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War without Garlands : Operation Barbarossa, 1941 - 1942 Hardcover – Import, January 1, 2000

4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 261 ratings

Profusely illustrated history of the first phase of the war on the Eastern Front, from the German invasion to the winter Soviet counteroffensive outside Moscow and "the order of the frozen flesh."
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Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Sarpedon; First Edition (January 1, 2000)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 256 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 071102734X
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0711027343
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.07 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8.27 x 0.98 x 10.31 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 261 ratings

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Robert J. Kershaw
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Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
261 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book easy to read and a must-read for anyone interested in the Eastern front. They appreciate the variety of accounts, including first-hand accounts from German participants. The historical content is described as sound and a good historical document.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

7 customers mention "Readability"7 positive0 negative

Customers find the book easy to read and informative about the first six months of the war on the Eastern Front. They describe it as a good copy, useful, and a must-read for anyone interested in the subject. While it has over 500 pages, readers find it useful and effective.

"...Excellent work about the first 6 months of the war on the eastern front in WWII. Lot's of good facts & figures, & lots of good personal accounts...." Read more

"...Its an unusual combination but it works very well. This is a must read book for anyone interested in the Eastern front." Read more

"Very much enjoyed the book. Good mix of technical, historical and personal accounts...." Read more

"Great Book!..." Read more

3 customers mention "Account variety"3 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the variety of accounts. They mention facts, figures, personal accounts, technical, historical, and first-hand accounts of some German participants in the campaign.

"...Lot's of good facts & figures, & lots of good personal accounts. A monstrous read as well at well over 500 pages." Read more

"Very much enjoyed the book. Good mix of technical, historical and personal accounts...." Read more

"...an historical overview of the Barbarossa campaign, but also first hand accounts of some of the German participants in the campaign...." Read more

3 customers mention "Historical content"3 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the historical content. They find it a good mix of technical, historical, and personal accounts. The book is considered a sound historical document for those interested in the topic.

"Very much enjoyed the book. Good mix of technical, historical and personal accounts...." Read more

"...into the personal life of a German soldier, but also a sound historical document for those interested in the Russian front during WWII...." Read more

"Great Book! Gives the reader not only an historical overview of the Barbarossa campaign, but also first hand accounts of some of the German..." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on May 1, 2023
    With close to 50 years of being an avid reader of military history, I don't know how I missed this book until now! Excellent work about the first 6 months of the war on the eastern front in WWII. Lot's of good facts & figures, & lots of good personal accounts. A monstrous read as well at well over 500 pages.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on October 18, 2011
    This a very thorough look at the fate of the Wehrmacht from the inception of Barbarossa to the failure of Typhoon and the resulting defensive actions.

    It is very much a look through the eyes of the individual German soldier. It is neither sympathetic to them (it certainly list atrocities); but nor does it focus on the Russian or civilian experience. I think some reviewers are overly harsh when they criticize it for not giving a balanced perspective. It is explicitly the German view.

    It has a great mix of both the emotive individual experiences and a more conceptual explanation of why Barbarossa failed. Its an unusual combination but it works very well.

    This is a must read book for anyone interested in the Eastern front.
    14 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on October 1, 2013
    Very much enjoyed the book. Good mix of technical, historical and personal accounts. The privations experienced by soldiers on both sides is something that should be a part of high school history texts concerning the great wars throughout history. The author has done a great job regarding that aspect of the Eastern Front.
    4 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on February 22, 2015
    This is a true story of a German foot soldier in WWI in the Barbarossa campaign of Germany against Russia. The enormous scale of the territory covered, the true brutality of warfare and the blind conceit of the German Army hierararchy is well apparent.as seen trough the eyes of this soldier. The story provides not only a glimpse into the personal life of a German soldier, but also a sound historical document for those interested in the Russian front during WWII. Many pictures and charts. Extremely gruesome details. Not for the casual reader.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on January 30, 2010
    Great Book! Gives the reader not only an historical overview of the Barbarossa campaign, but also first hand accounts of some of the German participants in the campaign. I would highly recommend it for both the novice and for the seasoned reader of the Eastern Front.
    6 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on May 15, 2015
    Read this book !!
  • Reviewed in the United States on March 1, 2015
    good copy
  • Reviewed in the United States on November 7, 2014
    What I found surprising in our time is that people somehow forgot what the war is - they see it not as - they see it as our boys on News or our technology is the best. Particularly mass armies of Asia paper tigers who were sidekicks in the political conflicts what through media got high profile, those Indonesians , Phillippinos, Indians and Pakistanis, Australians who are still mentally in something what they May prove to themselves and to others- that they are the best . Book is well researched and reading its individual reporting on mass observation atmosphere is very illuminating on how barbarisation of warfare is complimentary to dynamic of conflict- as if World Demoncracy USA was consumed by its predestination for Third Reich legacy - in role for dominance of other states and other opinions. The book to write to investigate the world and mankind in alternative of Hitler winning the war before USA entered the conflict - Usa policy to let others to bleed what cost around 60 million people lives through diplomatic channels . What strategic idea it was and what in present Third World War is Global elite objective? The propaganda of War what we never were as a thought, never experienced and its objective what we can never identify with .Or does American Wolfowitz doctrine is Hitler in Global frame? Some sentiment of German soldaten is the same as the US based Drone operators in our time have. Still paycheque and You Tube Garlands. Life is the waste.
    One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

