Operation Barbarossa and Germany's Defeat in the East

By: David Stahel

Narrated by: Stewart Crank

Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union, began the largest and most costly campaign in military history. Its failure was a key turning point of the Second World War. The operation was planned as a Blitzkrieg to win Germany its Lebensraum in the east, and the summer of 1941 is well-known for the German army's unprecedented victories and advances. Yet the German Blitzkrieg depended almost entirely upon the motorised Panzer groups, particularly those of Army Group Centre.

Using archival records, in this book, David Stahel presents a history of Germany's summer campaign from the perspective of the two largest and most powerful Panzer groups on the Eastern front. Stahel's research provides a fundamental reassessment of Germany's war against the Soviet Union, highlighting the prodigious internal problems of the vital Panzer forces and revealing that their demise in the earliest phase of the war undermined the whole German invasion.

©2009 David Stahel (P)2021 Upfront Books

Interesting and thorough

I enjoyed listening and learning a new perspective of the failures of the German generals. Their ego led them to overestimate their ability. At the same time they had no problem aiding and committing genocide without protest or hesitation.

Very detailed and specific

This book goes into details I was never aware of. Shows a totally different view that I never heard before

Original thesis and thinking based on deep documentary evidence

Original thesis and thinking based on deep documentary evidence that flips the enduring myth of German military excellence, that should be required reading at U.S. military academies and PME courses.
Lack of maps. PDF should be included in history audiobooks, especially military history.

Great Overarching and Detailed Analysis

very well done, good narrator, good extracts from diaries and other sources. highly recommend for those interested

Nothing in particular new but for the newly interested in the eastern front it’s good

Mr Stahel has very obviously sympathetic to the SU and acts like the Red Army was never in danger and didn’t really need any help,but that usually shows in his other books and not as bad in this one. All in all a good book but if you’ve been studying the eastern front for years then unless it’s free you better pass. If you’re somewhat new to the subject then absolutely,very well worth it