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Opening the Gates of Hell: Operation Barbarossa, June-July 1941
A unique account of the opening weeks of history's largest, most brutal conflict, told through the eyes of those who were there and based on original source material from across Europe.
Opening the Gates of Hell is based on over a decade's research in archives and sites across Europe. It is a ground-breaking examination of the start of the Nazi-Soviet conflict, a narrative history not just of the fighting, but also the impact on civilians, the atrocities committed by both sides and ethnic cleansing carried out by the inhabitants of the regions invaded.
This fascinating history tells the stories of bravery, cowardice, misery and horror through the eyes of those who were there including ordinary soldiers, generals, leaders, politicians and civilians on both sides. The book draws on published and unpublished sources from across Germany and Eastern Europe with the majority of the material never having appeared in English-language accounts of the conflict before.
The combination of combat accounts, analysis of high-level diplomacy and leadership and the visceral accounts of the atrocities committed by both sides gives this book a unique approach to the war on the Eastern Front and will ensure that it is regarded as the definitive work on the subject for many years to come.
Opening the Gates of Hell is based on over a decade's research in archives and sites across Europe. It is a ground-breaking examination of the start of the Nazi-Soviet conflict, a narrative history not just of the fighting, but also the impact on civilians, the atrocities committed by both sides and ethnic cleansing carried out by the inhabitants of the regions invaded.
This fascinating history tells the stories of bravery, cowardice, misery and horror through the eyes of those who were there including ordinary soldiers, generals, leaders, politicians and civilians on both sides. The book draws on published and unpublished sources from across Germany and Eastern Europe with the majority of the material never having appeared in English-language accounts of the conflict before.
The combination of combat accounts, analysis of high-level diplomacy and leadership and the visceral accounts of the atrocities committed by both sides gives this book a unique approach to the war on the Eastern Front and will ensure that it is regarded as the definitive work on the subject for many years to come.
496 pages, Hardcover
First published June 3, 2025
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June 3, 2025
Publication day for the book!
OPENING THE GATES OF HELL: OPERATION BARBAROSSA, JUNE-JULY 1941 by Richard Hargreaves is a riveting account of the first days of the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union. The significance of the invasion can't be overestimated: the minute the Wehrmacht stepped over the new Soviet border, it sealed its doom. For ordinary Russians, the beginning of the Great Patriotic War came as a surprise. Firstly, the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact provided fragile hope of peace - and trains with raw materials headed west till the last minute. Secondly, the Soviet propaganda machine convinced the population as well as Soviet leaders, including Stalin, that the Red Army was invincible, its armor the best in the world, its Red Air Force equipped with the latest planes. The Red Army trained its soldiers for offensive rather than defensive war. Despite the reports about the mounting number of German divisions on the western border, few leaders of border districts alerted their subordinates. Decisions to put men on alert came from local garrison commanders who sensed war in the air.
OPENING THE GATES OF HELL tells history through the eyes of its witnesses on the ground. Not much is said about Hitler and Stalin, though some inside accounts tell us about their actions in the first weeks. Hitler tired his subordinates out with long speeches about Jews, the origins of mankind, and the Soviet Union; Stalin waited to be dismissed by his closest entourage. It was Molotov who told the Soviet citizens about the start of the war.
Ordinary Wehrmacht soldiers fuelled by Nazi propaganda viewed the invasion as a holy war and restoration of the just order, distorted for a while by the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact. Junior officer Walter Melchinger writes to his wife (quote may be subject to changes upon the release): "Don't believe that war makes someone brutal and insensitive. There will always be good and evil. We are grateful that we are fighting for good to eliminate the bad. The new era marches with us." The overall topic of this letter was atrocities committed by Ukrainians toward Jews.
