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The Red Army and the Second World War (Armies of the Second World War) Reprint Edition
Purchase options and add-ons
- ISBN-101107688159
- ISBN-13978-1107688155
- EditionReprint
- PublisherCambridge University Press
- Publication dateFebruary 7, 2019
- LanguageEnglish
- Dimensions6 x 1.71 x 9 inches
- Print length758 pages
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Editorial Reviews
Review
'… Hill’s work is a remarkably thorough, clear, and comprehensive account of previously-neglected technical questions of Soviet military development.' David R. Stone, Slavic Review
'In The Red Army and the Second World War, historian Alexander Hill (Univ. of Calgary) has produced an exceedingly lucid treatment of the development and employment of the Red Army before and during the Great Patriotic War. Transformation is the book's unifying narrative thread.' Timothy Heck, Michigan War Studies Review
‘The Red Army and the Second World War is meticulously researched, including among its sources an extensive number of Soviet and Russian sources, including diaries, memoirs, interviews, and eyewitness accounts. Hill adroitly includes concise accounts of the war’s dozens of operations and battles that, together with his insightful analysis, will make this a valuable single-volume resource for all those seeking to expand their understanding of this still-evolving narrative of this crucial period in military, European, and Russian history.’ Mark J. Conversino, H-War
‘Alexander Hill’s Red Army and the Second World War is both a remarkable scholarly account of the Eastern Front and a valuable addition to our understanding of the Red Army and its evolution as a military machine.’ Christopher C. Lovett, The Journal of Military History
‘The Red Army and the Second World War is a must-have addition to the library of serious students of the Eastern Front.’ Reina Pennington, Parameters
Book Description
About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : Cambridge University Press; Reprint edition (February 7, 2019)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 758 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1107688159
- ISBN-13 : 978-1107688155
- Item Weight : 2.7 pounds
- Dimensions : 6 x 1.71 x 9 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #1,455,945 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #429 in Military History (Books)
- #3,356 in Russian History (Books)
- #13,235 in World War II History (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Originally from the UK, Alexander Hill is a prof. at the University of Calgary, Canada, where he teaches Russian and military history. His The Red Army and the Second World War was published with Cambridge in 2017, and he has also published a number of titles relating to the Soviet Union and the Great Patriotic War with Osprey, Pen and Sword and Routledge. He has more recently starting writing and researching Soviet military assistance and advising during the Cold War and been concerned with analyzing Russia’s ‘Special Military Operation’ in Ukraine. He is editor of the Routledge Handbook for Soviet and Russian Military Studies.
Customer reviews
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Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers find the book insightful and full of facts and figures. They appreciate the cogent analysis and interesting topics. However, opinions differ on readability - some find it well-written and useful, while others criticize poor grammar and rambling text.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers find the book insightful and detailed. It covers interesting topics like the Red Army during World War II. The analysis is cogent and the book provides a lot of unvarnished truth. Readers appreciate the extensive research, bibliography, and footnotes.
"...on detail and analysis for the final quarter as he continues to deliver narrative with penetrating insight jam packed with new facts all the way up..." Read more
"...Hill is straight-forward in his assessments...." Read more
"...There is a lot of unvarnished truth here and it stands in sharp contrast to the poorly written, ridiculously polemic “Stalin’s War”...." Read more
"...Moving into the war itself, there again lots of interesting facts and figures, although the author seems to lose his focus a bit covering the vast..." Read more
Customers have different views on the book's readability. Some find it well-written with smooth prose and a clear direction. Others mention issues with poor grammar, rambling text, and difficult to understand two-page paragraphs.
"...Another plus for this impressive work is that Hill does not concentrate on the Soviet ground forces, but also provides readers with a detailed look..." Read more
"...The writing is sometimes difficult to wade through, and two-page paragraphs are often challenging. But they are definitely worth the effort." Read more
"A very good book that for the most part examines the organization of the Red Army, and its performance in WW II, from an overall strategic and..." Read more
"It is rare to find a study of the Red Army and this period as well done and useful as this...." Read more
Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on October 18, 2017Would like to echo the other reviewers comments with a word of caution for someone other than a serious military historian who might be interested in reading this book.
First, the author has far greater command over the facts and figures than smoothly flowing prose. In short, its a bit of a tough read and one in which I found myself regularly going back to go through a paragraph a second time to ensure it made sense; Additionally, the Cambridge editors did not do a stellar job on catching the more than occasional typo. All in all, I felt this book was rushed into publication by a press eager to inaugurate its Armies of the Second World War series.
That is about all I would caution prospective buyers about. For me, the flaws were not enough to deter me from buying it or from giving it a five star rating.
