|
Showing 1 - 2 of
2 matches in All Departments
This book investigates several controversial issues regarding the
role of the Soviet Union and the performance of the Soviet
government and Red Army, to which the author provides some
provocative answers. The primary question explored by the author,
however, regards the effectiveness of both the Red Army and of the
Soviet military economy. Dr. Sokolov argues that the chief defect
of the Soviet military economy was the disproportionate emphasis on
the production of tanks and aircraft at the expense of
transportation means and the means of command and control. This
leads the author to look at the role of Lend-Lease during the war.
Through the delivery of radio sets, trucks, jeeps, locomotives,
fuel, explosives and so on, the author concludes that Lend-Lease
was critical to the Red Army, and that the Soviet Union would not
have been able to wage a long war against Germany without the
Lend-Lease supplies - a conclusion that defies decades of Soviet
claims to the contrary. Finally, the author looks at the still very
controversial and hot topic of Red Army losses in the war, which
was taboo for decades, arguing that this is an effective measure of
the Red Army's military performance. He and other scholars have
estimated that the Red Army's losses were on the scale of 27
million, three times larger than the official estimates, and
approximately 10 times greater than the German losses on the
Eastern Front. He argues that such horrendous casualties and such
an unfavorable ratio for the Red Army were the result of the
relatively low value placed on human life in both the Russian
Empire and the Soviet Union, and the much more destructive nature
of the Soviet totalitarian regime as compared with the Third Reich,
which cowed the Soviet generals and officers into total
subservience. Due to the elimination of all political opposition
and the total control over people's lives, soldiers and civilians
could not protest against the crude tactics that resulted in such a
very high rate of losses.
The author Boris Sokolov offers this first objective and intriguing
biography of Marshal Konstantin Konstantinovich Rokossovsky, who is
widely considered one of the Red Army's top commanders in the
Second World War. Yet even though he brilliantly served the harsh
Stalinist system, Rokossovsky himself became a victim of it with
his arrest, beatings and imprisonment between 1937 and 1940. The
author analyzes all of Rokossovsky's military operations, in both
the Russian Civil War and the Second World War, paying particular
attention to the problem of establishing the real casualties
suffered by both armies in the main battles where Rokossovsky took
part, as well as on the Eastern Front as a whole. Rokossovsky
played a prominent role in the battles for Smolensk, Moscow,
Stalingrad, Kursk, Belorussia, Poland, East Prussia and Pomerania.
While praising Rokossovsky's masterful generalship, the author does
not shy away from criticizing the nature of Soviet military art and
strategy, in which the guiding principle was"at all costs" and
little value was placed on holding down casualties. This discussion
extends to the painful topic of the many atrocities against
civilians perpetrated by Soviet soldiers, including Rokossovsky's
own troops. A highly private man, Rokossovsky disliked discussing
his personal life. With the help of family records and interviews,
including the original, uncensored draft of the Marshal's memoirs,
the author reveals the numerous dualities in Rokossovsky's life.
Despite his imprisonment and beatings he endured, Rokossovsky never
wavered in his loyalty to Stalin, yet also never betrayed his
colleagues. Though a Stalinist, he was also a gentleman widely
admired for his courtesy and chivalry. A dedicated family man,
women were drawn to him, and he took a 'campaign wife' during the
war. Though born in 1894 in Poland, Rokossovsky maintained that he
was really born in Russia in 1896. This Polish/Russian duality in
Rokossovsky's identity hampered his career and became particularly
acute during the Warsaw uprising in 1944 and his later service as
Poland's Defense Minister. Thus, the author ably portrays a
fascinating man and commander, who became a marshal of two
countries, yet who was not fully embraced by either.
|
|