Even if one struggles to embrace the invasion's whole picture out of hundreds of individual accounts, the depiction of atrocities in Ukraine makes OPERATION BARBAROSSA worth reading. The retreating NKVD executed prisoners, 'counter-revolutionary elements,' many of whom were women and children, in an inhumane manner. Richard Hargreaves describes awful scenes in re-conquered towns in precise detail. One has to have stamina - and some lack of imagination - to read about tortures inflicted on prisoners. There was indeed an order to get rid of suspicious elements, yet, nobody forced the NKVD personnel to rape, mutilate, immure in cells, or crucify. They did it on their own volition, and the book offers no examples of remonstrations amidst the ranks. After the Soviet police and army left, the locals started to look for their loved ones - and also found scapegoats. Jews were the ever-present target. In their turn, they were humiliated, put to work long hours, mutilated, tortured, raped, and beaten to death with clubs and iron bars. Germans didn't stop the locals until they thought the order should have been restored. Germans killed Jews in an organized manner in the nearby forests.
Hate and death were two deities who wanted the blood to flow day in and day out.
OPENING THE GATES OF HELL is a meticulous, rich-in-detail description. It's not a popular history but comprehensive scholarly research, so the general audience may find it a tad difficult to get through. Still, history buffs will be delighted (if that word could be used about such horrendous events) to read it.
I received an advance review copy through Netgalley, and I'm leaving this review voluntarily.
OPENING THE GATES OF HELL: OPERATION BARBAROSSA, JUNE-JULY 1941 by Richard Hargreaves is a riveting account of the first days of the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union. The significance of the invasion can't be overestimated: the minute the Wehrmacht stepped over the new Soviet border, it sealed its doom. For ordinary Russians, the beginning of the Great Patriotic War came as a surprise. Firstly, the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact provided fragile hope of peace - and trains with raw materials headed west till the last minute. Secondly, the Soviet propaganda machine convinced the population as well as Soviet leaders, including Stalin, that the Red Army was invincible, its armor the best in the world, its Red Air Force equipped with the latest planes. The Red Army trained its soldiers for offensive rather than defensive war. Despite the reports about the mounting number of German divisions on the western border, few leaders of border districts alerted their subordinates. Decisions to put men on alert came from local garrison commanders who sensed war in the air.
OPENING THE GATES OF HELL tells history through the eyes of its witnesses on the ground. Not much is said about Hitler and Stalin, though some inside accounts tell us about their actions in the first weeks. Hitler tired his subordinates out with long speeches about Jews, the origins of mankind, and the Soviet Union; Stalin waited to be dismissed by his closest entourage. It was Molotov who told the Soviet citizens about the start of the war.
Ordinary Wehrmacht soldiers fuelled by Nazi propaganda viewed the invasion as a holy war and restoration of the just order, distorted for a while by the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact. Junior officer Walter Melchinger writes to his wife (quote may be subject to changes upon the release): "Don't believe that war makes someone brutal and insensitive. There will always be good and evil. We are grateful that we are fighting for good to eliminate the bad. The new era marches with us." The overall topic of this letter was atrocities committed by Ukrainians toward Jews.
Even if one struggles to embrace the invasion's whole picture out of hundreds of individual accounts, the depiction of atrocities in Ukraine makes OPERATION BARBAROSSA worth reading. The retreating NKVD executed prisoners, 'counter-revolutionary elements,' many of whom were women and children, in an inhumane manner. Richard Hargreaves describes awful scenes in re-conquered towns in precise detail. One has to have stamina - and some lack of imagination - to read about tortures inflicted on prisoners. There was indeed an order to get rid of suspicious elements, yet, nobody forced the NKVD personnel to rape, mutilate, immure in cells, or crucify. They did it on their own volition, and the book offers no examples of remonstrations amidst the ranks. After the Soviet police and army left, the locals started to look for their loved ones - and also found scapegoats. Jews were the ever-present target. In their turn, they were humiliated, put to work long hours, mutilated, tortured, raped, and beaten to death with clubs and iron bars. Germans didn't stop the locals until they thought the order should have been restored. Germans killed Jews in an organized manner in the nearby forests.
Hate and death were two deities who wanted the blood to flow day in and day out.
