Top class history of German invasion of Russia ( )

A drier writing style. I liked Army At Dawn better. ( )

One of the best single volume accounts of WWII I have read. Clark really captures the essence of this monstrous conflict, which is so little understood in the West. Two monstrous ideologies grinding away at each other in a orgy of slaughter that makes the much-vaunted campaign of the Allies in Western Europe look like a children's tea party. The losses are simply staggering. The Allies lost about 150000 men between D-Day and the German surrender - the Soviets lost that many in mere days at Stalingrad. The Germans lost approximately 4.5 million soldiers in the whole of WWII - 3/4 of those were on the Eastern Front. Clark's admiration for the Russian fighting spirit is clear - among other things he demolishes the myth that the Russian armies surrendered meekly in the opening days of the German invasion, As Clark shows, they fought savagely and desperately, much more so than the Germans thought they would. A fantastic book, which can be read and re-read with no loss of interest. ( )

Dated, with some errors,but still perhaps the single best one volume summary on the Eastern Front. It captures the spirit of the Russian people, along with the determined brutality of the German Army. It was my first read on the Eastern Front, and along with "The Forgotten Soldier" shaped my interest into this massive conflict. ( )