Russia World War Ii

Of the 30 million who fought in the eastern front of World War II, 8 million died, driven forward in suicidal charges, shattered by German shells and tanks. They were the men and women of the Red Army, a ragtag mass of soldiers who confronted Europe's most lethal fighting force and by 1945 had defeated it. Sixty years have passed since their epic triumph, but the heart and mind of Ivan - as the ordinary Russian soldier was called-remain a mystery. We know something about how the soldiers died, but nearly nothing about how they lived, how they saw the world, or why they fought. 

As the ‘Funeral Bride,’ Alexandra of Hesse-Darmstadt marries Tsar Nicholas II only a week after the premature death of his father, Tsar Alexander III. Already dismissed out of hand by the court, Alexandra has to further contend with the continuing ambition of her mother-in-law, the Dowager-Empress Minnie, who has no intention of ceding imperial precedence to the new Empress or of giving up one inch of her power and influence over her emotionally-dependent son, the new Tsar. Nevertheless, Empress Alexandra is determined to stamp her authority on Russia as a whole and on Nicholas in ...

When people think of the Holocaust, they think of Auschwitz, of Dachau; and when they think of justice for this terrible chapter in history, they think of Nuremberg. Not of Russia or the Ukraine, and certainly not a town called Kharkov. But in reality, the first war-crimes trial against the Nazis was in this idyllic, peaceful Ukrainian city, which is fitting, because it is also where the Holocaust actually began.

When it comes to the subject of war there are few conflicts that loom larger in our minds than the Second World War, fought between 1939 and 1945. Many of us can remember relatives and friends who were involved in the conflict, but as the years go by, passing on the lessons learnt from World War II to each new generation, becomes ever more important. Liam Dale's World War II History Journals fulfills that task, with year on year chapters covering the history of this landmark encounter in world history.

Grand Duke Sandro Mikhailovich lazing in the grass with Nicky Romanov in May 1883 … Within twenty-five years, the Romanovs, the most powerful, the most vicious and arguably the most bizarre imperial family of modern times will have ceased to rule Russia through a mixture of haplessness, indolence and fatalism. Sandro was a crucial witness to the collapse of his family. He was the cousin, brother-in-law and close friend of the last tsar, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia. He was with Nicky when thousands of Russian peasants died at Khodynka Field during Nicky’s coronation; he was with Nicky in ...

Dawn on Sunday, June 22, 1941 saw the opening onslaughts of Operation Barbarossa as German forces stormed forward into the Soviet Union. Few of them were to survive the five long years of bitter struggle. A posting to the Eastern Front during the Second World War was rightly regarded with dread by the German soldiers. They saw epic battles such as Stalingrad and Kursk, and yet it was a daily war of attrition which ultimately proved fatal for Hitler's ambition and the German military machine.

Ice Road to Russia is a gripping, true account of the British Arctic Convoys of the Second World War, told in a clear, narrative style that brings the listener onto the freezing decks and into the tense silence between attacks. These were not routine supply runs. They were a lifeline drawn across the top of the world, carrying tanks, aircraft, trucks, fuel, food, and raw materials to the Soviet Union at the moment it was fighting for survival.

The untold adventure of the deadliest sniper in history. You will read about the icy lands of Finland where a few brave Finns opposed thousands of Soviet invaders in an exciting and evocative narrative. Inside the volume you will find: The exciting account of his personal life and his experience of war against the Red Army; The most dangerous missions he successfully faced, described at an exciting pace; All of Simo Häyhä's incredible techniques described in clear detail to illustrate the secrets and methods he used in his missions as an elite sniper; The honours he received, the weapons ...

Bloomsbury presents Leningrad by Anna Reid, read by Kristin Atherton. On September 8, 1941, eleven weeks after Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa, his brutal surprise attack on the Soviet Union, Leningrad was surrounded. The siege was not lifted for two and a half years, by which time some...

Bloomsbury presents To Besiege a City by Prit Buttar, read by Leighton Pugh. '[An] excellent account.' - Richard Overy, The Telegraph Shortlisted for the Military History Matters Book of the Year Award 2024 A ground-breaking history of the siege of Leningrad, masterfully brought to life by a...

