List of 16 recommended reference books on the German-Soviet War - The German-Soviet War to learn about now.

List of 16 recommended reference books on German-Soviet warfare

This article provides a list of recommended reference books for learning about the German-Soviet war.

As I have discussed earlier in this article, the German-Soviet war, a battle of unimaginable scale, puts the nature of war before us as never before.

Why did war happen? How does war change people? The Russo-German War provides an amazing insight into why genocide occurs. I myself was very surprised to learn about the Russo-German War and felt fear of war. It is a different kind of fear than I had felt before. It is not the "victim fear" that I have seen in dramas, movies, and documentaries, but the fear of war itself.

How war destroys humanity.

How does a person turn into a perpetrator?

The fear that once people are embedded in the system that drives them to war, they can no longer resist.

Extreme conditions in which the ethics of peacetime completely collapse.

The horrific ravages of the war between Germany and the Soviet Union show us these things clearly.

Each of these articles introduces the book in more detail, so if you are interested, please refer to the articles as well.

Takeshi Ohki, "The German-Soviet War: Disasters of an Extinct War," recommended as an introduction to the German-Soviet War!

The book is selling very well right now and won first place in the 2020 New Book Awards.

The fact that a book about the war between Germany and the Soviet Union has sold so well is an interesting phenomenon in itself. Is that how much interest in totalitarianism and war is growing?

This book provides a clear explanation of why the war between Germany and the Soviet Union began and how it progressed.

We will also discuss the huge battles in this war: the Siege of Moscow, the Siege of Leningrad, and the Siege of Stalingrad. What were these gigantic battles that determined the outcome of the war between Germany and the Soviet Union? We will get to know the overwhelming battles that resulted in incredible casualties.

The whole picture of the war between Germany and the Soviet Union."

Why did the war between Germany and the Soviet Union result in so many casualties?"

The book is firmly supported by two pillars.

Easy to understand and read! And I appreciate the compactness of the huge German-Soviet war in a new book size. I think this is great.

This book is an excellent gateway to learning about the war between Germany and the Soviet Union. It gives you a quick overview of this war as a whole. I highly recommend this book.

Takeshi Ohki, "The German-Soviet War: Disasters of an Extinct War," recommended as an introduction to the German-Soviet War!

World History Theatre: World War II: The Fierce Front in Europe" is a book recommended to grasp the flow of WW2.

One previous article recommends a book as an introduction to the German-Soviet War, by Takeshi Ohki.The German-Soviet War: Disasters of a War of Extinction.but this book is even broader and is recommended to get a grasp of the entire World War II process.

World History Theatre: World War II: The Fierce Front in Europe" is a book recommended to grasp the flow of WW2.

Theater of World History: How the Nazis Came to Power, a recommended reference for understanding the process of Hitler's seizure of power!

To understand World War II, it is essential to know the history of Hitler's rise to power.

Who was Hitler? How did he seize power? What were Hitler's Nazis thinking and trying to do?

The book is a very clear and interesting reference for learning these things.

What I appreciate about this book is that it not only explains Hitler, but also the world situation before Hitler came along.

It gives an idea of how distorted Europe was after World War I and what the German people were going through.

It is clear that Hitler's rise to power was due to the circumstances that made it easy for him to make his point. Mr. Jinno's explanations make it easy to understand the flow of history.

Hitler is not only Hitler. You will learn that Hitler was born from a complex intertwined background in the international community and in Germany.

Theater of World History: How the Nazis Came to Power, a recommended reference for understanding the process of Hitler's seizure of power!

The Battle of Moscow - The Greatest Battle of the 20th Century" is the best book to learn more about the German-Soviet war!

The author, Andrew Nagorski, is an American journalist and author who became a reporter for Newsweek magazine in 1973, serving as bureau chief in Moscow, Rome, Bonn, Warsaw, and Berlin.

