Standard military historical fare from Duffy (The Military
Experience in the Age of Reason, 1988), who here details the final
Soviet drive against the Nazis on the road from Poland to Berlin.
With overwhelming superiority in armament and troop strength, the
Soviet battle plan initially involved two coordinated assaults
across the Vistula River in mid-January 1945. The assaults met with
less resistance than anticipated - in fact, the German front
collapsed, enabling the Soviet armies to begin a race to the Oder
and German soil that made it seem as though the war would be
quickly won. However, eventually bogged down by increasingly
desperate fighting and the possibility of attack from the flanks
and rear, Soviet operations turned to consolidating positions and
eliminating pockets of resistance while maintaining steady progress
westward. Dully considers each siege and state of the assault
separately, providing a full analysis of strategy and paying
particular attention to the divisive role Nazi functionaries played
in the Wehrmacht's efforts to fight back and regroup. Although
battles are described with dramatic highlights, the march becomes
fragmented into a series of isolated conflicts in which
descriptions of maneuvers during the siege of Konigsberg or
Breslau, or on the Oder, often appear formulaic or repetitive. A
lengthy appendix closely analyzes Soviet and German styles of
warfare, with the former's mechanized ability and tactical
advantage on the offensive proving decisive. Well researched and
meticulously presented, but only occasionally engaging: a history
of interest primarily to military specialists. (Kirkus Reviews)
"Red Storm on the Reich" is the story of a decisive, but as yet
relatively little understood, episode in World War II - the Soviet
offensive on Germany from January to April 1945. Essentially the
War was won and lost on the Eastern front, but in a campaign which
led to a loss of territory and slaughter of German civilians which
to this day is scarcely comprehended in the West. To all
appearances nothing could withstand the Russians as they swept
their way through East Germany towards Berlin in 1945. However, a
combination of Soviet error and German determination ensured that
their offensive was halted in early February, granting the Reich a
further three months of life. Christopher Duffy analyzes the events
of this period, stopping short of the final push on Berlin in April
1945. He shows how the Russian attack on Germany gave rise not only
to terrible atrocities, but also to the flight of German civilians.
This book should be of interest to students and lecturers in
military history, politics and history.
General
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