Germany and the Second World War Volume IV: The Attack on the Soviet Union

Nine months after the beginning of the Second World War, German dominance over much of Europe seemed assured. Hitler not only stood on the pinnacle of his popularity in Germany but more than ever his ideological fixations and political calculations determined German war policy. This volume, the fourth in the acclaimed Germany and the Second World War series, examines the thinking behind the decision to go to war with the Soviet Union which was to prove the undoing of the German war effort. The authors examine in revealing detail the military and political policies behind the attack on the Soviet Union and the strategic conduct of the war. They explore not only the command principles and practices, but also the expenditure and attrition of the forces, and show that by the end of 1941 it was clear that it was in the eastern theatre that the Second World War would be decided and the map of Europe redrawn.

1 - Hitler's Decision in Favour of War Against the Soviet Union
2 - The Soviet Union up to the Eve of the German Attack
3 - From Economic Alliance to a War of Colonial Exploitation
4 - The Military Concept of the War Against the Soviet Union
5 - Germany's Acquisition of Allies in South-East Europe
6 - The Involvement of Scandinavia in the Plans for Barbarossa
7 - Operation Barbarossa as a War of Conquest and Annihilation
1 - The Conduct of Operations
2 - The Conduct of the War Through Soviet Eyes
3 - Strategy and Policy in Northern Europe
4 - The Decisions of the Tripartite Pact States
5 - Volunteers for the 'European Crusade against Bolshevism'
6 - The Failure of the Economic 'Blitzkrieg Strategy'
7 - Securing 'Living-Space'

Project co-ordinated by the Milit"argeschichtliches Forschungsamt (Research Institute for Military History), Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany