Best big book or two or three volumes about Operation Barbarossa

[SebastianHill]

I finished reading Robert Kershaw's book "War without Garlands: Operation Barbarossa" and I really enjoyed it.

Can anyone recommend me another big book or two or three volumes about Operation Barbarossa?

Thank you.

[Cult Icon]

Barbarossa Derailed and the supplementary volumes, Glantz

[Sheldrake]

John Erickson Road to Stalingrad and Road to Berlin. He had unprecedented access to Soviet commanders

[Mikko H.]

Craig Luther: Barbarossa Unleashed

[krichter33]

I might be wrong, but I don't think there is a large one or two or three volume history of Operation Barbarossa that encompasses the entire campaign in a detailed operational and tactical level, at least not in English. If there is I haven't found it yet.

[Jeff Leach]

I might be wrong, but I don't think there is a large one or two or three volume history of Operation Barbarossa that encompasses the entire campaign in a detailed operational and tactical level, at least not in English. If there is I haven't found it yet.

I am in complete agreement. There isn't any really good operational account of the whole of Operation Barbarossa (I can't think of one in any language). I have read a lot of wartime documents and have become convinced that the actions of AGS need to be rewritten after a lot of research.

I would recommend Stahl's four or five volumes and if you want a REALLY big book get Barbarossa Unleashed, which is too big to comfortably hold and read. Then you could read Barbarossa Derailed, which is a lot of heavy reading. This will give you somewhat uneven account of AGC.Erickson gives some good insights into the Soviet command but this is a Cold-war era book and contains errors. The mapbook from the relevant volume of Germany and the Second World War is nice two have.

Come to think about it, I am somewhat unclear when Operation Barbarossa ended and some of the other operations began and whether it ended at different times for the different army groups. The attack on Moscow (Operation Typhoon) wasn't part of Operation Barbarossa at least.

[krichter33]

I would want a multi-volume detailed operational/tactical history of Barbarossa and Typhoon, all the way until spring of 1942, after the Soviet winter offensive, in the same style as Glantz, except more from the German perspective. There is apparently a new book coming out that purports to be the "definite" one volume history of Barbarossa, though it also claims to be for the general audience. It is called "Operation Barbarossa - The History of a Cataclysm" by Jonathan Dimbleby:

https://www.amazon.com/Operation-Barbar ... oks&sr=1-1

There is also the French book by Lopez and Otkhmezuri called "Barbarossa." This, however, I believe is more of a general operational, socio-political history:

https://www.amazon.com/Barbarossa-1941- ... 1601568110

[Thumpalumpacus]

John Erickson Road to Stalingrad and Road to Berlin. He had unprecedented access to Soviet commanders

Seconded. Very detailed and well-supported.

[Sheldrake]

John Erickson Road to Stalingrad and Road to Berlin. He had unprecedented access to Soviet commanders

Seconded. Very detailed and well-supported.

In 1996 I had the pleasure of sitting next to John at a dinner. He was fascinating to talk to. A dour scot from the islands He told me how he came to meet the Soviet Generals. He had been an NCO in the intelligence corps in WW2. While reading Slavic studies at Oxford he carried out research on Soviet armoured doctrine from open sources. He said he was working as a lecturer in Manchester when he received a phone call asking if he would take a call from the office of the general secretary of the Communist party of the USSR. It took several hours and calls to his home before his wife persuaded him that Nikita Kruschev wanted to talk to him. Krschev invited him as an independent academic to Russia. I suspect Krsuchev might have wanted an independent consultant as opposed to his own military. Erickson met Zhukov when he was an un-person... Much of his work on Soviet high command is based on first hand interviews.

Lunchtime that day was spent in conversation with Henry Mettelmann who brought his WW2 photo album.

That is what I call as a good military history conference.

[Thumpalumpacus]

John Erickson Road to Stalingrad and Road to Berlin. He had unprecedented access to Soviet commanders

Seconded. Very detailed and well-supported.

