In this first volume of John Erickson's monumental history of the grueling Soviet-German war of 1941-1945, the author takes us from the pre-invasion Soviet Union, with its inept command structures and strategic delusions, to the humiliating retreats of Soviet armies before the Barbarossa onslaught, to the climactic, grinding battle for Stalingrad that left the Red Army poised for its majestic counteroffensive.
"Erickson. . . has written the outstanding history of the Soviet-German war in English, or, for that matter, any language. The research alone is breathtaking. Erickson has mastered...

Completing the most comprehensive and authoritative study ever written of the Soviet-German war, John Erickson in this volume tells the vivid and compelling story of the Red Army's epic struggle to drive the Germans from Russian soil. Beginning with the destruction of the German Army at Stalingrad, he describes a campaign of almost unimaginable hardship and fighting that led to the Soviet invasion of the Reich and the triumphant capture of Berlin.
"Monumental. . . . In the future, no history of the Russo-German war can be written without reference to Erickson's detailed research and...

The follow-up to the acclaimed "The Road to Stalingrad "tells the compelling story of the Red Army's epic struggle to drive the Germans out of Russia and back to Berlin. Using Soviet, German, and Eastern European primary sources, John Erickson describes fighting and hardship on an almost unimaginable scale. The detailed narrative covers battles on all the fronts. The inside information on the Soviet system of war reveals how, under maximum stress, the Russian army achieved near-impossible feats in the field and the factories. All the diplomatic moves and counter-moves, including the...

The Road to Stalingrad is designed to investigate the kind of war the Soviet Union waged, the nature of command decisions and the machinery of decision-making, the course of military operations, the emergence of Soviet 'war aims', and the Soviet style of war with Germany.

"No book on the Soviet ground forces has been published in any language, including Russian, for many years. This study is the first comprehensive treatment of this central element in the modern Soviet military structure. The dramatically improved Soviet ground forces are the most powerful and dynamic military arm in the world. Highly flexible and
easily deployable, they are considered a strategic force in and of themselves."

This book traces Russian campaigns from the counterattack at Stalingrad to the fall of Berlin and the capture of Prague. It explores in detail Stalin's wartime relations with Roosevelt and Churchill and examines the evolution of his policies toward Poland and the Balkans.