OPENING THE GATES OF HELL is a meticulous, rich-in-detail description. It's not a popular history but comprehensive scholarly research, so the general audience may find it a tad difficult to get through. Still, history buffs will be delighted (if that word could be used about such horrendous events) to read it.
I received an advance review copy through Netgalley, and I'm leaving this review voluntarily.
September 10, 2025
NetGalley generously provided an ARC of "Opening the Gates of Hell: Operation Barbarossa, June–July 1941" by Richard Hargreaves. This book is the latest title on the market offering a detailed account of the German invasion of Russia in 1941. The eBook is 488 pages in length with the following contents:
List of illustrations and maps
Introduction
Chapter 1: One More Blitzkrieg
Chapter 2: The Gates of Hell Opened in Front of Us
Chapter 3: To Leningrad
Chapter 4: To Moscow
Chapter 5: To Kiev
Chapter 6: Victory Denied
Epilogue: Barbarossa's Long Shadow
Notes
Bibliography
Index
This book offers the reader a detailed narrative history of the fighting, with first-hand accounts from soldiers, pilots and civilians from both sides. But it provides even more than just stories of combat as the Germans invade the Soviet Union.
The author offers extensive details on the impact on civilians along with the terrible atrocities committed by both sides, the mass executions by the NKVD and the following pogroms against the Jewish population by the Germans and the liberated inhabitants of towns and cities as Russian forces retreat.
There are numerous first-hand accounts of the bravery of the Russian defenders, like this:
"At least some of these losses had been inflicted by Soviet pilots taking desperate measures. Lieutenant Ivan Ivanov failed to stop a raid by Heinkel 111s of Kampfgeschwader 55 on the airfield at Dubno in Ukraine, but his Rata succeeded in catching up with Werner Bahringer's bomber as it returned to base. When his guns ran out of ammunition - or jammed - Ivanov crashed his fighter into the bomber, sending both tumbling towards to ground, killing all the occupants. Ivan Ivanov's deed would enter Soviet folklore as the taran ('battering ram'). It would earn him, posthumously, his nation's highest honour: Hero of the Soviet Union. And it would be repeated several time this day. Mid-morning, Dmitri Kokorev's formation of MiG-3s and Ratas intercepted Messerschmitt Me110s near Zambrow. In the ensuring dogfights, three Soviet and two German fighters were shot down. Out of ammunition, Kokorev used the propeller of his MiG-3 to smash the rudder of an Me110, causing it to crash, while the Soviet pilot succeeded in bringing his damaged fighter back to his airfield. Lieutenant Leonid Butelin lost his life when he drove his propeller into the rudder of one of several Ju88s which had attacked his airfield at Stanislav in Ukraine."
Or on the surprising superiority of some Soviet weapons such as their heavy tanks encountered by German forces during Russian counterattacks with the new KV tanks:
"When the Red armour came into view, Sander's platoon opened fire, 'sending one salvo after another over'. Several T-26s went up in flames. But not the KVs. 'From time to time all of us cheer: hit! And then: crap! Despite very clear hits, the tank continues to calmly, slowly, and stubbornly roll.' Wilhem Sander reckoned every third round which left the barrel of his 3.7cm gun hit its target - but simply ricocheted off the Soviet tank 'in a wonderful curve'."
One another part of the front:
"1st Panzer Division reported that one KV-2 was hit 70 times - yet not a single shell penetrated its armour. Only at point-blank range - 100ft - did armour piercing shells seem to have any effect on the Soviets' 'big old lumps'."
The book is full of these types of first-hand accounts and if you love a book full of combat and details of warfare on the Eastern Front during WW2 then this is the book for you. I can't comment on the standard or number of maps and illustrations as my advanced reading copy did not have any to peruse but the standard of the narrative was exceptional and engaging throughout the book.
