Stalin, Hitler, and the Desperate Struggle for Moscow That Changed the Course of World War II
by Andrew Nagorski
The battle for Moscow was the biggest battle of World War II -- the biggest battle of all time. And yet it is far less known than Stalingrad, which involved about half the number of troops. From the time Hitler launched his assault on Moscow on September 30, 1941, to April 20, 1942, seven million troops were engaged in this titanic struggle. The combined losses of both sides -- those killed, taken prisoner or severely wounded -- were 2.5 million, of which nearly 2 million were on the Soviet side. But the Soviet capital narrowly survived, and for the first time the German Blitzkrieg ended in failure. This shattered Hitler's dream of a swift victory over the Soviet Union and radically changed the course of the war.
"Nagorski's sources luridly describe panic, looting and wildcat strikes as the Germans approached. Still, he concludes that whatever the shortcomings of Moscow's defenders, their deeds don't require heroic myth: the truth is honorable enough." - PW.
"Nagorski digs into newly declassified Soviet archives with worthy results." - Library Journal.
"Nagorski's account lacks the big-picture clarity of other journalistic studies of the Russian war, such as Harrison Salisbury's The 900 Days; the battle scenes are uninspired, too, as military-history buffs of the Cornelius Ryan school will quickly note. Serviceable but lackluster account." - Kirkus Reviews.
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