Nik Cornish - Hitler versus Stalin - The Eastern Front 1941 - 1942: Barbarossa to Moscow - Rare Photographs from Wartime Archives

Preface

The concept underlying this book, and the volumes that follow it, is to provide the general reader of military history with a heavily illustrated overview of the war on the Eastern Front between 1941 and 1945. Each book will be self-standing and cover a particular time period during this titanic four-year campaign.

There has never been a war waged with such ferocity in the entirety of human history, indeed it was, as one eminent historian of this conflict entitled it, a clash of Titans. On the one hand the brown-shirted followers of Adolf Hitler, on the other the red-flagged communists of Joseph Stalin. With two such totalitarian regimes, where the power was highly concentrated in the hands of individuals who issued edicts through a vast civilian and military bureaucracy, the manner in which military and political advice was taken and acted upon frequently verged on the erratic.

When the campaign began Hitlers faith in the German General Staff was considerable due to their achievements elsewhere. However, this belief was to deteriorate rapidly as the Russian winter of 1941 took hold and the Red Army first rallied and then mounted a series of successful counterattacks. The result was that Hitler took command of the Wehrmacht and increasingly interfered with the micro-management of operations, often with disastrous effects.

Closeted in the Kremlin, Stalin reacted to the Axis invasion and the manner in which the Red Army almost collapsed by unleashing a reign of terror resulting in a wave of executions and promotions that generated an all-pervasive atmosphere of dread. However, as the Red Army began to fight back and demonstrate itself capable of defeating the enemy, Stalins faith in his commanders abilities increased and he allowed them greater leeway to plan and fight the war while he slowly relaxed his iron grip.

Both dictators had personal but different experiences of warfare Hitler had endured over three years in the front line on the Western Front, whereas Stalin had been a leader, albeit briefly, during the Russian Civil War around the city formerly known as Tsaritsyn. In 1942 Tsaritsyn was known as Stalingrad the city that would provide the venue for the showdown between the Boss and the Austrian Corporal.