In closing, the author offered this summary on the cost of Operation Barbarossa:
"The first ten days of Barbarossa had cost the Reich 54,000 casualties, 11,822 of them dead. Every day 1,161 German soldiers had died on the nascent Eastern Front - a higher rate than in any of Hitler's military adventures to date. The Officer Corps was hit particularly hard: 61 were killed daily, double the losses of the western campaign 12 months earlier. 'Our best officers are fading away in this cruel war, which is so very different from that against Poland or even that in the West,' XXXXVII Panzer Corps' commander Joachim Lemelsen complained in mid-July.
As the vanguard of the advance into the Soviet Union, corps like Lemelsen's invariably suffered the heaviest losses. When his 29th Motorised Infantry Division was pulled out of the line after a month's fighting, it had lost more than 2,600 men, nearly 700 of them dead or missing, while just 12 of the 212 tans with which 18th Panzer Division had crossed the Bug on 22 June were still in working order. It had suffered 3,100 casualties, including 750 dead and upwards of 400 men thought to have fallen into enemy hands. The latter probably survived no more than a few days in Soviet hands - as the advancing Wehrmacht all too often discovered. Perhaps as many as three-quarters of Germans captured in 1941 were killed or died of maltreatment.
By mid-August 1941, one in every ten German soldiers in the East had become a casualty - more than 375,000 men killed or wounded. Infantry divisions possessed perhaps two-thirds of the strength they enjoyed when the invasion began, panzer divisions perhaps half. No division would ever make good the losses it suffered during the opening weeks of Barbarossa - replacements did not even half-fill the denuded ranks."
Overall, this is a great book and highly recommended for anyone who enjoys a detailed combat narrative of the fighting on the Eastern Front.
List of illustrations and maps
Introduction
Chapter 1: One More Blitzkrieg
Chapter 2: The Gates of Hell Opened in Front of Us
Chapter 3: To Leningrad
Chapter 4: To Moscow
Chapter 5: To Kiev
Chapter 6: Victory Denied
Epilogue: Barbarossa's Long Shadow
Notes
Bibliography
Index
This book offers the reader a detailed narrative history of the fighting, with first-hand accounts from soldiers, pilots and civilians from both sides. But it provides even more than just stories of combat as the Germans invade the Soviet Union.
The author offers extensive details on the impact on civilians along with the terrible atrocities committed by both sides, the mass executions by the NKVD and the following pogroms against the Jewish population by the Germans and the liberated inhabitants of towns and cities as Russian forces retreat.
There are numerous first-hand accounts of the bravery of the Russian defenders, like this:
"At least some of these losses had been inflicted by Soviet pilots taking desperate measures. Lieutenant Ivan Ivanov failed to stop a raid by Heinkel 111s of Kampfgeschwader 55 on the airfield at Dubno in Ukraine, but his Rata succeeded in catching up with Werner Bahringer's bomber as it returned to base. When his guns ran out of ammunition - or jammed - Ivanov crashed his fighter into the bomber, sending both tumbling towards to ground, killing all the occupants. Ivan Ivanov's deed would enter Soviet folklore as the taran ('battering ram'). It would earn him, posthumously, his nation's highest honour: Hero of the Soviet Union. And it would be repeated several time this day. Mid-morning, Dmitri Kokorev's formation of MiG-3s and Ratas intercepted Messerschmitt Me110s near Zambrow. In the ensuring dogfights, three Soviet and two German fighters were shot down. Out of ammunition, Kokorev used the propeller of his MiG-3 to smash the rudder of an Me110, causing it to crash, while the Soviet pilot succeeded in bringing his damaged fighter back to his airfield. Lieutenant Leonid Butelin lost his life when he drove his propeller into the rudder of one of several Ju88s which had attacked his airfield at Stanislav in Ukraine."
Or on the surprising superiority of some Soviet weapons such as their heavy tanks encountered by German forces during Russian counterattacks with the new KV tanks:
"When the Red armour came into view, Sander's platoon opened fire, 'sending one salvo after another over'. Several T-26s went up in flames. But not the KVs. 'From time to time all of us cheer: hit! And then: crap! Despite very clear hits, the tank continues to calmly, slowly, and stubbornly roll.' Wilhem Sander reckoned every third round which left the barrel of his 3.7cm gun hit its target - but simply ricocheted off the Soviet tank 'in a wonderful curve'."