The above-mentioned book by Takeshi Ohki, "German-Soviet War Disasters of the War of ExtinctionThe book "The Battle of Moscow: The Greatest Battle of the 20th Century" was published in 1945. The book "The Battle of Moscow: The Greatest Battle of the 20th Century" is also introduced in the bibliography at the end of the book, and is highly recommended for those who want to know more about the German-Soviet War.

The abundance of photographs and diagrams makes it easy to visualize what it was like in those days.

Above all, it is a very interesting read. The author's narrative is excellent and draws you into the difficult subject of the war. Why was the Battle of Moscow the largest battle in the world? Why did the soldiers have to die in vain? Why were the Germans, who were thought to be invincible, defeated?

The Battle of Moscow - The Greatest Battle of the 20th Century" is the best book to learn more about the German-Soviet war!

The Leningrad Blockade: Starvation and Ruthlessness in the City 1941-1944" - The siege of St. Petersburg that left over 800,000 people starving to death.

Famous as one of the most disastrous battles of the Russo-German war, the book tells the story of the epic siege of Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), the former capital of Russia.

This book is so shocking. The descriptions are quite intense. The citizens of Leningrad had to live in a hellish world. The book tells the story of how the citizens were starving and dying in droves. What were people doing to survive? What was happening there? One can only shudder at the horror of the situation, with over 800,000 people starving to death....

The Siege of Leningrad is a must-read to learn about the horrors of the war between Germany and the Soviet Union. Bullet-riddled battlefields are not the only kind of warfare. Strategic sieges in which civilians are starved to death are another major form of warfare.

This book is one of the best books to learn about such things. It is a book that requires a lot of preparation to read, but I highly recommend it.

The Leningrad Blockade: Starvation and Ruthlessness in the City 1941-1944" - The siege of St. Petersburg that left over 800,000 people starving to death.

Stalingrad - The Fatal Siege of Stalingrad 1942-1943, a milestone in war nonfiction.

The siege of Stalingrad was one of the largest battles that had a major impact on the outcome of the German-Soviet war.

The Battle of Moscow was a defensive battle in the suburbs, while the Battle of Leningrad was a siege. In contrast, this battle was characterized by a large-scale urban battle as well as the area surrounding Stalingrad. It was a battle in which the two sides hid from each other, deceived each other, and engaged in fierce fighting in a city in ruins from air strikes and artillery bombardment. The death toll in Stalingrad is said to have exceeded 800,000 on the Soviet side alone.

This book was highly praised in the translator's commentary, and this book was indeed interesting. I read it in one sitting.

In this book, you will learn all about the battle of Stalingrad, which decided the course of the war between Germany and the Soviet Union.

After this battle, the Nazi German army was quickly rolling down the road to defeat.

The Moscow Offensive brings huge battles on the outskirts of the city and the arrival of General Winter.

The Siege of Leningrad was a tragedy that resulted in incredible starvation deaths.

The Battle of Stalingrad will witness the largest urban battle in history.

Each battle in the war between Germany and the Soviet Union has had its own battles. And all of them are huge battles that are out of the ordinary.

It was my recent reading that shocked me with the sheer scale of the war between Germany and the Soviet Union.

This book is also highly recommended. It will give you an insight into the horror of urban warfare, in which deadly battles were fought to the death over positions only a few meters wide. I hope that you will pick up a copy of this book.

Stalingrad - The Fatal Siege of Stalingrad 1942-1943, a milestone in war nonfiction.

The Fall of Berlin, 1945: The End of World War II: The Soviet Union Strikes Back and Nazi Germany is Defeated

At the start of the war between Germany and the Soviet Union, Soviet territory was overrun by the overwhelming strength of the Nazi army, and there were repeated brutal killings by the Nazis.

However, the tables were turned and the Soviets retook the invaded area and marched on Berlin. In the process, however, the Soviets repeatedly committed tyranny in the area.

The unique aspect of the war between Germany and the Soviet Union was the combination of propaganda and actual action to destroy the enemy. This book examines the nature of the war, which resulted in unprecedented casualties.