The manuscript's strengths far outweigh its flaws. One look at the bibliography shows that the author has plumbed Russian sources far more than most english speaking historians writing about this topic. More importantly, he takes those sources with a "grain of salt" whenever required and points out which sources he considers as reliable.
That leads me into another strong point of this book, namely Professor Hill - unlike many of his contemporaries - includes cogent and insightful analysis with his accounts of personalities, events, and technology. He begins with the Revolutionary Soviet Army and proceeds to chart its evolution to a professional force with detailed looks at tactical and technical developments, experience in the Spanish Civil War, border clashes with the Japanese in the late 1930s, the war with Finland, and occupation of the Baltic States and Poland. When combined with his detailed examination of the Russo-German conflict that spanned June 1941 - May 1945, Hill has arguably succeeded in producing one of the most comprehensive and informative accounts of the Red Army to date.
He does an excellent job of laying the groundwork for the events that took place in the immediate aftermath of the German invasion, namely why a defending force that far outnumbered the attackers AND which possessed better tanks did so poorly in the opening months of the Eastern Front. Hill then details how the first shipments of lend lease made a much greater difference than mere numbers suggest by looking how the Red Army stood at the end of 1941 and how it benefited from mostly British deliveries at a critical period.
Hill then discusses Stalin's misplaced belief that the Germans stopping before Moscow passed the strategic initiative back to the Soviets, which led to a series of costly offensive operations, which for the most part lacked proper planning and resources, that succeeded at winning back territory but at a horrific cost in men and equipment. The debilitated Soviet forces were therefore unable to stop the Germans from pushing to Stalingrad, which turned out to be an equally fateful mistake.
One thing that I really liked (among many) in this book was that Hill is able to clearly explain the relationship between the Eastern Front and other theaters of war. The Soviets benefited from operations by the Western Allies and vice versa at several points in the war.
Another plus for this impressive work is that Hill does not concentrate on the Soviet ground forces, but also provides readers with a detailed look at the Soviet Air Force throughout the conflict.
If one is more interested in the latter half of the conflict vice the Barbarossa through Kursk period, then perspective buyers should be aware that the first three-quarters of the book takes the reader up to Kursk, with the final quarter devoted to the final two years (almost) of the Russo -German war. That said, Hill does not skimp on detail and analysis for the final quarter as he continues to deliver narrative with penetrating insight jam packed with new facts all the way up the book's conclusion.
Very highly recommended.
- Reviewed in the United States on August 13, 2017A very good book that for the most part examines the organization of the Red Army, and its performance in WW II, from an overall strategic and operational level. For example, the author discusses the evolution of the Red Army’s Command, Control, Communications, and Intelligence (C3I) and training from 1941 through 1945: awful in 1941, poor but improving in 1942, reasonably good and effective in 1943, and very good in 1944 and 1945. Its command structure was probably never as sophisticated as those of the German, British and American armies but it was sufficiently effective to triumph in 1944 and 1945. Similarly, the author discusses the improvements in the overall strategic and operational planning at the level of Stalin and the General Staff over time. Other issues such as the development and distribution of radio sets (both in terms of quality and quantity), improvement in the army’s supply and distribution system, and improvements in field reconnaissance are also discussed.
There is also much discussion of the overall lack of initiative at mid- and lower-grade levels, which was only partly due to Stalinist / Communist rigidity. Soviet lower level officers and Soviet society in general simply lacked the education level, military knowledge, and personal characteristics to make reasonably good independent decisions. The Great Purge of 1937 – 1940 didn’t help inculcate such characteristics.
The book sometimes does get bogged down in more trivial subjects (I thought) such as details of the Partisan behind-the lines-movement, individual cavalry attacks, and individual aerial fighting.
In my opinion, the book’s greatest weakness is the evident lack of a really professional editor. The author evidently loves the words “however,” “nonetheless,” and “certainly.” Sometimes they are all used in the same sentence. There are several instances where “however” is used twice in the same sentence, and at least one example where it was used three times in the same sentence. I had to read those sentences three or four times before I was reasonably sure I understood what the author was trying to state.
There are also several examples of incredibly long paragraphs that meander over several subjects. For example:
• Pages 57 – 59 contain a 1 ¾ page paragraph on the Terror of 1937 and its perpetrators and effects on other current Generals and survivors who would become Generals in the future.
• Pages 189 – 191 contain a 2 ¼ page paragraph on anti-tank gun production, ammunition production, and gun performance.
• Pages 266 – 267 contain a 1 ½ page paragraph on Soviet infantry attacks in front of Moscow, T-34 tank attacks by 5th Army, and separate attacks by a variety of Brigades and Independent Tank Battalions.
