Stalingrad to Kursk - Triumph of the Red Army (2011)

317 Pages·2016·7.09 MB·English

by  Geoffrey Jukes

Contents
Maps
List of Plates
Introduction
Chapter One – Descent into Conflict
Chapter Two – ‘Industrialise or go under’
Chapter Three – ‘Stand Fast!’
Chapter Four – Victory at Stalingrad
Chapter Five – Germany under Pressure
Chapter Six – The Battle for Kursk
Conclusions
Notes and Sources
Maps
1.German conquests, September 1939–April 1941
2.The Eastern Front, Autumn 1942–July 1943
3.The Eastern Front, July 1943–April 1944
4.Soviet and Western advances, July 1943–June 1944

List of Plates
The signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, 23 August 1939.
‘Blitzkrieg’: German tanks thrusting ahead.
The infantry follow-up: horses, bicycles and footslogging.
Hitler with his closest military subordinates, Keitel and Colonel-General
Jodl.
Stalin.
Russian leaders: Zhukov, Timoshenko, Konev, Beria, Malenkov and
Mikoyan.
Mark IV tanks, the Panzers’ workhorse.
Mark V Panther tank.
Tiger I tank.
‘Ferdinand’ self-propelled gun.
KV-1 heavy tank.
T-34-76 medium tank.
T-70 tank.
T-34s during the final stages of assembly.
‘The Russian must die so that we live.’
Soviet artillery was predominantly horse-drawn until Lend-Lease trucks
became available in quantity during 1943.
Kiev soon after the Germans arrived. The poster is entitled ‘Hitler the
Liberator’.
Germans welcomed in the Baltic states … and in Ukraine.
Soviet prisoners.
Cossacks in German service.
The personal escort of General Helmut von Pannwitz, commander of the
1st Cossack Cavalry Division.
A mass of captured Soviets, viewed from an aircraft.
In early winter Leningrad’s ‘Road of Life’ over Lake Ladoga could only
be used by horse-drawn carts … but eventually the ice became thick
enough for lorries.
Following Stalin’s ‘scorched earth’ order, retreating Soviet troops
removed what they could and destroyed what they could not.
Moscow women digging anti-tank ditches, October 1941.
Barricades and a barrage balloon at the Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow.
To boost morale the traditional 7 November revolution anniversary parade
was held as usual in 1941, but most of the participants marched on to
the front line.
Even the local horses found the mud too much …
At last the snow came and the mud froze.
Germans not dressed for winter surrendering to Russians who were.
Soviet mobile forces in the Moscow counter-offensive consisted largely of
skiers.
Abandoned German equipment outside Moscow.
Chuikov’s leadership of the 62nd Army’s defence of Stalingrad was
inspired and inspiring.
The defenders of Stalingrad linked buildings by trenches.
Paulus, promoted to field-marshal by Hitler but captured at Stalingrad.
Manstein, generally considered the most gifted of the German generals.
Pavel Sudoplatov, the NKVD controller of Agent Max for most of the war.
Guderian, the moving spirit behind the creation of ‘Blitzkrieg’.
A long chain of German prisoners.
Model, a master of defensive fighting, whose particular skills were more
and more in demand as the war progressed.
Preparing to fire ‘Katyusha’ multiple-rocket launchers.
Wrecking German supply trains was an important element in partisan
warfare … and hanging was a regular German riposte.
Soviet tanks and infantry advancing to the Dnepr.
New tanks for old: wrecked tanks awaiting the furnaces.
The ‘Big Three’ at Tehran, November 1943.