THE SOVIET HIGH COMMAND A MILITARY-POLITICAL HISTORY 1918-1941

 The rarest of all WWII books is finally being reprinted in hardcover! This book presents an objective and documented history of the earliest origins and formative years of the Workers-Peasants Red Army from the Civil War to the initial disasters of the war with Germany, the Great Patriotic War, culminating in the 'battle for Moscow' in late 1941. The study makes extensive use of Soviet military histories, specialist military monographs, Red Army regulations, military manuals and handbooks, memoirs, documentary collections on Soviet military organization and Army-Party relations. Unpublished captured German military documents describe the secret Red Army-Reichswehr collaboration. Japanese Army records provide detailed information on the Soviet military build-up in the Far East. The 'Tukhachevskii affair' is investigated together with Stalin's murderous military purge and its consequences for the Red Army. Poor Soviet performance in the 'Winter War' with Finland prompted hasty reforms, but neither reorganization nor rearmament was complete before the German invasion in June 1941. First suffering catastrophic loss inflicted by the Wehrmacht the Red Army had recovered sufficiently by December 1941 to defend Moscow and to counter-attack. First published in 1962, this book has established itself as the definitive work in the field. It has also become extremely rare. With a new preface by David Glantz, and John Erickson, this book is out of print. (Please note the retail of this book has gone up to $115!, my price will hold until I sell out) 926 pp.