On August 5, 1942, giant pillars of dust rose over the Russian steppe, marking the advance of the 6th Army, an elite German combat unit dispatched by Hitler to capture the industrial city of Stalingrad and press on to the oil fields of Azerbaijan. The Germans were supremely confident; in three years, they had not suffered a single defeat. The Luftwaffe had already bombed the city into ruins. German soldiers hoped to complete their mission and be home in time for Christmas.

The seeds of the Cold War were sown toward the end of World War II. During the war, the US and the Soviet Union were reluctant partners. But as is often the case in history, despite their differences, America and Soviet Russia had a common enemy that brought them together - Nazi Germany. But soon after Truman was elected president, American and Soviet relations began to go south. Before the war was over, disagreements arose over how the postwar world should be administered.

On June 22, 1941, Hitler invaded the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa, one of the turning points of World War II. Within six months, the invasion bogged down on the outskirts of Moscow, and the Eastern Front proved to be the decisive theater in the defeat of the Third Reich. Ever since, most historians have agreed that this was Hitler's gravest mistake. In Hitler's Great Gamble, James Ellman argues that while Barbarossa was a gamble and perverted by genocidal Nazi ideology, it was not doomed from the start.  

Vasiliy Chuikov offers a detailed history of the Battle of Stalingrad. He was there. Chuikov's account of the battle was first published in 1962. That book was translated into English and published as The Battle for Stalingrad in 1965. This book, Stalingrad: Battle of the Century, is a translation of Chuikov's 1975 edition, a very different work. I have now re-edited my translation and eliminated some mistakes. No translation is ever perfect. There is no doubt that Stalingrad was a turning point in World War II. It was, perhaps, a turning point in human history. Adolf Hitler's psychopathic ...

Bloomsbury presents Forged in War: A military history of Russia from its beginnings to today by Mark Galeotti, read by Simon Shepherd. A masterful history of how war and insecurity, both real and perceived, have driven Russia’s destiny for centuries, including the disastrous invasion of...

The definitive history of Hitler and Stalin's politics of mass killing, explaining why Ukraine has been at the center of Western history for the last century, from the author of the international bestseller, On Tyranny. Americans call the Second World War "the Good War." But before it even began...

Wilbur Smith returns to his legendary Courtney Series with a brand new World War II thriller. 1943. The tide of the Second World War is turning. The Russian victory at Stalingrad - the bloodiest battle in history - has opened the door for the Allies. Now, they must strike decisively at the heart...

Finland has too few pilots, too few fighters, and no margin for mistakes. December 1939. The Winter War has become a frozen battle of endurance in the skies above Finland. Soviet bomber formations grow larger by the day, and every raid forces the Finnish Air Force to spend blood, fuel, and machines it cannot replace. Lieutenant Veikko Niemi has survived the first brutal weeks of the war, but survival has not made the fight easier. His old Fokkers are battered. His pilots are exhausted. And his mechanics, working with scrap metal, frozen tools, and stubborn hands, will stop at nothing to ...

1914, and the intense shadows of an unexpectedly fiery summer that is burning up the whole of Europe are hiding beneath them the darker shadows of the “war to end all wars.” And these shadows, in turn, are concealing the darkest shadows of them all – those predicting a violent revolution that will draw to a shocking close the Romanov dynasty in Russia that will devour its children. Meanwhile, Empress Alexandra, always more focused on what is happening right there in her boudoir, is more concerned about the possibility of a palace coup, as she suspects that her disconcertingly uppity ...

NIGHT WITCHES The Women Who Terrorized the Wehrmacht and Vanished from History They flew wooden biplanes through darkness. They had no radios, no armor, no parachutes. They were teenagers given obsolete aircraft and impossible missions. And they terrified the most powerful military machine in Europe. In 1941, as Nazi forces swept across the Soviet Union, Marina Raskova convinced Stalin to do the unthinkable: deploy women as combat pilots. What emerged was the 588th Night Bomber Regiment—young women flying 1920s crop-dusting biplanes on nocturnal bombing raids against German positions. The...