One another part of the front:
"1st Panzer Division reported that one KV-2 was hit 70 times - yet not a single shell penetrated its armour. Only at point-blank range - 100ft - did armour piercing shells seem to have any effect on the Soviets' 'big old lumps'."
The book is full of these types of first-hand accounts and if you love a book full of combat and details of warfare on the Eastern Front during WW2 then this is the book for you. I can't comment on the standard or number of maps and illustrations as my advanced reading copy did not have any to peruse but the standard of the narrative was exceptional and engaging throughout the book.
In closing, the author offered this summary on the cost of Operation Barbarossa:
"The first ten days of Barbarossa had cost the Reich 54,000 casualties, 11,822 of them dead. Every day 1,161 German soldiers had died on the nascent Eastern Front - a higher rate than in any of Hitler's military adventures to date. The Officer Corps was hit particularly hard: 61 were killed daily, double the losses of the western campaign 12 months earlier. 'Our best officers are fading away in this cruel war, which is so very different from that against Poland or even that in the West,' XXXXVII Panzer Corps' commander Joachim Lemelsen complained in mid-July.
As the vanguard of the advance into the Soviet Union, corps like Lemelsen's invariably suffered the heaviest losses. When his 29th Motorised Infantry Division was pulled out of the line after a month's fighting, it had lost more than 2,600 men, nearly 700 of them dead or missing, while just 12 of the 212 tans with which 18th Panzer Division had crossed the Bug on 22 June were still in working order. It had suffered 3,100 casualties, including 750 dead and upwards of 400 men thought to have fallen into enemy hands. The latter probably survived no more than a few days in Soviet hands - as the advancing Wehrmacht all too often discovered. Perhaps as many as three-quarters of Germans captured in 1941 were killed or died of maltreatment.
By mid-August 1941, one in every ten German soldiers in the East had become a casualty - more than 375,000 men killed or wounded. Infantry divisions possessed perhaps two-thirds of the strength they enjoyed when the invasion began, panzer divisions perhaps half. No division would ever make good the losses it suffered during the opening weeks of Barbarossa - replacements did not even half-fill the denuded ranks."
Overall, this is a great book and highly recommended for anyone who enjoys a detailed combat narrative of the fighting on the Eastern Front.
April 14, 2025
I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for this review.
When it comes to colossal military campaigns, none in history can compare to the size of Operation Barbarossa, the German (and its Axis partners) invasion of the Soviet Union in World War II. Nearly 10 million combatants participated in this massive undertaking as both sides slugged it out across a battlefront nearly 1800 miles (2900 KM) long. It's a campaign which is known for more than just its size: bravery, sacrifice, terror, murder and horrible savagery were common threads in all areas and on all sides.
Author Hargreaves has written an excellent book on the opening month of the campaign with extensive amounts of recollections by those involved: soldiers, airmen, tankers, politicians and civilians all have their voices heard in this book. What started as a very promising campaign for the Germans ended up turning into a horrible nightmare, signs of which were evident during this opening month. Many German soldiers went into the campaign with lofty expectations of being in Moscow in just a few months, especially after scoring huge advances in the early part of the fighting. However, determined resistance by Soviet forces soon caused many to reassess their earlier feelings of optimism.
For the residents of the countries bordering on Axis territory, life was about to take a very savage turn. While some residents of the Ukraine, Byelorussia (Belarus) and the Baltic republics of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia were happy to see German soldiers force out the Soviets, there were many who would have their lives destroyed. These areas were home to many of the Jewish faith and when the Germans moved in they quickly became hunted enemies, and not just of the Germans. Civilians in some areas quickly turned on their Jewish neighbors and helped to unleash a gruesome campaign of murder and butchery across all the territories now under German control.
Since this book contains so much personal narrative, it contains quite a bit of VERY graphic depictions of combat, murder, torture and savagery as both sides engaged in a campaign of brutality which would continue for several more years...with millions of civilians caught in between.
