Russia at War 1941-45 : Introduction
15: Vendome Press, 1987. Hardcover. Text in English. 256 pp. With 300 monochrome illustrations and 5 maps.
World War II was won on the Russian front. It was here that the Germans incurred 80 per cent of their losses, and it was here that they suffered their first serious defeats. The Russian winter, the skill of the army and the endurance of the People halted the Blitzkrieg forever. But the Soviet Union paid a staggering price for its victory. More than a quarter of the country's property was destroyed. By the end of the war, 25 million people were homeless, 30 million were wounded and 20 million had been killed.
This book tells the story of the war through photographs. It illustrates the immense efforts of ordinary Russians, inspired by a surge of patriotism, to throw their energies into weapons manufacture, food-producing and caring for the casualties of the fighting. It relates how partisans in the occupied territory risked torture and death to resist the Nazis - and shows what happened when they were caught. It deals with the inevitably brutal reprisals against those who had collaborated with the invaders. It shows how a bizarre normality reasserted itself during the appalling three-year siege of Leningrad, when horses, dogs and cats were a luxurious addition to the diet, and trucks had to make a perilous journey across the ice of Lake Ladoga to obtain supplies. There are photographs of the Battle of Stalingrad, when every street and every house was bitterly fought over. There are scenes of aerial combat, of the epic tank battle of Kursk and of soldiers and airmen off-duty, trying to relax in the discomfort of the trenches or enduring the entertainments laid on for them by their commanders.
This is not a military history of the war, but an attempt to tell the story in human terms. It includes letters, diaries and recollections of the men and women who fought in it. To this account, written with unprecedented frankness by Russians with first-hand experience of the fighting, the distinguished American historian Harrison Salisbury has contributed a preface which emphasizes the part played by Russia and its people in winning the war, a part all too often underestimated in the West. Near Fine / Near Fine. Item #3698
ISBN: 0865650772
Price: $30.00