Richard Overy - Russia's War

‘A pacy, broad-brush overview of the Eastern Front… It is only appropriate that one finishes Russia’s War pathetically grateful that one has never had to face anything remotely like the Eastern Front and astonished that anyone emerged from it.’

‘Russia’s War gives a masterly account of the connection between the politics of the Kremlin and the rudimentary conditions of life in the USSR… a vivid, coherent account. No one in Russia has tried to do this… Overy has risen to the challenge.’

‘Overy is able to provide the sort of close-up view of the conflict which has never been available before.’

‘An excellent synthesis of the political and military situation as well as illuminating the social and economic aspects of the conflict. He also clarifies many of the emotional and moral questions raised by the Nazi–Soviet struggle… an invaluable introduction to the history of the war in the Soviet Union and will be much used by students.’

‘A very useful single-volume history… Overy is admirably balanced in his treatment of Stalin and his regime.’

‘Overy conveys the vast scale of the events brilliantly, using both anecdotes and the staggering statistics: 11 million military losses, 18 million medical casualties, and estimates of civilian losses that range from 16 to 24 million… Until we incorporate the Soviet history of war into our own histories, our knowledge of the 20th century will remain incomplete.’

Richard Overy is Professor of Modern History at King’s College, London. His books include The Penguin Atlas of the Third Reich, The Battle, Interrogations and the widely praised Why the Allies Won . He recently edited the fifth edition of The Times History of the World . He is currently writing a comparison of the Hitler and Stalin dictatorships.

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First published in the USA by TV Books Inc. 1997

First published in Great Britain by Allen Lane The Penguin Press 1998

Published in Penguin Books 1999

14

Copyright © IBP Films Distribution Ltd, 1997

All rights reserved

The moral right of the author has been asserted

Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser

ISBN: 978-0-14-192512-7

In April 1943 the security service was separated from the Internal Affairs Commissariat (NKVD) and renamed NKGB. In March 1946 NKGB became MGB following the transformation of the commissariats into Ministries.