In 1996 I had the pleasure of sitting next to John at a dinner. He was fascinating to talk to. A dour scot from the islands He told me how he came to meet the Soviet Generals. He had been an NCO in the intelligence corps in WW2. While reading Slavic studies at Oxford he carried out research on Soviet armoured doctrine from open sources. He said he was working as a lecturer in Manchester when he received a phone call asking if he would take a call from the office of the general secretary of the Communist party of the USSR. It took several hours and calls to his home before his wife persuaded him that Nikita Kruschev wanted to talk to him. Krschev invited him as an independent academic to Russia. I suspect Krsuchev might have wanted an independent consultant as opposed to his own military. Erickson met Zhukov when he was an un-person... Much of his work on Soviet high command is based on first hand interviews.

Lunchtime that day was spent in conversation with Henry Mettelmann who brought his WW2 photo album.

That is what I call as a good military history conference.

Very cool to read this, thanks for offering it. I know that for myself, Erickson's work was so dense with information that I often found myself backing up and re-reading passages in order to assure that I had the facts and context under control. His writing style is hampered, I'd say, by that infodensity, but when it comes to stuff like this, facts are much preferred over style, as I'm sure you'll agree.

I think Erickson is one of the few Western historians who really gives the Red Army and its WWII history a good look. The accessibility the Soviets gave him, along with his own attitude of verification, makes the two volumes you mentioned vital reading for anyone interested in the Eastern Front, so far as I'm concerned, and certainly worth whatever difficulty the reader might have.

[Jeff Leach]

I forgot to mention that David Glantz once told me he had a 700+ page draft for a book on Operation Barbarossa. He was working at a military college (forgot the name) and when he left he had to leave the manuscript behind because it was the property of the college for some reason.

[Sheldrake]

I forgot to mention that David Glantz once told me he had a 700+ page draft for a book on Operation Barbarossa. He was working at a military college (forgot the name) and when he left he had to leave the manuscript behind because it was the property of the college for some reason.

Another really good researcher, but his writing style I find even more dense than Erickson's. He gave a fascinating lecture on Soviet deception to HQ 4th Armoured Division in 1988 and I kept in touch with him. He sent a load of slides on Soviet artillery.

[SebastianHill]

A book I’m interested in buying is Bryan I. Fugate’s “Operation Barbarossa: Strategy and Tactics on the Eastern Front, 1941“.

Also, Nigel Askey has done quite a few volumes about Operation Barbarossa and will eventually total eight volumes:

Volume I – The Project Concepts and General Structure, and Analysing Weapon System Effectiveness.
Volume IIA – The German Forces, Mobilisation and War Economy: June to December 1941 (Part I)
Volume IIB – The German Forces, Mobilisation and War Economy: June to December 1941 (Part II)
Volume IIIA – The Soviet Forces, Mobilisation and War Economy: June to December 1941 (Part I)
Volume IIIB – The Soviet Forces, Mobilisation and War Economy: June to December 1941 (Part II)
Volume IV – The Finnish, Rumanian, Hungarian, Slovakian and Italian Forces on the East Front in 1941
Volume V – Relative Overall Combat Proficiency (ROCP) of Soviet and Axis Forces during WWII
Volume VI – The Science of War Gaming and Operation Barbarossa

[Jeff Leach]

Note Nigel Askey's work is an Order of Battle and not a description of Operation Barbarossa. It has some interesting discussion of the various weapon systems. Some of the details of the OOB are also open to discussion, but saying it covers the whole operation, it isn't really fair to criticise it on minor details about. I can say, if you get these books - get the hardback version. The binding on the softbound seem weak.

I have read a bit about Operation Barbarossa and don't remember Bryan I. Fugate’s “Operation Barbarossa: Strategy and Tactics on the Eastern Front, 1941“ off-hand. It make me curious why the book isn't more influential, the reviews sounds like he has some valid points. Hopefully someone else can give some insights.

[SebastianHill]

Has anyone read any of David Stahel’s books?

He has written the following books related to Operation Barbarossa:

Operation Barbarossa and Germany's Defeat in the East
Joining Hitler's Crusade: European Nations and the Invasion of the Soviet Union, 1941
The Battle for Moscow
Kiev 1941
Operation Typhoon
Retreat from Moscow: A New History of Germany's Winter Campaign, 1941-1942

One book I did enjoy reading a few years ago was Alan Clark’s book “Barbarossa: The Russian German Conflict”.