Posted on 09/14/2011 4:32:18 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
Glantz, David M. Before Stalingrad: Barbarossa - Hitler's Invasion of Russia 1941. Stroud, Gloucestershire: Tempus Publishing Limited, 2001. 206pp. ISBN 0-7524-2692-3.
"Today begins the last great decisive battle of the year. In it we will destroy the enemy and, in so doing, England, the instigator of this whole war... We are thus lifting from Germany and Europe the danger that has hovered over the continent ever since the times of the Huns and later the Mongol invasion" - Adolf Hitler
At 3:15 am the peaceful night in Eastern Europe was shattered by artillery fire. In what Hitler had perceived as the realization of his original dream outlined in Mein Kampf, Operation BARBAROSSA began with the ferociousness that would typify the struggle in the East. 
The Soviets, despite numerous warnings were caught unaware and the Germans drove hard and deep into Soviet territory at breakneck speeds. In the initial months of this battle, it appeared that nothing would slow down the German divisions. To many observers, the Soviet Union was on its way to becoming the next of a long list of states conquered by the Nazis.
The reality that surrounded the battle was quite different. In David Glantz’ book, Before Stalingrad: Barbarossa – Hitler’s Invasion of Russia 1941, he evaluates the situation on the ground during Operation BARBAROSSA in stunning detail. In this book, Glantz doesn’t just look at the war in the east from a singular perspective, but tries to examine the progression of the battle from both sides of the field. This book provides a rare, but detailed examination of the Soviet point of view as they desperately tried to stem the tide against the better prepared German forces.
At the beginning of hostilities with Germany, the Soviets, on paper, were a formidable foe. Possessing an enormous Army and Air Force, it would seem that they would be able to readily stand up to the German blitzkrieg and the deadly Luftwaffe. The critical flaw in the Red Army was the same one that plagued them during the Winter War against Finland the previous year. The Stalin purges had rendered the Red Army a dragon with no head. Glantz demonstrates these failings in the Soviet leadership as he details the rash decisions by the Soviets all along the chain of command. The failings of the Soviets were on many levels and the author touches on many of them. From the upper echelon, the newly formed Stavka was constantly ordering counterattacks by forces that had already been decimated and in some cases, already completely destroyed. Operationally, commanders in the field found themselves trying to coordinate counterstrokes only to be defeated by breakdowns in communications between the forces and sometimes even between the headquarters to the divisions itself. Glantz goes into detail on these missteps and the desperate situation the units were placed in as a result. He also goes over the steps that allowed the Red Army to stop the Nazi flood and even successfully counterattack as 1941 came to an end.
A strong aspect of this book is that it is extremely well organized. The first chapters go over the German invasion and the Russian response to it. This is followed by a north to south look at the three major objectives for the Wehrmacht’s Army Groups: Leningrad, Smolensk, and Kiev. This organization is maintained to the containment of BARBAROSSA by December. There is a lot of information packed into each page of this book making it of immense educational value to the reader. In fact, if there is any failing in this book at all is that sometimes it is information overload. When there are so many different army divisions getting thrown about in every page, it is possible to lose track of what is where and even what side they are associated with unless you are paying close attention. This however, is a minor issue that is more than overcome by the sheer value of knowledge in the book.
As can be expected, a book that is this detailed in information is extremely well researched. The forty-five pages of notes this book lists contains everything from entries from German field generals like Gotthardt Heinrici and Heinz Guderian, to documentation obtained from the Russian Archives in Moscow. Glantz also provides a bibliography with over one hundred different sources and two appendixes containing translated texts of Russian and German directives as well as a list of the opposing army’s organization throughout the year. The crowning addition to this book though is several pages of detailed maps showing the progression of the Wehrmacht into Soviet territory. In reading this book these maps are a great resource to get the reader situated to the region being discussed in the test and get perspective of the location of the units engaged in battle. Overall this is a very desirable book to read on the eastern front. David Glantz has shown himself to be an authority on war between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany and this book does not disappoint at all.
CougarGA7
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http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1941/sep41/f14sep41.htm
Finns hostile to German presence
Sunday, September 14, 1941 www.onwar.com
In Finland... Three German minesweepers are sabotaged while in a Helsinki dockyard.
