- Hardcover: 287 pages
- Publisher: HarperCollins Canada / Perseus Books (Aug 15 1998)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1885119542
- ISBN-13: 978-1885119544
- Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 15 x 2.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 771 g
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #893,340 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
Product Description
In May 1942 the powerful German Wehrmacht and the massive Soviet Red Army were engaged in a bitter struggle. The initially rapid advance of the Wehrmacht deep into the Soviet Union against the Red Army had been halted by the spring of 1941. Red Army counteroffensives had stopped the German advance at Moscow by the spring of 1942 and the Soviet leadership was convinced the Wehrmacht was fatally stretched. A counterthrust by the Red Army at the southern end of the front line, near the town of Kharkov, would, they imagined, be a vital step in pushing the German Army back. The reality was very different. Soviet overconfidence meant that hundreds of thousands of their soldiers lost their lives in one of the most catastrophic offensives in Russian military history. For over half a century the Soviets kept the scale of their defeat secret. Only in the last decade were the documents made generally available.
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
About the Author
David M. Glantz is a leading military historian who has published books and articles for a wide range of publishers in the United States and the United Kingdom. He is a founder and former director of the U.S. Army's Foreign Military Studies Office.
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
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4.3 out of 5 stars (14 customer reviews)
51 of 52 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very dry and analytical, Feb 26 2000
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Kharkov 1942: Anatomy of a Military Disaster (Hardcover)
This book is for the serious student of military history only. If you want a very detailed study of the battle of Kharkov, told mainly from the Soviet side, complete with orders of battle and a day-by-day retelling of the battle from the divisional level then this book is for you.I very much enjoyed Glantz's "Clash of Titans," which is probably the best single volume history of the war in the East, and I was hoping this book would contain more of Glantz's excellent analytical scholarship only more sharply focused on a single battle. "Kharkov 1942" is definetly analytical; but the majority of the book is not original scholarship. It's mostly Glantz's translation of a Soviet study of the battle which explains its very dry style. Glantz fleshes out some details, and mentions some parts of the battle that were ignored for political reasons. Glantz really does not provide much of his own analysis on the battle. Where he does provide analysis is on the Soviet study itself. "Kharkov 1942" is as much of a study of how lost battles of "The Great Patriotic War" were viewed within the Soviet political system as it is a study of the battle itself.
29 of 32 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the best military histories I've ever read., Mar 7 1999
By tommytitle@juno.com - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Kharkov 1942: Anatomy of a Military Disaster (Hardcover)
This is an excellent work. It's probably the best book I've read devoted to a single battle. The analysis is almost entirely from the Russian perspective, but the other side can be gleaned from other sources. The author gained access to recently available Soviet documentation to tell the Russian side of the confrontation. This is not to say the German side is ignored, however. There is very extensive use of quotations from the Soviet General Staff Study of the battle, yet the author counters any bias. The book covers everything you'd want in an analysis: terrain, force structure, order of battle, tactical and strategic decision making, etc. The maps are better and more numerous than in those in most works of this type. The only real problem I have with it is that the author doesn't really explain why the Russian 9th Army attacked at Maiaki. This was on the southeastern end of the Barvenkovo bridgehead. It was against this southern flank that the Germans launched their counterattack that doomed the Russian offensive and the Maiaki attack weakened the Russian forces on this flank. Except to say the attack was conducted and it was a bad idea, the book fails to explain what led the Russian commander to conduct it in the first place. Nevertheless, this is a very minor complaint with what is a very excellent book.
23 of 26 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
almost everything you'll ever want to know about this battle, Aug 18 1999
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Kharkov 1942: Anatomy of a Military Disaster (Hardcover)
The book attempts to describe the battle of Kharkov by using both Soviet and Germans sources. Particularly interesting is the use of a hitherto-classified Soviet study of the battle, written a few years after the war. Both what the study says and what it ommits are very revealing. This book is a masterpiece in its genre and recommended to anyone with an interest in the Eastern Front, but I confess I would like both a more thorough OB, like the one in "Operation Mars", his other book, and better maps.
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