Title
Moscow 1941 : a city and its people at war / Rodric Braithwaite.
Variant Title
Moscow nineteen forty-one
Edition
1st Vintage Books ed.
ISBN
9781400095452 (pbk.)
140009545X (pbk.)
Publication Details
New York : Vintage Books, 2007, c2006.
Language
English
Description
398 p., [32] p. of plates : ill., maps ; 21 cm.
Call Number
D764.3.M6 B73 2007
Dewey Decimal Classification
940.54/21731
Summary
The 1941 Battle of Moscow--unquestionably one of the most decisive battles of the Second World War--marked the first strategic defeat of the German armed forces in their seemingly unstoppable march across Europe. The Soviets lost many more people in that one battle than the British and Americans lost in the whole of the war. Now, Rodric Braithwaite tells the story in large part through the individual experiences of ordinary Russian men and women. Setting his narrative firmly against the background of Moscow and its people, Braithwaite begins in early 1941, when the Soviet Union was still untouched by the war raging to the west. We see how--despite abundant secret intelligence--the breaching of the border by the Wehrmacht in June took the country by surprise, and how, when the Germans pushed to Moscow in November, the Red Army and the capital's inhabitants undertook to defend their city. Finally, in the winter of 1941--1942, they turned the Germans back on the very outskirts. Braithwaite's narrative of the military action offers portraits of Stalin and his generals. By interweaving the personal remembrances of soldiers, politicians, writers, artists, workers, and schoolchildren, he gives us an understanding of how the war affected the daily life of Moscow, and of the extraordinary bravery, endurance, and sacrifice--both voluntary and involuntary--that was required of its citizens.
Bibliography, etc. Note
Includes bibliographical references and index.
New Year, 1941
Part I: The slow approach of thunder: The shaping of the city
Forging utopia
Wars and rumours of wars
Part II: The storm breaks: 22 June 1941
The Russian fight back
The volunteers
Mobilising the masses
Stalin takes a grip
The eye of the storm
Fire over Moscow
Part III: Typhoon: The Germans break through
Panic
Evacuation
Compressing the spring
The spring uncoils
Defeat into victory
Aftermath.