J. Acosta

Details of an undertold story

Revisado: 01-18-25

Excellent discussion and exposition of Black service members’ experience, commitment, and sacrifice in WWII, and the Black veterans who came home to find that the rights and freedoms for which they fought on behalf of foreign peoples were denied to them at home. A must read for those committed to knowing all aspects of the U.S.’s critical role in WWII.

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Five critical months that left a delicate balance

Revisado: 06-05-22

Germany was not finished militarily after the Stalingrad debacle. Buttar examines that battle and Germany’s subsequent recovery on the southeastern front, and details how its forces stopped and countered the Soviet Army’s post-Stalingrad momentum. Illustrates the Soviet Army’s quick learning curve from lessons learned in 1941 and 1942 to become Germany’s equal in tactical operations. Demonstrates the connection between Hitler’s political goals and operational micro-managing, and the German forces’ failure to exploit opportunities to the fullest, which set the stage for the Battle of Kursk. Interspersed with first-person accounts on both sides which describe this front’s brutality on the soldiers, civilians, land, and resources of the Ukraine.

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Good, very detailed operational overview

Revisado: 05-18-22

This Glantz/House volume is typical of their extremely detailed orders of battle and unit movement and participation in WWII theaters. Great use of source material to provide a narrative summary of the German-Soviet theater during WWII. Provides a good chronology for those new to this aspect of WWII. Best to follow the narrative with maps -- lots of maps -- to best understand the many moving parts of the four-year struggle on this sprawling front.

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Inspiring story of a life well lived.

Revisado: 04-17-22

Brings to the surface the story of a courageous and gracious American, the first Black (he was African-Native American) fighter pilot, who fought for a served France, a country he came to love because it loved him. The celebrities, artists, and personalities he encountered and who befriended him during his varies professional pursuits is an honor roll of prominent Black and Caucasian individuals famous during the 1920s, '30s, and 40s. A well-told tale of an exciting and inspiring life set against the historical events of his times.

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Impressively researched operational account - but bring maps!

Revisado: 04-14-22

The book provides an impressive - probably unmatched - level of precision in recounting the positions and movements of the German and Soviet units during the course of this five-battle. To fully understand the narrative of the battle, good and detailed maps are almost a must. The hard-copy book has them but the maps have been reduced in size to fit the dimensions of a book and so are difficult to read, even with a magnifying glass. The level of detail and research is truly impressive, as is the assembly and synthesis of the information from multiple German and Soviet sources. Be mindful, though, that this not in the narrative style of Antony Beevor’s and William Craig’s respective books on the Stalingrad battle.

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How German army survived after Moscow attack

Revisado: 03-12-22

This volume in David Stahel's examination of the war in the east focuses on the German army's recovery following Operation Barbarossa's failure to achieve its strategic goals. Importantly, the work explores the German army's tenuous situation between November 1941 and March 1942, during which its survival turned on the Soviet's hapless tactics and German generals' willingness to make tactical decisions that contradicted Hitler's explicit orders, including his "stand fast" directive that prohibited any further withdrawals for any reason. Detailed accounts of the various generals' views and efforts, interspersed with accounts of front-line soldiers and commanders who describe the fighting, the hardships, and the psychological toll of this period on the Eastern Front. Also provides important and revealing logistical facts analysis that underscore the critical importance of supply and organization in sustaining a fighting army's efforts to prevail.

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Kiev's role in Barbarossa

Revisado: 12-06-21

Stahel's sequel study to "Operation Barbarossa and Germany's Defeat in the East," in which he explains how the Battle of Kiev, while a great German victory, significantly contributed to the failure of the Barbarossa campaign. Importantly, he examines how Hitler's desire to secure the resources of the Ukraine conflicted with the army's strategic vision for defeating the Soviet Union in a quick war and how the cost to Germany of winning Kiev prevented that quick victory. As he did in his preceding volume, Stahel details Germany's failure to realistically consider the logistical challenges of its strategic plan and, specifically in this book, the challenges of prosecuting a war in the East, which offered poor infrastructure, imposed harsh terrain and weather, and presented an endless horizons of space to conquer and control. Stahel discusses how the German General Staff's assumptions regarding these conditions stemmed from its experience in the earlier campaigns in the West, which campaigns encountered far more favorable conditions in all these areas. An indispensable book for any serious study of WWII on the Eastern Front.

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Critical analysis of Germany's 1941 campaign

Revisado: 11-24-21

Stahel demonstrates the devastating effects of primitive infrastructure, inadequate logistics, and flawed assumptions of Soviet strength on Germany's June 1941 invasion of the Soviet Union. Makes a very good case both for the operation's failure within two month's of its commencement for also for it as a root cause of Germany's eventual defeat in WWII. Stahel draws in significant part from the diaries of the commanding generals of the Northern, Center, and Southern fronts, and shows how Hitler's strategic vision drove the army's tactical plans into a muddled and often contradictory battle plan on the Eastern Front in 1941. Provocative conclusions about the Wehrmacht's complicity in those decisions as well as in Hitler's goal of eradicating the Soviet, and especially the Soviet Jewish, population. Recommended.

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Very good treatment of an overlooked campaign

Revisado: 11-11-21

Crete was a campaign, though not in the conventional sense. But the outcome - a German withdrawal from the island - was the end result. Beevor tracks the timeline well, with great detail, from the Germans’ near-disastrous airborne invasion, to British serial blunders, to the sustained and determined resistance that siphoned German forces from other theaters. Excellent performance by the narrator, whose Greek pronunciations seemed exceedingly proficient.

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Very good treatment of two critical years

Revisado: 09-27-21

Holland provides context for the 1939-41 period of WWII. These years are mostly overlooked by most Americans; we tend to think of WWII’s beginning as December 7, 1941, with the attack on Pearl Harbor. Holland provides analysis of the factors present in almost every European country that contributed to the war’s outbreak. His discussion of the Balkan, North African, and Mediterranean theaters sheds light on Germany’s decision-making during this period and aids in understanding why Germany’s invasion of Russia ultimately failed because of its unplanned involvement in these theaters. Very good performance by the narrator.

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