The Retreat

by Michael Jones

Overview

At the moment of crisis in 1941 on the Eastern front, with the forces of Hitler massing on the outskirts of Moscow, the miraculous occurred: Moscow was saved. Yet this turning point was followed by a long retreat, in which Russian forces, inspired by old beliefs in the sacred motherland, pushed back German forces steeled by the vision of the ubermensch, the iron-willed fighter. Many of Russia's 27 million military and civilian deaths occurred in this desperate struggle.

In THE RETREAT, Michael Jones, acclaimed author of LENINGRAD, draws upon a mass of new eye-witness testimony from both sides of the conflict to tell, with matchless vividness and comprehensiveness, of the crucial turning point of the Second World War - the moment when the armies of Hitler could go no further - and of the titanic and cruel struggle of two mighty empires.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781848543546
Publisher:	John Murray Press
Publication date:	11/12/2009
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Michael Jones has a PhD in History from Bristol University. He subsequently taught at Bristol Polytechnic, Glasgow University and Winchester College. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and now works freelance as a writer, media historical consultant and presenter. He has written two books and for the last 5 years he has conducted Battlefield Tours of the Eastern Front.

Michael Jones was awarded a history PhD by Bristol University and subsequently
taught at Glasgow University and Winchester College. He is a fellow
of the Royal Historical Society and member of the British Commission for
Military History, and works now as a writer, media consultant and presenter.
Among his historical titles he has written books on the battles of Bosworth,
Agincourt, and a biography of the Black Prince. He was TV consultant for Channel 4's
Richard III: Fact or Fiction and National Geographic's Mystery Files: The Princes in
the Tower, and co-author, with Philippa Gregory and David Baldwin, of The
Women of the Cousins' War.

Editorial Reviews

Jones's earlier Leningrad and Stalingrad established this British military historian's skill in conveying the human dimensions of the Russo-German War. His new narrative addresses the German sweep through Russia in the summer of 1941, its defeat at the gates of Moscow by a rejuvenated Red Army, and the massive Soviet counterattack that pushed the Wehrmacht to the edge of destruction. Jones makes a convincing case that the Fuehrer's "stand fast" order in December 1941 entailed unnecessary losses. Retreat, he argues, did not inevitably mean collapse. The point remains debatable. But there is no question of Jones's success presenting, in their own words, the growing conviction of the Germans doing the fighting that Barbarossa had been a compound mistake. "Does no one realize what it is like here?" asked one bewildered corps commander. Across the battle line, six months of atrocities demonstrated to the Russian people that whatever was wrong with the U.S.S.R., the Germans were not the solution. "I vowed to kill as many of them as possible," wrote one Soviet junior officer. His words are an epigram for an apocalyptic war, perceptively evoked here. 8 pages of b&w photos; 3 maps. (Dec.)

Publishers Weekly

In sight of Moscow, within a few miles of breaking the Soviet lines and dispersing the defenders, the Wehrmacht grounded to a halt in the autumn of 1941. From then until the spring of 1942 the German army made one long, desperate retreat, fighting the Red Army and the Russian winter in equal measure. Things didn't get better until General Walter Model took the reins in the East, and the Soviets ran out of steam. Fluently written with good sourcing, this book covers both sides of a vast conflict that dwarfed any other in Western Europe. This will add texture to collections on the German and Soviet armies of World War II.

Library Journal