Title: Through the Maelstrom
Author: Boris Gorbachevsky
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
ISBN: 978-0-7006-1605-3
Stars: 5 (out of 5)
Ok, it's been awhile since I have posted some reviews. Got caught up in with work and play so here goes....
This book is a Russian soldiers memoir. It starts out as most memoirs do, with his upbringing in Russia, family life, which includes a bit about his father spending some time in a Gulag. There are some bits on his schooling and then his volunteering for the military. I found these early chapters interesting as they included his observations on how the Russians dealt with the early parts of the war. He was sent for Mortar trg but actually never served with a Mortar unit. He talks about the Russians need for 'qualified' soldiers and how he and his fellow cadets were graduated early and sent to the Rzhev front where the vast majority of his fellow cadets fell in their very first assault.
He describes how he witnessed suicidal assaults which he knew would fail, the execution of fellow Russian scout, and how female snipers were treated. He gives an honest description of how the Russian officers lied to the soldiers to entice them to greater acts of bravery and also how the Russians acted once they entered German territory. He talks about the murder of German civilians, POW's (a nurse) and he also does not hide the fact about the mass rapes that occurred. Even to the point of disputing Russian accounts that go on to deny they happened, giving Russian titled books that talk of such war time events.
If you want to read on the Russian side of the Eastern Front battles then I recommend this memoir for you. .
Author: Boris Gorbachevsky
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
ISBN: 978-0-7006-1605-3
Stars: 5 (out of 5)
Ok, it's been awhile since I have posted some reviews. Got caught up in with work and play so here goes....
This book is a Russian soldiers memoir. It starts out as most memoirs do, with his upbringing in Russia, family life, which includes a bit about his father spending some time in a Gulag. There are some bits on his schooling and then his volunteering for the military. I found these early chapters interesting as they included his observations on how the Russians dealt with the early parts of the war. He was sent for Mortar trg but actually never served with a Mortar unit. He talks about the Russians need for 'qualified' soldiers and how he and his fellow cadets were graduated early and sent to the Rzhev front where the vast majority of his fellow cadets fell in their very first assault.
He describes how he witnessed suicidal assaults which he knew would fail, the execution of fellow Russian scout, and how female snipers were treated. He gives an honest description of how the Russian officers lied to the soldiers to entice them to greater acts of bravery and also how the Russians acted once they entered German territory. He talks about the murder of German civilians, POW's (a nurse) and he also does not hide the fact about the mass rapes that occurred. Even to the point of disputing Russian accounts that go on to deny they happened, giving Russian titled books that talk of such war time events.
If you want to read on the Russian side of the Eastern Front battles then I recommend this memoir for you. .