Another criticism is the sometimes incredibly long and convoluted individual sentences. I’ll just cite one example from page 266:
“Infantry support for the component of the Soviet operation by 33rd Army to eliminate the forward bridgehead over the Desna for example was limited to relatively small numbers of tank - riding troops – on 2 December only 65 infantrymen accompanied 136th independent tank battalion as it went over to the defense that night, and even the next day Soviet operations did not for example include the two ski battalions (23rd and 24) and 18th Rifle Brigade allocated as support, where according to Soviet after-action reports even on 3 December the concentration of the infantry was delayed and at the allotted time the infantry did not attack.”
There are also instances of sentences having a singular subject with an associated plural verb and sentences with plural subjects and a singular verb. There are also at least a couple of sentences with no verb at all.
- Reviewed in the United States on November 28, 2023This book is a must for anyone interested in the Russo-German war of World War II. Hill effectively mines the Russian archival materials, memoirs, and secondary sources to bring forth so much new material to a topic that is dominated by German memoirs and western secondary sources. Hill is straight-forward in his assessments. He has not heroes and no villains, but he does expose massive incompetence and arrogance within the Russian command hierarchy. Hill details the growth of the Russian Army from the end of the Civil War through the conquest of Berlin, the Army's doctrinal, organizational, and materiel strengths and weaknesses, and the often malign impact of Stalin's callous leadership. For those of us who have had our views of this epic struggle shaped by German, American, and British accounts, this book is a must.
A very slight negative--I think this work would have been significantly helped with better editing. The writing is sometimes difficult to wade through, and two-page paragraphs are often challenging. But they are definitely worth the effort.
- Reviewed in the United States on October 21, 2023It is rare to find a study of the Red Army and this period as well done and useful as this. The author knows his stuff and does a great job of uncovering facts and emphasizing the realities of the Red Army during WW2. There is a lot of unvarnished truth here and it stands in sharp contrast to the poorly written, ridiculously polemic “Stalin’s War”. This is not a book about individual battles and campaigns. While he references these battles and campaigns in a very short fashion throughout the book, his emphasis is to show you the changes in the Red Army overtime, it’s failures, it’s successes, and the mistaken things that never changed. A rare book.
Top reviews from other countries
- Amazon CustomerReviewed in Germany on August 23, 2021
5.0 out of 5 stars Exhaustive, overwhelming and very informative at the same time
This was a very informative general introduction to the Red Army as an organization. This is not an exhaustive list of battles and engagements, but the complex mechanics and functioning of the Army and its evolutions from above, but also from below as it never forgets the men and women who were a part of it, basing itself to a large extent on their testimonies.
- BookWorm1917Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 18, 2020
5.0 out of 5 stars A great military academic analysis
Hill avoids making this book a political criticism and focuses primarily on the structural, logistical and tactical failures and successes of the Red Army from its inception during the Civil War, with such issues as the revolutionary anti-Tsarist restructuring of the hierarchy, through to the turbulent 1930s when the Soviet military was in a state of array in a time where it was rushing to prepare for a war with Nazi Germany, up until the end of the Great Patriotic War, where it often struggles but continues to adapt to an ever changing and volatile situation in the world's most bloodiest war. Hill's clearly gone to much effort to sourcing his information, and no doubt this success of a book can also be attributed to the work of his predecessors whom he often quotes.
From some of the reviews I've read, some readers were expecting an overview history of the Eastern Front during WWII, rather than this very figures-based analysis. I can understand how for someone new to the topic this could be overwhelming or just plain boring, as you are bombarded with statistics of industrial output of munitions, resourcing of manpower, as well as numerous names of commanders within the Red Army throughout the first half of the 20th century. One criticical feedback I do agree with is that this book is lacking in illustrations of battlefronts, as unless you are familiar with the geography and progression of the Eastern Front, it can be difficult for the reader to keep up. Perhaps illustrations of not so well-known Soviet commanders would've been helpful, too, if not to only put a face to the many names. One other criticism would be towards the second half of the book I came across many editing errors- as one review has previously said, I believe this is due to the fact that this is part of a series and there was a rush to get it published in time, but nonetheless, throughout the book its all readable. Other than that, this book was EXACTLY what I have been looking for, and anyone looking for a strictly academic overview of the topic should purchase this book with assured satisfaction.
- Menzo KwintReviewed in the United Kingdom on November 15, 2017
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
very interesting but badly written
- Jikichiro MatsubaraReviewed in the United Kingdom on May 12, 2018
5.0 out of 5 stars Good quality and quick delivery
Good product as described. Thank you very much.