These troops were outfitted with cold weather gear, backed up by a limited number of T-34 tanks with a powerful gun. This when the Germans had no idea the T-34 even existed. The T-34 terrorized them when they started wiping out panzers one after another.
Hitler was near apyolitic, he could not believe those sub humans had designed and built a tank which at the time was far superior to anything the Nazis had.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/14.htm
September 14th, 1941
GERMANY: Hitler’s order of 1 September, that all Jews under German rule must wear a yellow star of David, comes into effect.
FINLAND: Finnish Foreign Minister Vaino Tanner in a speech at Vaasa:
“Although we happen to be brothers-in-arms of Germany, there is no difference of opinion among us that our war concerns Finland alone. We have no part in the World War, and we do not want to become involved in its battles.” (Russell Folsom)(219)
U.S.S.R.: Archangel: British forces are operating from Russian soil for the first time since Lord Ironside’s expedition to help the White Russians in 1919. In a changed world, the “Reds” are now Britain’s allies against Germans, so RAF pilots are flying Hurricanes from Vaenga. Two squadrons - 81 and 134 - began operations three days ago after arriving at Archangel on 7 September on the carrier HMS ARGUS. Their chief target is a force of Stuka dive-bombers, the main German tool against Soviet defences, whether tanks or cities. The RAF will not stay here for the rest of the war. It will teach Soviet pilots to fly Hurricanes and hand them over.
Heeresgruppe Mitte completes the encirclement of two Soviet armies at Kiev. General Georgii K. Zhukov is named Commander in Chief, Leningrad Front and takes command of the defence of the city. He orders the harshest of punishments for dereliction of duty and orders immediate counterattacks. His actions, in large part, save the city from the Germans. (Jack McKillop)
3 Pz. Div. (GL Walter Model) contacts 1st Panzer Army’s 16 Pz. Div. (GL Hans Hube) near Lubny, Ukraine. (Jeff Chrisman)
LIBYA: A poorly executed raid by Rommel, forces his 21st Panzer Division to run out of fuel. The RAF commences bombing the exposed German units and Rommel again places his German units out of fire and orders the Italians to guard the flanks. Meanwhile, British naval forces fail in their attempt to achieve a landing at Tobruk. (Jack McKillop)
U.S.A.: Army General Headquarters (GHQ) maneuvers commence in Louisiana. The Army’s neglect of aviation support for its ground troops during the interwar period compels it to ask the Navy to provide planes to take part. Five Navy squadrons [Bombing Squadron Two (VB-2), Fighting Squadrons Forty One and Seventy Two (VF-41 and -72) and Scouting Squadrons Five and Forty Two (VS-5 and -42)] and four Marine Corps squadrons [Marine Fighting Squadron One Hundred Eleven (VMF-111), Marine Observation Squadron One Hundred Fifty One (VMO-151), and Marine Scout Bombing Squadrons One Hundred Thirty One and One Hundred Thirty Two (VMSB-131 and -132)] take part in the large-scale war games. (Jack McKillop)
ATLANTIC OCEAN: As the USN’s Task Force 15 (TF 15) proceeds toward Iceland, destroyer USS Truxtun (DD-229) reports a submarine emerging from the fog 300 yards (274 meters) away, but low visibility and uncertainty as to the position of USS MacLeish (DD-220), also in the screen of TF 15, prevents USS Truxtun from opening fire. After the submarine submerges, USS Truxtun, USS MacLeish and Sampson (DD-394) make depth charge attacks with no verifiable result. (Jack McKillop)
The Germans had already run into the T-34, and the KV-1 and KV-2 during the summer. The Red Army facing AG South had the largest number of T-34s of any Soviet Front. By December, the T-34 was no surprise. The Siberian divisions, however...
"MAJOR ROMANIAN MASSACRES OF JEWS, 1941-1942
"More than 270,000 Romanian Jews were murdered during the Holocaust.
Most were massacred in 1941 by Nazi Einsatzgruppen and the equally bloodthirsty Romanian troops.
Most were shot; others died through drownings, beatings, or other forms of torture.
One June 25, 1941, about 15,000 Jews were murdered in Iasi."
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