War Without Garlands: Operation Barbarossa 1941-42

This book is really great, an almost essential read for anyone interested in the Eastern front in particular, or WW2 warfare on the personal level in general. It is well written and easy to read, and thoroughly researched ( as with the author`s other excellent books). This book does not contain a comprehensive military history of Barbarossa, rather it traces the major actions during the first 6 months, bringing the story alive with numerous personal accounts taken from diaries, letters as well as from interviews. The majority of these sources are German (not unnaturally, as victorious armies tend to leave behind more pictures and accounts than retreating ones). But Russian experiences are included, and helps balance the story. Among the many highlights, it was very interesting to read more details about the bitter fighting for Brest-Litovsk, this being an example of the many battles which broke the tempo of the Blitzkrieg. And even though the Germans were victorius in these battles, the time lost and the heavy casualties suffered in the process caused, in the author`s words, the Ostheer to "victor itself to death" I cannot really find anything negative to say, it is a great read and excellent value for money. Strongly recommended!!

Kershaw's book on Operation Barbarossa is a pretty good introduction to the topic. It highlights some of the problems the German army ran into on their way to Moscow, the heart of darkness they failed to reach. Kershaw makes good use of personal accounts, drawing from both published and unpublished memoirs and letters; primarily German ones as is usually the case with books on the eastern front, but he throws in the occasional Soviet take to spice things up. A more balanced mix would have netted the book another star.

Kershaw has a masterpiece here, and this book will explain in graphic detail the difficulty faced by the Landser in a 6 month period, from the start of the invasion until the end of December of 1941 and early 1942. Much of the book highlighting the words of the soldiers themselves, who had a clarity of thought in describing the horrendous and excruciating pace in few words of the bitter fighting against a foe who often proved to be suicidally brave, inflicting casualties to a German army unprepared for the level of intensity they faced in this alien foe, in this alien land, one that went on and on forever into featureless steppe, and when slogging over the top of a hill one could look out and see many more ahead, with little else surrounding the never ending march. Tired and exhausted from continual movemment to support the Panzers as they encircled yet another number of Red Army Divisions, and without the infantry the pockets could not be collapsed. The trapped Soviets inside the circle would often charge forward in mass attacks in attempts to break out of this pocket, and their bodies piled up all around German machine gunners. Some would fight it out to the end and the result were companies depleted of both seasoned officers and NCO's from the brutal amount of resulting carnage. Some accounts tell of Soviets fighting a desperate attack to break out of these pockets and being on the verge of breaking through thin German ranks only to suddenly stop and sit down, obeying an order given from a safer distance inside the pocket by a superior officer to instead surrender. The Germans simply had no idea they would be facing this kind of enemy, one they could not make sense of and was very hard to defeat, fighting on in hopeless situations. Soviet armor is much discussed, and had the Red Army tank crews had the German Panzer crews training and tactics they likely could have inflicted staggering losses. As it were the training of Panzer crews would usually defeat the technical superiority of their T-34 tanks. The severity that followed the German advance (looted and burned villages) would lead to an escalation of violence by both partisans and the Red Army. Many German POW's were later found dead with genital mutilations and eye gougings. This predictably lead to a further increase of atrocities from the Wehrmacht or SS in response, and the Soviet fate was no better. Only 3 of every 100 Red Army prisoners would survive themselves, most of them starved to death. The post that the author refers to also contains Soviet letters and diaries, much of it retrieved from the dead bodies of the Soviets and somehow this information has been preserved for posterity. The power of the speech of these soldiers, both German and Soviet, says volumes in only two or three sentences. They convey a hell that will show the reader that in the first week of December this was clearly a soon to be defeated German army. Their supply chain was served mainly by only two r

Just finished reading this book. It is in the class of "in deadly combat", "panzer aces", "ostfront 1944" and "forgotten soldier" as THE best sources for the scale and intensity of this war. Highly recommended, especially for the moving diary entries from both sides of the battle.

While not offering any new or startling revelations concerning the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, Kershaw draws on the words and images of the individual, common soldier to illustrate the mounting horror of a campaign doomed from the outset. The result is a masterpiece of the common man, a celebration of war from the perspective of the simple soldier, the view from the blood-soaked mud of the battlefield.For readers in search of a serious study of the effects of war on the human psyche, the Kershaw's masterpiece will satisfy your curiosity. This is an analysis of the influence of war on the human condition. For the reader truly interested in the human domain of war, this is a worthwhile purchase.