I highly recommend this book if you're interested in the opening month of Operation Barbarossa and how it was viewed by many of those who were there.
When it comes to colossal military campaigns, none in history can compare to the size of Operation Barbarossa, the German (and its Axis partners) invasion of the Soviet Union in World War II. Nearly 10 million combatants participated in this massive undertaking as both sides slugged it out across a battlefront nearly 1800 miles (2900 KM) long. It's a campaign which is known for more than just its size: bravery, sacrifice, terror, murder and horrible savagery were common threads in all areas and on all sides.
Author Hargreaves has written an excellent book on the opening month of the campaign with extensive amounts of recollections by those involved: soldiers, airmen, tankers, politicians and civilians all have their voices heard in this book. What started as a very promising campaign for the Germans ended up turning into a horrible nightmare, signs of which were evident during this opening month. Many German soldiers went into the campaign with lofty expectations of being in Moscow in just a few months, especially after scoring huge advances in the early part of the fighting. However, determined resistance by Soviet forces soon caused many to reassess their earlier feelings of optimism.
For the residents of the countries bordering on Axis territory, life was about to take a very savage turn. While some residents of the Ukraine, Byelorussia (Belarus) and the Baltic republics of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia were happy to see German soldiers force out the Soviets, there were many who would have their lives destroyed. These areas were home to many of the Jewish faith and when the Germans moved in they quickly became hunted enemies, and not just of the Germans. Civilians in some areas quickly turned on their Jewish neighbors and helped to unleash a gruesome campaign of murder and butchery across all the territories now under German control.
Since this book contains so much personal narrative, it contains quite a bit of VERY graphic depictions of combat, murder, torture and savagery as both sides engaged in a campaign of brutality which would continue for several more years...with millions of civilians caught in between.
I highly recommend this book if you're interested in the opening month of Operation Barbarossa and how it was viewed by many of those who were there.
May 24, 2025
⭐️ 5!
Publication Date: June 03, 2025 (I will be purchasing a hard copy).
This is a powerful and unflinching account of the Soviet liberation of Nazi concentration camps during the final stages of World War II. Richard Hargreaves skillfully combines numerous survivor testimonies throughout the book, Soviet military records, and postwar reflections to illuminate a chapter of history that is often overshadowed. What struck me most was the raw, often chaotic nature of these encounters, liberation specifically wasn’t always clean or triumphant (as I am well aware of from studying the Holocaust and other genocides), and Hargreaves doesn’t shy away from that complexity of what liberation entails. Deeply thought provoking and inspiring.
It’s a difficult but necessary read, especially for anyone interested in Holocaust history, military history, or the moral and ethical challenges of witnessing and responding to atrocity worldwide.
Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for providing an advance reader copy. I thoroughly enjoyed reading your book.
Publication Date: June 03, 2025 (I will be purchasing a hard copy).
This is a powerful and unflinching account of the Soviet liberation of Nazi concentration camps during the final stages of World War II. Richard Hargreaves skillfully combines numerous survivor testimonies throughout the book, Soviet military records, and postwar reflections to illuminate a chapter of history that is often overshadowed. What struck me most was the raw, often chaotic nature of these encounters, liberation specifically wasn’t always clean or triumphant (as I am well aware of from studying the Holocaust and other genocides), and Hargreaves doesn’t shy away from that complexity of what liberation entails. Deeply thought provoking and inspiring.
It’s a difficult but necessary read, especially for anyone interested in Holocaust history, military history, or the moral and ethical challenges of witnessing and responding to atrocity worldwide.
Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for providing an advance reader copy. I thoroughly enjoyed reading your book.