The Fall of Berlin, 1945: The End of World War II: The Soviet Union Strikes Back and Nazi Germany is Defeated

War has no woman's face" - A book by women who experienced the war between Germany and the Soviet Union, now being made into a comic book in Japan.

In this book, the author, Alexievich, interviewed women who served in or suffered the ravages of the Russo-German War and compiled their accounts into a text. In the huge history of the Russo-German War, individual voices are drowned out. This was especially true for women. War belongs to men, so women should not speak out. Such an atmosphere existed in the country.

Alexievich breaks the unspoken taboo and rises to the occasion. Alexievich interviews each person about his or her life at that time, and extracts memories from the darkness of history.

This book is shocking. It tells a rather graphic story. And as the title of the book says, the war between Germany and the Soviet Union is seen from a woman's point of view. There are many stories that turn the image of the "manly" war that has been told until now upside down. The narratives that come out one after another are so heart wrenching to read. The reality of war is brought home to us like never before.

And now the book is being made into a comic book.

I read the original. It was a shocking book. It is also being made into a manga!# War doesn't have a woman's face.　# I want to connect with people who like to read.
The book was long banned. Why we are now bringing the untold story of "Women's War" to you in manga form. https://t.co/Occ2S94T60 @hyamazaki26.

- Takahiro Ueda @Hakodate Kinshokuji Temple (@kinsyokuzi) April 22, 2021

Please take a look at this article for a detailed description of the manga, including the original story.

This is a highly recommended book.

War has no woman's face" - A book by women who experienced the war between Germany and the Soviet Union, now being made into a comic book in Japan.

The Kachin Forest: The Elimination of the Polish Leadership: The Soviet Cover-Up of the Genocide

Although the Kachin Forest Incident is less well known in Japan than the Auschwitz Holocaust, I found this incident to be a very important event in terms of war and historical issues.

The fact that history continued to be covered up and that the Allies were complicit in this is a problem that cannot be ignored. I felt the danger of unconditionally trusting the Allies or the United Nations. I felt again that we must not forget that such things actually happen in international affairs. This is a book that reminds us of the horror of history.

Although this case is not well known in Japan, it would be very significant to learn about it.

Eradicate the country's leadership and intellectual class.

I learned that this is the standard practice when it comes to violent control of a country. It is a very frightening book. I hope you will pick up a copy.

The Kachin Forest: The Elimination of the Polish Leadership: The Soviet Cover-Up of the Genocide

Nomonhan 1939: The Unknown Beginning of World War II, a major event that had a huge impact on the war between Germany and the Soviet Union.

Nomonhan 1939: The Unknown Starting Point of World War II" by Stuart D. Goldman, translated by Yumi Yamaoka, was published by Misuzu Shobo in 2013.

First of all, let me say this first. This book is tremendous.

The book reveals that the Nomonhan Incident, a historical event that we all know only by name, had an unimaginably huge impact on the world.

The book also analyzes why Japan suffered repeated disastrous defeats in World War II and why the military went out of control and fought recklessly. I think you will be quite shocked when you read it. I myself was stunned many times while reading this book, saying, "No way.... It is that shocking.

The book provides a very clear analysis of why Japan went into war and why it was repeatedly defeated. The book presents an image of Japan that can only be seen by researchers from abroad.

It also reveals what this event meant to Stalin and Hitler.

In this book, you will learn a perspective that does not look at World War II locally, but rather as a connection between the entire world. It is a wonderful opportunity to rethink World War II.

This book raises very important issues for us to look at Japan today. I highly recommend that you pick up this book for the future of Japan. I highly recommend this book.

Nomonhan 1939: The Unknown Beginning of World War II, a major event that had a huge impact on the war between Germany and the Soviet Union.

The Red Army Reporter Grothman: Notes on the Battle of Germany and the Soviet Union 1941-45," a Soviet Jewish military reporter's view of the reality of the war between Germany and the Soviet Union.

