Moscow 1941: A City and Its People at War

Rather than evaluate "Moscow 1941" as a whole, I offer the following examples of why I liked book: 1) The author included biographical profiles of a number of Russian participants in the battle for Moscow, rather than merely relating which regiment was behind which tree. For example, Marshal Konstantin Rokossovski survived Stalin's purge of the Soviet military with only 3 broken ribs and 8 teeth knocked out. After being released from prison, he emerged as one of the top three Soviet heroes of the war. I also found the author's account of the career of Gen. Andrei Vlasov fascinating. He was a hero in the battle for Moscow before being captured by the Germans. He then commanded a force of Russian POWs in the German Army and was executed for treason after the War. 2) The author's demonstration that the Russians prevailed due to factors in addition to greater numbers, such as their courage, determination, willingness to sacrifice and their ability to produce military equipment, such as tanks, that were superior to the Germans' equipment. 3) The Russians may not have prevailed without the help of western allies in providing war material and keeping the Luftwaffe occupied defending Germany from American and English bombers. However, as the author states, "Two-thirds of the German army were in the East even after D-Day. Indeed, had they not been fighting the Russians, they would have been in France, and there would have been no D-Day." 4) Finally, the author demonstrates why many Russians are unable to simply dismiss Stalin as a monster, which he certainly was. Despite all the errors he made and all the people imprisoned, murdered and tortured on Stalin's account, his "ruthless willpower" was certainly an important factor in keeping the Germans from capturing Moscow in 1941 and ultimately winning the war.

The Battle of Moscow was, in terms of the number of combatants involved, the greatest battle of the Second World War and one of the greatest battles of history. More than seven million officers and men of both sides took part, compared with the four million who fought at Stalingrad in 1942, the two million who battled at Kursk in 1943, and the three and a half million that struggled at Berlin in 1945. Lasting for six month, from September 1941 to April 1942, the Battle of Moscow took place over a territory the size of France. The Soviet Union lost more people in this one battle - 926,000 soldiers killed, to say nothing of the wounded - than the British lost in the whole of the First World War. The casualties in this one battle were greater than the combined casualties of the British and American armies in the whole of the Second World War. The Battle of Moscow was the beginning of the end of the German Wehrmacht. Despite horrendous losses, the Red Army fought Hitler's legions to a standstill, bled them white, and then hurled them back hundreds of miles from the very walls of the capital. It is odd that two news histories of the same battle have appeared in the same year, but an important story is worth telling again and again. Braithwaite's "Moscow 1941" focuses on the people that took part in the battle, the everyday Muscovites, rather than the commanders or their armies. It is this approach that makes this book so interesting. "Moscow 1941" is a well researched, well written and compelling narrative!

In this excellent book Braithwaite recalls an epic moment in history: When the Germans, at Moscow's gates, failed to take it, echoing Napoleon's 1812 invasion. This battle never get as much attention as Stalingrad or even Kursk. Stalin downplayed it because it spotlighted his own errors. He killed most of his best generals during the purges. He ignored repeated warnings of German invasion. He lost millions of troops by refusing to let them retreat. All these led the Nazis to Moscow's doorstep. Its defense also highlighted Marshal Zhukov, whom the paranoid dictator regarded as a rival. The Germans closed within a hundred miles of Moscow in mid-October 1941, causing panic. Everyone who could get out, did. Commissars and managers commandeered cars to flee with families and luxury goods while abandoning average people to their fate. Stalin managed to stop the exodus and stabilize the city. He bolstered morale with the annual November 7 military parade, held defiantly despite German proximity. The German advance finally halted: ill-equipped for cold, supply lines strained, and exhausted from fighting through fall mud, even more difficult than the frigid winter. The Russians counterattacked, and while a spring offensive didn't get very far, the Germans never threatened the capital again. Braithwaite captures the city's mood: near-famine shortages of food, the ever-present NKVD, wartime romances, refugees crammed into heatless dugouts. He introduces us to the brutal Zhukov and the gentlemanly Rokossovski, Zhukov's right hand in defending Moscow. Most of all he gives us the moment's desperation: thousands of troops, lightly trained and armed, hastily thrown into the breech, sacrificed to slow the German advance. It was clear they would not return, and few did. Braithwaite makes a bit too much of it; the Germans are defeated more by circumstances than the Red Army. But this was indeed the Soviet equivalent of El Alamein or Midway - not the war's turning point, but the first showing that the enemy juggernaut was vulnerable. After Stalingrad it became clear that the Germans would lose, but this was where it first became apparent that they might not win.

and innocent Russia squirmed under the bloody boots . . . " Anna Akhmatova: "Requiem" After June 22, 1941, when Hitler's armies launched a massive invasion of the Soviet Union, it is fair to say that Russia squirmed not (just) under the boots of the NKVD (the actual subject of Akmatova's poem) but under the boots of millions of German soldiers, under the treads of thousands of German tanks, and under the bombs of thousands of German bombers. The first year or so of the war on the eastern front saw the Germans advance toward Moscow, Leningrad, and Stalingrad. Historical accounts of the battles of Stalingrad and Leningrad are legion. For some reason, accounts of the advance on Moscow have commanded less attention even though the Battle of Moscow was fought over territory the size of France and involved seven million soldiers. Rodric Braithwaite, former British Ambassador to the USSR/CIS from 1988 through 1992, has evened the scales a bit in his well-crafted "Moscow 1941: A City and Its People at War". "Moscow 1941" is not a military history of the Battle of Moscow. Although there are maps and a discussion of the key battles sufficient to give the reader a feel for the order of battle, this is really a compilation of stories about how Moscow and its citizens dealt with the war and the threat of the approaching German armies. As such it has something of the feel of an oral history about it. Joseph Stalin is reputed to have said: "[a] single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic." Braithwaite has taken the Battle of Moscow and interlaced a general discussion of the battle with the accounts of soldiers, schoolgirls, actors, factory workers, party leaders, and people from all walks and stations of life. In so doing he has taken the story of the Battle of Moscow out of the realm of statistic and into the realm of tragedy, survival and, ultimately, triumph. I found Braithwaite's writing style to be to the point. His writing is concise and not overly dramatic or florid. He seems content (rightfully I think) to let his sources speak for themselves. Braithwaite also does a good job providing general background information sufficient for any reader not thoroughly immersed in the history of the USSR to get a feel for the socio-political context of the times. Braithwaite provides a concise summary of the events leading up to the war on the eastern front, including Stalin's devastating purge of the Red Army's high command (from Tukachevsky on down through the officer ranks) to the Army's poor showing in its Winter War with Finland in the winter of 1940-1941. I think that Braithwaite's "Moscow 1941" makes for a valuable addition to the historical record of the war on the eastern front. In particular I think Braithwaite has done an excellent job in personalizing one of World War II's greatest battles by presenting the reader with some insight into how it must have felt to be a citizen of Moscow during those dark hours. I was

Ambassador Braithwaite has written a fine book for the person interested in one of history's greatest battles, that for Moscow in 1941. While lightly covering the direct military engagement, the focus really is on the civilians in Moscow and how they heroically survived the threat of the German army, harsh weather, scant supplies, and their own, often dysfunctional, leadership. Or, died trying. If you are only familiar with the U.S. and British work against the Germans in World War II, buy and read this book. (The British ambassador's earlier book on events in Moscow from 1988-1992--Across the Moscow River: The World Turned Upside Down---is one I also recommend.)