In mid-December 1942, after encircling the German Sixth Army at Stalingrad, Soviet forces in southern Russia began a series of offensive operations which continued unabated into February 1943. In these offensives the Soviet High Command attempted to smash German resistance and encircle the bulk of two German army groups. For two months the German forces struck back. In a well co-ordinated counterstroke they inflicted a major operational defeat on the Soviets and stabilized the front until the summer.

Partisans and terrorists have dominated military history during the second half of the 20th century. Confounding greater and lesser powers alike, these fighters have offered a destructive counterpoint to the more stark and apparent phenomenon of nuclear war. Leonid Grenkevich offers an account of the shadowy partisan struggle that accompanied the Soviet Union's Great Patriotic War (1941-1945).

Partisans and terrorists have dominated military history during the second half of the 20th century. Confounding greater and lesser powers alike, these fighters have offered a destructive counterpoint to the more stark and apparent phenomenon of nuclear war. Leonid Grenkevich offers an account of the shadowy partisan struggle that accompanied the Soviet Union's Great Patriotic War (1941-1945).

The soldiers of the Red Army identified the Reichstag as the victor's prize to be taken in Berlin. Stalin had promised Berlin to Marshal Zhukov, but the latter's blundering in the preliminary breakthrough battle threw his timetable and forced a complete change of plan for capturing the city. stalin used the opportunity to chasten his subordinates by allowing Marshal Koniev, Zhukov's rival, to introduce one of his tank armies into the competition unknown to Zhukov. Abandoning the rest of his army group, Koniev personally directed this army in the hope of grabbing the prize.

At the request of its Western Allies, on 9 August 1945 a force of over 1.5 million Red Army soldiers, supported by over 5500 tanks, and 27,000 artillery pieces, unleashed a massive offensive against the vaunted Japanese Kwantung Army in Manchuria. Employing extensive and imaginative maneuver to overcome terrain thought to be impenetrable, within two weeks, the attacking forces overcame formidable Japanese defenses along a front of more than 2700 miles spanning the most formidable terrain an army has ever faced, utterly demolished the Japanese defenders, and forced them to surrender. The Red...

On 9 August 1945 a force of over 1.5 million Red Army soldiers employed extensive and imaginative maneuver to overcome terrain thought to be inpenetrable. With formidable Japanese defences along a front of more than 2700 miles spanning the most formidable terrain an army has ever faced, they utterly demolished the Japanese defenders, and forced them to surrender. To accomplish this unprecedented feat, the Soviet High Command had to transfer more than 500,000 troops, 7000 guns and mortars, 2000 tanks, 17,000 trucks, and thousands of tons of military equipment and supplies up to 6000 miles from...

In 1994, the mountain territory of Chechnya was the target of the largest military campaign staged on Russian soil since World War II. In 1996, the Kremlin eventually ordered its 40,000 strong troops to withdraw from what had been a savage conflict with the Chechen guerillas. This book charts the bitter history between Russia and the Chechens and explains why the war took place. Points are raised about the nature of Soviet politics and army and the successes and failures of the transition from Soviet to post-Soviet political values.