The book introduced here is "Red Army Reporter Großmann: Notes on the Battle of Germany and the Soviet Union 1941-45," edited by Antony Biever and Lyuba Vinogradova and translated by Ko Kawakami, published by Hakusuisha in 2007.

The book will be a chronological compilation of articles and notes that Grothman, a Jew, actually went to the German-Soviet war zone and covered as a military reporter.

Grothman depicts the soldiers fighting on the front lines and the people caught up in the war from the perspective of a military reporter.

Grothman originally served in the war with patriotic ideals. He will be covering the Russian soldiers who were fighting the invading vicious Nazi army with the belief that the Soviet Union was the right thing to do.

Grothman was moved by the bravery of the soldiers, but his feelings were shaken as the Soviet forces gained the upper hand and advanced into Nazi-occupied territory.

As he marched into the war zone, he saw soldiers behaving with the same brutality as the Nazi army and witnessed the horrific reality of war, and began to question the patriotic myths espoused by Stalin.

What is also most impressive is the part of the book that covers the site of the Nazi Holocaust. When we think of the Holocaust, we think of Auschwitz, but the book describes an extermination camp called Treblinka. More than 800,000 people were murdered there. The gruesome manner of the killings is chilling to read about. It is hard to imagine how shocked Grossman must have been when he was there.

Grothman believed in ideals and served out of patriotism.

When he learns the truth about war, he is horrified by the cruel side of humanity.

Eventually, his ideas changed so much that he was almost purged by Stalin as anti-establishment.

This book provides an insight into how such a change in his thought occurred.

His front line coverage of the unprecedented war of extermination in the history of the world, the war between Germany and the Soviet Union, is a must-see record. I highly recommend this book.

The Red Army Reporter Grothman: Notes on the Battle of Germany and the Soviet Union 1941-45," a Soviet Jewish military reporter's view of the reality of the war between Germany and the Soviet Union.

Vasily Grossman's "Life and Destiny" Synopsis Commentary - A masterpiece of Russian literature about the fate of those who lived through the war between Germany and the Soviet Union!

This novel is a large work in three parts. It is over 1,350 pages in a larger book.

This book is known as one of the greatest masterpieces in the history of Russian literature, but it is also a work that one must be prepared to read.

In the Soviet Union, criticism of the regime is the most taboo of taboos. One must be prepared to be sent to a concentration camp or even executed. Grossman wrote this work, but it was raided by the KGB and confiscated. The authorities then declared it a dangerous book and decreed that it could not be published for the next two to three hundred years.

The sentence of "no publication for the next two to three hundred years" was tremendous. This shows how dangerous the novel was to the Soviet authorities. Conversely, it may be said that the novel reflected a truth that was inconvenient for the Soviet Union.

Miraculously, a copy of the manuscript was transferred abroad after his death, and the book was published. If not for this miraculous overseas publication, this brilliant novel in the history of the world might have been quietly buried without anyone knowing about it.

In the extreme circumstances of the war between Germany and the Soviet Union, Grossman depicts many realistic characters that make us sigh and make us worry. What would I do if I were in this situation? Would I be able to defend my beliefs even at the cost of everything? Would I be able to say "NO! Would you be able to keep your faith without betraying anyone? Grossman comes at us with great force.

Reading this novel, I was reminded of the unimaginable suffering and horror that each and every one of those who died in that war endured. I realized that the "fact that a million people were killed" means that "there were a million unimaginable sufferings and deaths. I felt as if Grossman was telling me that there are things that cannot be simply ended with "a million people were killed.

Vasily Grossman's "Life and Destiny" Synopsis Commentary - A masterpiece of Russian literature about the fate of those who lived through the war between Germany and the Soviet Union!

Vasily Grossman, "All Things Flow," synopsis of the masterful novel about the suffering of the Soviet repression era that continued after Stalin's death.

The first half of the novel depicts the emotional disconnect between people living in the post-Stalin world by juxtaposing a man who pandered to the regime and snitched to protect his own life and live in peace with the protagonist who defended his own claim and was sent to a concentration camp.