  • ww2 freak
    5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 9, 2024
    By far the best book I've ever read on the eastern front, it's a very big book but it keeps you reading and on the edge of your seat with the tension in some chapters..... brilliant book and my favorite author.
  • M J Di Fabio
    5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for students of WW2
    Reviewed in Italy on January 20, 2022
    War Without Garlands needed to be written to dispel the myths of Nazi propaganda concerning the first months of Barbarossa. Kershaw makes clear the German forces battered themselves half to death in order to achieve the territory gained in 1941. He also makes evident the Soviet soldier fought ferociously even when hopelessly surrounded. This work is a historical masterclass and Kershaw deserved to be mentioned in the same breath as William Craig and Cornelius Ryan.
  • Les C.
    5.0 out of 5 stars Gripping Detail
    Reviewed in Canada on October 11, 2018
    The true horror and stupidity of war described in gripping detail. Some of the scenes depicted not for the squeamish, but held my attention all the way. Would like to read a follow-up of the renewal of the Russian campaign by the Germans in 1942.
  • JunkieXcel
    5.0 out of 5 stars War without Garlands is unquestionably one of the greatest books of the early campaigns in the east and
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 20, 2014
    War without Garlands is unquestionably one of the greatest books of the early campaigns in the east and, while I make no claim to be military minded, explains expertly how Blitzkrieg worked in operational terms, with diagrams and explanations of how villages and towns were assaulted and the intricate workings of the grand encirclements, the famous Witches Cauldrons in which Stalin's early armies were annihilated. In those terms I doubt I have read a book on the subject in which the author demonstrated such mastery of operational matters, yet managed to fit all the pieces together in one coherent whole. Central to the book's message is how much of the soldiers which crossed into the USSR in June 1941 did so on foot, accompanied by horse drawn artillery, supply and kitchen wagons, and how these humans hauled themselves across dusty, arid steppe, often at a rate close to 50km a day, with only a few hours pause in between marches, in pursuit of armour vast distances to their east. Far greater emphasis is placed on perhaps the last great fortress battle of warfare, the battle for the citadel at Brest, than perhaps any other book I've read on the subject. Kershaw homes in the early warning signs of Barbarossa exhibited by mid July 1941 when the Wehrmacht started to report disproportionately high causalties among junior officers, by September many of the veterans of the French and Low Country campaigns were lost, an elite cadre Germany never regained. Germany was indeed "winning itself to death." That they managed to cobble together units for Operation Typhoon was a miracle in itself. An excellent book on the subject.
  • Clovix
    4.0 out of 5 stars Kein kindergarten krieg
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 15, 2012
    A commendable book: well written and unputdownable. It will give you great insight in the immensity of operation Barbarossa from the perspective of the ordinary soldier. Of particular interest for me were:
    - the bloody nose the Germans received at the onset of the operation in the battle for Brest-Litovsk (the first Soviet pocket).
    - the quick realisation that this operation would not be a repeat of the French campaign. The Russian soldiers often fighting to the bitter end, even in hopeless circumstances, and doing so, inflicting massive German casualties. "Better three French campaigns than one Russian."
    - the author explaining very well how the German army was "victorying itself to death" while moving even further into Russia: the costly Kesselslachten, the logistic 'tripwire', the enormous distances, the tenacity of the Russians. While these "victories" created annihilation, destruction, prisoners and atrocities on a massive and unprecedented scale.
    - the German offensive finally stuttering to a halt in the great battles before Moscow. Some soldiers already seeing the spires of Moscow only to be thrown back in gruesome winterfighting in snowstorms in -25 C or lower. The accounts of the retreat from Moscow are harrowing. Specifically for the civilians whose houses and property were systematically burnt during the retreat. Pitilessly setting them outside in cruel freezing temperatures down to -30 and -40 C.