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Synopsis
An objective and documentary history of the earliest origins and formative years of the Workers-Peasants Red Army from the Civil War to the initial disasters of the war with Germany, the Great Patriotic War, culminating in the "battle for Moscow" in November-December 1941.
The study makes extensive use of Soviet military histories, specialist military monograhs, Red Army regulations, military manuals and handbooks, memoirs, documentary collections on Soviet military organization and Army-Party relations. Unpublished captured German military documents describe the secret Red Army-Reichswehr collaboration. Japanese Army records provide detailed information on the Soviet military build-up in the Far East.
The "Tukhachevskii Affair" is investigated together with Stalin's murderous military purge and its consequences for the Red Army. Poor Soviet performance in the "Winter War" with Finland prompted hasty reforms, but neither reorganization nor rearmament was complete before the Germa
Booknews
This study documents the history of the Workers-Peasants Red Army from its origins in the post-revolutionary Civil War to the battle for Moscow in December 1941. Drawing from Soviet military histories, specialist monographs, Red Army publications, memoirs, and documentary collections on Soviet military organization and Army-Party relations, Erickson (emeritus, defense studies, U. or Edinburgh) considers such events as the secret collaboration with the Reichswehr, the military build-up in the Far East, the Tukhachevsky affair, Stalinist purges, and the Winter War in Finland. This edition features a new preface by the author. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)