The snitches who defend themselves, saying they had no choice but to do so in order to survive. Those who feel guilty inside that they have disgraced others, but keep a lid on it and continue to live peacefully.

Are they really evil people? Or is the system that forced them to do so evil? Whose fault is this?

The idea that Stalin, the dictator, is all bad is propagated after Stalin's death. But is this really the case? Grossman asks whether those who participated in the snitching are really innocent.

In the middle part of the book, we are told about the great famine in Ukraine led by Stalin. This famine was not caused by a natural disaster, but was man-made. The famine was not caused by natural disasters, but by man-made causes, and the ruthless and merciless deprivation is severely criticized.

And in the second half, he analyzes the origins and structure of the Soviet system of terror created by Lenin and perfected by Stalin. Grossman tells how the system of deprivation of freedom was created and functions.

Such criticism is absolutely taboo under the Soviet regime. The courage of Grossman to write this is unbelievable. I cannot help but be amazed that Grossman was able to write something like this without succumbing to the fear of purges. I feel that the issue of "what freedom means" was so strong within him.

Vasily Grossman, "All Things Flow," synopsis of the masterful novel about the suffering of the Soviet repression era that continued after Stalin's death.

A Shocking Book! Timothy Snyder, Bloodland: The Truth About Hitler and Stalin's Genocide

This book is about the genocide of Stalin and Hitler.

Moreover, this book brings to light facts that have never been told before. This is because, as with the "Biography of Stalin," which we have previously introduced in this blog, new materials have been discovered one after another as a result of the collapse of the Soviet Union.

And above all, the book has many references to the Nazi Holocaust.

I visited Auschwitz in 2019. I wanted to learn about the tragic past that humanity has committed.

However. Reading this book made me realize how little I know about anything.

I think that will become clear to all of you in the course of reading this book. There are facts in there that are so shocking that they will change your view of Auschwitz.

There are so many shocking things in this book that the translator would like to say that it is hard to read. But that is why I think it is necessary to read this book to learn about history.

It was my interest in Stalin's Great Terror (purges) and the German-Soviet war in World War II that led me to read this book in the first place.

Why did Stalin starve or shoot his own people to death in large numbers? It was a great mystery to me why he was able to kill people in such a brutal way that he did not consider them human, even though they were the same Soviets.

The book "Bloodland: The Truth about Hitler and Stalin's Genocide" was the best answer to that question.

This book is a very significant work for learning about the history of genocide. I highly recommend this work.

A Shocking Book! Timothy Snyder, Bloodland: The Truth About Hitler and Stalin's Genocide

Catherine Meridale, "Ivan's War: A Record of Red Army Soldiers 1939-45" What did Soviet soldiers believe and why did they keep fighting?

Ivan's War: A Record of Red Army Soldiers 1939-45, written by Catherine Meridale and translated by Yoshihiko Matsushima, was published by Hakusuisha in 2012. Catherine Meridale is also the author of "The Kremlin: A History of the Red City Walls," which was previously featured on this blog.

This book was also extremely exciting and interesting, and I had extremely high expectations for this book written by Catherine Meridale even before I read "Ivan's War: A Record of a Red Army Soldier, 1939-45". And in fact, the book was even more interesting than I expected. This is an amazing book.

This book answered a question I have had since I started learning about the history of the German-Soviet war.

The question was, "Why did Soviet soldiers continue to fight even though they knew they would die?

In the Russo-German War, the Soviet Union sent an incredibly large number of soldiers to assault the Nazi army, although it sounds good to call it manpower tactics. They were cruelly overrun by an overwhelming margin of force.

However, this manpower tactic resulted in the repulsion of Nazi forces.

We know that we were forced to fight as soldiers under Stalin's orders. We have also learned that soldiers were motivated by the rule that if they fled or were captured, they would be killed along with their relatives. (See the following article).

