At dawn on the 22nd of June, 1941, the Germans attacked the Soviet Union. Hitler had been working towards this goal for a long time, and when the German armed forces surprised the Soviet defence, it looked as if his ambitions would soon be satisfied. ...
At dawn on the 22nd of June, 1941, the Germans attacked the Soviet Union. Hitler had been working towards this goal for a long time, and when the German armed forces surprised the Soviet defence, it looked as if his ambitions would soon be satisfied.
After a couple of months, however, it became clear to the Germans that the opposition had not collapsed in the way they had expected. Hitler and his military experts had grossly misjudged the Soviet ability to find new resources. Despite the enormous losses of the Red Army, there was continued opposition to the attacking German units. In the summer of 1942, Hitler started a new campaign which he believed would win the war. He was wrong. The turning point at Stalingrad in the winter of 1942-43 was followed by a protracted struggle in which the Red Army pushed westwards, and in April 1945 conquered Berlin.
The struggle that Stalin’s and Hitler’s armed forces fought was one of the most widespread and costly in history. In Niklas Zetterling’s book, it is described in general terms and the reader gets to share the experiences of individual soldiers as well as see the outlines of the contexts. By intertwining discussions of Stalin’s and Hitler’s assessments and decisions, the fate of prisoners-of-war, the Anglo-American aid to the Soviet Union, the Soviet war production and many other relevant issues, he describes the situations that formed the protracted military struggle.
Niklas Zetterling has previously worked at the Swedish Military Academy Karlberg in Stockholm. He has written Avgörandets ögonblick (Decisive Moments) 1995, Den nionde april (April the Ninth) 2000, Bismarck 2004 and Tirpitz 2006 together with Michael Tamelander, Slaget om Kursk (The Battle of Kursk) 2003 together with Anders Frankson and Andra världskrigets utbrott (The Outbreak of WW2) together with Marco Smedberg, and last year Blixtkrig 1939-41.