Author: David M. Glantz File Type: pdf By the time Pearl Harbor had ripped apart Americas peacetime pretensions, the German blitzkrieg had already blasted the Red Army back to the gates of Moscow. Yet, less than four years later, the Soviet hammer-and-sickle flew above the ruins of Berlin, stark symbol of a miraculous comeback that destroyed the German army and shattered Hitlers imperial designs. Told in swift stirring prose, When Titans Clashed provides the first full account of this epic struggle from the Soviet perspective. David Glantz, one of the worlds foremost authorities on the Soviet military, and Jonathan House present a fundamentally new interpretation of what the Russians called the Great Patriotic War. Based on unprecedented access to formerly classified Soviet sources, they counter the German perspective that has dominated previous accounts and radically revise our understanding of the Soviet experience during World War II. Placing the war within its wider political, economic, and social contexts, the authors recount how the determined Soviets overcame their initial disasters to defeat the most powerful army ever assembled. As they vividly show, this truly was war waged on a titanic scale, sweeping across a half-million square miles from Moscow to Berlin, featuring monumental offensives and counteroffensives, and ultimately costing both sides combined a staggering forty million casualties. Their work offers new revelations on Soviet strategy and tactics, Stalins role as supreme commander of the Red Army, the emergence of innovative and courageous commanders in the crucible of combat, numerous previously concealed or neglected military operations, German miscalculations on the road to the Red capital, the effect of D-Day and the second front on the Soviet effort, and the wars devastating impact on the Soviet economy and civilian population. An essential volume for anyone interested in World War II or Soviet history, When Titans Clashed will change forever how we look at one of the greatest military confrontations in world history. This book is part of the Modern War Studies series.From Publishers WeeklyUntil now the Soviet-German conflict of WWII has been told largely from the German point of view. This authoritative account, based on newly released Soviet studies, emphasizes the Russian version of events. It reveals, to a greater degree than previously known, how unprepared the Red Army was and how the leadership gradually gained in competence during the Moscow and Stalingrad campaigns. The authors describe how the Werhmacht eventually lost the ability to conduct a general offensive on a wide front while the Soviets learned to focus overwhelming force on a narrow front such as the Kursk salient, where the Red Army finally seized the initiative. The book conveys the colossal scope and scale of the five-year struggle and puts the military aspect in a wider perspective, showing, for example, how the Red Armys defense against the invasion gave the Communist leadership legitimacy. Glantz is an editor of the Journal of Slavic Military Studies House teaches history at Gordon College in Georgia. Photos. 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. From the Back CoverWhen Titans Clashed represents by all and any reckoning a book whose time has come. The authors clear and vigorous narrative leaves no doubt about the key decisions and the critical encounters in these massive engagements.--John Erickson, author of The Road to StalingradA compelling narrative of an epic conflict. No other work has answered with greater authority the lingering historical question--how did the Red Army defeat Nazi Germany?--Von Hardesty, author of Red Phoenix The Rise of Soviet Air Power, 1941-1945Exceptionally authoritative and exceptionally readable. The cogent assessments of Red Army commanders are not to be missed.--Russell F. Weigley, author of The American Way of WarCertain to become the standard reference on the most important campaign of the Second World War.--Richard R. Muller, author of The German Air War in RussiaCorrects longstanding misconceptions and puts a human face on the faceless Soviet army.--O. A. Rzheshevsky, Chief, Department for Studies of the Twentieth-Century Wars, Institute of World History, Moscow Indispensable.--Dale R. Herspring, author of The Soviet High Command, 1967-1989

Author: Catherine Hickley File Type: epub In February 2012, in a Munich flat belonging to the elderly recluse, Cornelius Gurlitt, German customs authorities seized an astonishing hoard of more than 1,400 paintings, drawings, prints and sculptures. When Hildebrand Gurlitts trove became public in November 2013, it caused a worldwide media sensation.Catherine Hickley has delved into archives and conducted dozens of interviews to uncover the story behind the headlines. Her book illuminates a dark period of German history, untangling a web of deceit and silence that has prevented the heirs of Jewish collectors from recovering art stolen from their families more than seven decades ago by the Nazis. Hickley recounts the shady history of the Gurlitt hoard and brings its story right up to date, as 21st-century politicians and lawyers puzzle over the inadequacies of a legal framework that to this day falls short in securing justice for the heirs of those robbed by the Nazis. Hickley is a leading voice in German arts and culture and an expert on Nazi-looted art and appeared on the Imagine documentary on Gurlitt in 2014. **