War without without garlands

[Terry OToole]

just started reading war without garland by Robert Kershaw , eyewitness accounts from the German side of the attack on Russia in 1941 --- absolutely rivetting stuff

[InfanterieSammler]

Hi Terry-

I read that one a few years ago...IMO, one of the best books on the subject!

Enjoy,
John

[Jonathan M]

Very good book. Lacks the style of a scholarly work but it is insightful and very personal.
Jonathan

[Paul B]

Kershaw is one of the best professional military historians around -he was a Lt Col in the Parachute Regiment (I believe he served attached to US forces in the first Gulf War) and if you enjoyed this book you're sure to like his books on the German perspective of Market Garden ("It Never Snows in September") and his book on D-Day. Slightly different, but equally good, are his books on Little Big Horn ("Bloody Red Sabbath" I think) and his latest book on armoured warfare in WWII, "Tank Men".

Actually, that's quite a lot of reading.....

All the best

Paul.

[IanC]

Totally agree, I really enjoyed reading War without Garlands (The fact I picked up for very little in a cheap book shop was a bonus!)

Cheers

Ian

[CCN]

To me, its one of the most interesting eastern front books out there

[pasoleati]

Well, I wasn´t impressed at all. The style is far too fragmentary as the quotes tend to be on the short side and are very clearly chosen by "poetic" preference, i.e. those with strong adjectives have taken preference over more objective, professional tone. Referring to any source by Hannes Heer raises a strict suspicion in me. And in the chapter titled the same as the whole book, he completely ignores to discuss Russian characteristic brutality that was evident way before bolshevik take over (Ivan the Terrible, WW One, Russian Civil War) and recently in Chechnya.

And one aspect also misrepresented are the many damning German descriptions of the vastness of the steppes as a great many of these authors were city people who would have had similar views on e.g. American plains, yet Kershaw suggests these were politically influenced comments. The very same Berliners were also very unhappy with Karelian forests.

All in all, one of the most overrated books on here and other mil. fora.