April 27, 2025
"Opening the Gates of Hell: Operation Barbarossa, June-July, 1941," by Richard Hargreaves, to be published by Osprey Publishing, is the latest edition in the ever expanding body of new scholarship on Operation Barbarossa and the Eastern Front during World War II. It does not add a great deal of either significant analysis or new information on this phase of the war for those already familiar with the formidable scholarship available, but it does a very good job of examining the primary sources and building a narrative around them designed to encapsulate the whole body of information about the crucial events surrounding the opening of the Eastern Front. This work, built around a six chapter structure focusing on the initial attack and the circumstances, military, political and economic surrounding it, sets the scene for the colossal battles and the general Soviet rout in the early months of the war. At the same time, events occurring in those early days, especially the German (Nazi) failure to capitalize on the disenchantment felt by many of the Soviet citizens who had been languishing under Soviet rule would have a dramatic effect that can hardly be underestimated in the eventual defeat of the Wehrmacht. The Germans and the Soviets were both committed to making this into an ideological fight to the death although the Soviets were far more pragmatic than the Nazis. The narrative encompassing all of this can be challenging to those who are new to the subject, but it is precisely they who will be most rewarded by taking this journey. The book includes notes, a bibliography and a very useful Epilogue tying the early features of the struggle to its eventual outcome, and its core shows the context of German war planning by focusing on the German objectives (Moscow, Leningrad and Kiev) of the early German attacks. I was working from an ARC provided by the publisher for my perusal ,and I am most grateful for the opportunity. The book is suitable for both scholarly collections and for individuals interested in the topic and trying to understand the world around us that was made on those distant battlefields.
October 28, 2025
Actually, just started it. But I'm a bit surprised that the format has a great deal of anecdotal bits. It's interesting: the multiple viewpoints of ordinary soldiers and civilians on both sides. The big picture isn't ignored, but seems very much in the background.
He does give a detailed overview of weapons deficiencies on both sides; also, the soldiers' stories give important clues on morale and propaganda. One impression stands out--perhaps because ordinary people, unlike Stalin, weren't filtering out evidence--the German attack wasn't that much of a surprise.
so far...This is a very different treatment of Barbarossa; don't know if I'll get back to it soon. It just doesn't seem connected all that well as a narrative. Somewhat like reading memoirs. Well-written, just not that engaging.
He does give a detailed overview of weapons deficiencies on both sides; also, the soldiers' stories give important clues on morale and propaganda. One impression stands out--perhaps because ordinary people, unlike Stalin, weren't filtering out evidence--the German attack wasn't that much of a surprise.
so far...This is a very different treatment of Barbarossa; don't know if I'll get back to it soon. It just doesn't seem connected all that well as a narrative. Somewhat like reading memoirs. Well-written, just not that engaging.
November 16, 2025
One of the most harrowing books I have ever read. Hargreaves does a superb job of moving between the military and civilian story of Barbarrossa's opposing weeks. he makes it clear that the two stories are intertwined and not separate. What was shocking was not the barbarity of the combatants. That was to be expected in this war between totalitarian states. But the savagery of the civilian population of Poland, Ukraine, Latvia, Estonia, etc., was medieval in its cruelty. This was primarily directed at Jews, who were blamed for Bloshevism and all the people's ills. I don't know how Hargreaves could stand reading through the horrific accounts of these events, but better that it be documented than forgotten.
October 6, 2025
A well-researched and written book on the opening months of the German invasion of Russia. The author presents both sides of the battle and backs up the research with firsthand accounts of individuals who participated in the conflict. The treatment of POWs and civilians on both sides was particularly horrifying. This is a great book for the War and History fans. I highly recommend this book.
Thank you to #NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.
Thank you to #NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.
January 25, 2026
This really nails it.
If you really want a look past, this is it. Not much pity and plenty of brutality. The striking thing is how the change was wrought. Summer of 41 globally impacted. The beginning chapters details about life on the border between USSR and Third Reich is amazing reconstruction.
If you really want a look past, this is it. Not much pity and plenty of brutality. The striking thing is how the change was wrought. Summer of 41 globally impacted. The beginning chapters details about life on the border between USSR and Third Reich is amazing reconstruction.
July 3, 2025
What a great book! Very suspenseful
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews