the Spring Lull of 1943—Stalin’s Warning—The
Germans’ “Desert Policy”
VI The Technique of Building a New Poland
VII The Dissolution of the Comintern and Other Curious Events in the
Spring of 1943
VIII Kursk: Hitler Loses His Last Chance of Turning the Tide
IX Orel: Close-Up of a Purely Russian City under the Germans
X A Short Chapter on a Vast Subject: German Crimes in the Soviet
Union
XI The Partisans in the Soviet-German War
XII Paradoxes of Soviet Foreign Policy in 1943—The Fall of
Mussolini—The “Free German Committee”
XIII Stalin’s Little Nationalist Orgy after Kursk
XIV The Spirit of Teheran
PART SEVEN 1944: RUSSIA ENTERS EASTERN EUROPE
I Some Characteristics of 1944
II Close-Up I: Ukrainian Microcosm
III Close-Up II: Odessa, Capital of Rumanian Transniestria
IV Close-Up III: Hitler’s Crimean Catastrophe
V The Lull Before D-Day—Stalin’s Flirtation with the Catholic
Church—“Slav Unity”
VI The Russians and the Normandy Landing