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

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