STALIN'S FOLLY : The Tragic First Ten Days of World War II on the Eastern Front

Pleshakov, Constantine

ISBN 10: 0618367012 / ISBN 13: 9780618367016

Published by Houghton Mifflin, New York, 2005

About this Item

This copy is in new, unmarked condition quarter bound in black cloth to black paper covered boards with bright gilt titling to the spine. This copy is bright, tight, white and square. The unclipped dust wrapper is a trifle rubbed at the corners but still in as new condition. International postal rates are calculated on a book weighing 1 Kilo, in cases where the book weighs more than 1 Kilo increased postal rates will be quoted, where the book weighs less then postage will be reduced accordingly. Reassessing the Soviet response to the Nazi invasion of Russia, the author portrays Stalin as an ineffective military leader who allowed hundreds of thousands of his soldiers to be slaughtered in the first ten days of the invasion. Despite their inexperience the Soviet High Command understood that Stalin's decision to position the bulk of his army and air force so close to the front lines was extraordinarily dangerous. From a military viewpoint, defensive lines should be further from the initial point of attack so they would have time to deploy effectively. This advance positioning would only be effective if Soviet forces were planning a preemptive attack on the German forces. And this is exactly what Stalin was planning. Pleshakov's extensive research into Soviet archives indicates that Stalin planned a preemptive strike to commence in June 1942. Stalin knew the pact would not last but that the Germans would not attack until after Hitler's armies had conquered Britain. Sadly for Stalin, by the summer of 1940 Hitler had decided not to invade Britain and turned his attention east. Hitler instructed his general staff to plan for an invasion, codenamed Operation Barbarossa, to begin in the spring of 1941. Once the invasion begins, in the dawn hours of June 22, 1941 Pleshakov takes the reader on a detailed, almost hour-by-hour discussion of the disastrous first ten days. These were ten days in which Stalin would not speak to the Soviet people. Pleshakov details Stalin's mood swings, his deep depression and panic. Disastrous counterattacks were ordered. On the first day of the invasion virtually the entire Soviet Air Force was destroyed on the ground. Three weeks into the war, the Soviet Union had lost 28 infantry divisions and 600,000 soldiers out of 3 million in uniform. It would take 3 more years and at least 10 million more Soviet lives before the territory lost in the first ten days of the war was liberated by the Red Army. Ref LLL 7.

Seller Inventory # 035354

Bibliographic Details

• Title: STALIN'S FOLLY : The Tragic First Ten Days of World War II on the Eastern Front
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin, New York
• Publication Date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0618367012
• ISBN 13: 9780618367016
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: New
• Dust Jacket Condition: Fine

About this title

Synopsis

Reassessing the Soviet response to the Nazi invasion of Russia, the author portrays Stalin as an ineffective military leader who allowed hundreds of thousands of his soldiers to be slaughtered in the first ten days of the invasion.

About the Author

Russian-born Constantine Pleshakov is the author of The Tsar's Last Armada The Flight of the Romanovs, and Inside the Kremlin’s Cold War. He is a visiting prefessor of history at Mount Holyoke College.