But still, I could not for the life of me understand why they were able to continue to fight so miserably.

This is analyzed in this book using interviews with people who experienced the war at the time, as well as new documents that accompanied the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The book reveals what each soldier went through and why he continued to fight.

Each one of them is an ordinary human being just like us.

However, the environment in which they were raised, the Soviet propaganda, the Nazi invasion, the scene of extreme violence that was so tragic, and the extreme circumstances of war that if they did not do it, they would be killed, motivated them.

A person has the potential to be anything. Depending on the circumstances, people can commit atrocities with impunity. Even if you think you are a good person, you never know what you might do. This book makes you think about that.

Catherine Meridale, "Ivan's War: A Record of Red Army Soldiers 1939-45" What did Soviet soldiers believe and why did they keep fighting?

Fuyuma Osaka's "Comrade Girl, Shoot the Enemy" Synopsis and Impressions - Recommended novel nominated for the Honya Taisho Award! A topical novel about a sniper girl fighting the war between Germany and the Soviet Union!

This work had been talked about on Twitter and other social networking sites, but it's just so interesting! Anyway, I will let you read it!

The storyline and psychological descriptions are very skillful and draw you into the story more and more. The immersion in reading is amazing.

It is a large work coming in at over 450 pages, but I read it in no time at all. As expected, I could not read the book in one sitting due to time constraints, but when I stopped, I was itching to read the rest of the book as soon as possible. It is such a fascinating storyline.

Above all, it is a story that carefully incorporates the tragedy of the German-Soviet war.

At the end of the book is a list of books that the author consulted.

There is a wide array of books featured in this article, and in "Comrade Girl, Shoot the Enemy," among them, the influence of Alexievich's "War Has No Woman's Face" and Catherine Meridale's "Ivan's War: A Red Army Soldier's Account 1939-45" is palpable.

The "reality of war, which demonizes humans to no end," as told in the two books above, is deeply dropped in "Comrade Girl, Shoot the Enemy". I was surprised by this work, which tells these stories so exquisitely in an original story. The author says that this is her debut work. I am envious of the author's writing ability to express what she has learned in her debut work while incorporating it into her story.

I sincerely hope that this work will be a gateway to learning about the German-Soviet war.

Fuyuma Osaka's "Comrade Girl, Shoot the Enemy" Synopsis and Impressions - Recommended novel nominated for the Honya Taisho Award! A topical novel about a sniper girl fighting the war between Germany and the Soviet Union!

Conclusion

These are some of the recommended reference books on the German-Soviet war.

Learning about the war between Germany and the Soviet Union is honestly quite mentally painful. You will witness the sheer horror of the war.

Of course, we do not mean to downplay the suffering of the people in the Pacific War.

However, by daring to study the German-Soviet war away from Japan, we can learn the question "What is war?" more objectively.

What will emerge from studying the question, "What is the true nature of war?" through the German-Soviet war?

The questions are: "What was the war in Japan?

What was the Pacific War that Japan fought in? Why did the war happen? What did Japan do during the war?

After learning about the war between Germany and the Soviet Union, if you think about Japan's war again, you will probably see something different from what you have seen before.

And I fear that the world is now on the eve of war. Japan is in turmoil right now due to the Corona disaster, but at the level of daily life, it appears to be peaceful and far from war. But is this really so? Even on the eve of World War II, people were leading normal lives. But when war broke out, that all changed. Where is the guarantee that this will not happen now? You have to pay attention to the signs of war.

I do not wish to unnecessarily inflame the crisis. I hope that this anxiety will prove to be unfounded.

But the only way to avoid war is to realize it before a situation is created that will force us into war. Failure to realize this is why Hitler was legitimately elected by the people and went to war with such enthusiastic support. The Soviet system during the war is also very suggestive.

Although this was partly a learning experience for me, I am happy if it has also provided an opportunity for you to think about the question, "What is war?

The above is a list of 16 recommended reference books on the German-Soviet War - The German-Soviet War that you want to learn about now.

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