About this Item
Hardcover. Germany's Eastern Front in World War II saw many campaigns and battles that have been ""forgotten"" by a Soviet Union that tried to hide its military failures. The Red Army's invasion of Romania in April and May 1944 was one such campaign, which produced nearly 200,000 casualties and tarnished the reputations of its commanders. The redoubtable David Glantz, the world's leading authority on the Soviet military in World War II, now restores this tale to its proper place in the annals of World War II. Working from newly available Russian and long-neglected German archives - plus Red Army unit histories and commanders' memoirs - Glantz reconstructs an imposing mosaic that reveals the immense scope and ambitious intent of the first Iasi-Kishinev offensive. His re-creation shows that Stalin was not as preoccupied with a direct route to Berlin as he was with a ""broad front"" strategy designed to gain territory and find vulnerable points in Germany's extended lines of defense. If successful, the invasion would have also eliminated Romania as Germany's ally, cut off the vital Ploiesti oilfields, and provided a base from which to consolidate Soviet power throughout the Balkans. Glantz discloses General Ivan Konev's strategic plan as the 2nd Ukrainian Front prepared its Iasi offensive and fought a climactic battle with the German Eighth Army and its Romanian allies in the Tirgu-Frumos region in early May, then the regrouping of General Rodion Malinovsky's 3rd Ukranian Front for its decisive offensive toward Kishinev, which aborted in the face of a skillful counterstroke by a threadbare German Sixth Army. Glantz describes how the Wehrmacht, with a nucleus of combat veterans, was able to beat back Soviet forces hampered by spring floods, while already fragile Soviet logistical support was further undermined by the Wehrmacht's scorched-earth strategy. Although Konev's and Malinovsky's offensives failed, the Red Army managed to inflict heavy losses on Axis forces, exacerbating the effects of Germany's defeats in the Ukraine and making it more difficult for the Wehrmacht to contain the Soviet juggernaut's ultimate advance toward Berlin. Reconstructs an imposing mosaic that reveals the immense scope and ambitious intent of the first Iasi-Kishinev offensive. This book shows that Stalin was not as preoccupied with a direct route to Berlin as he was with a ""broad front"" strategy designed to gain territory and find vulnerable points in Germany's extended lines of defense. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability. Seller Inventory # 9780700614653
Bibliographic Details
Title: Red Storm Over the Balkans (Hardcover)
Publisher: University Press of Kansas, Kansas
Publication Date: 2006
Binding: Hardcover
Condition: new
About this title
"With his usual command of the sources and devotion to detail, Glantz once again brings to light a little-known episode of the struggle on the Eastern Front. . . . Essential reading for students of World War II."--Richard L. DiNardo, author of Germany and the Axis Powers: From Coalition to Collapse
"Glantz is once again at the top of his form."--Dennis Showalter, author of Patton and Rommel: Men of War in the Twentieth Century
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