Osprey Pub.

Opening The Gates Of Hell

Operation Barbarossa, June -July 1941

This new title from Osprey is a highly focused look at one of WWII’s biggest and most consequential operations of the entire war, Nazi Germany’s invasion of Soviet Russia. What sets this look at Operation Barbarossa apart from many, many other looks at this momentous campaign is the author’s focus on just the immediate prelude to the invasion on June 22, 1941 and the couple of following weeks which saw rapid German advances on three fronts into the vastness of Russia.

This is very much a textual treatment of this subject matter, not a pictorial history. The time period covered by this volume is examined from both German and Soviet perspectives, from the point of common foot soldiers and unfortunate civilians, to the high commands on both sides.

Given the events that followed the invasion of the USSR in June of 1941, this book is well titled.

Vital Statistics

Format - hardcover, portrait format

Page Count - 496 pages

Size - 8.5” x 10.5”

Photos - 8 pages of period B/W images 

Tables / drawings / diagrams - a total of five maps

All text and art captions are in English.

What's between the Covers?

Above - the volume’s table of contents, with chapters in a more or less chronological arrangement.

Above - captions for the images in the photo section located in the book’s center, and a list of the maps.

As this is NOT a pictorial history, the number of photographs is quite small compared to the book’s length of almost five hundred pages. What photos there are, are located towards the center of the book on high gloss pages. These images are mostly in-action type images, half page in size, and well chosen for interest.

There are a total of five maps located throughout the book, of fair value and interest. 

The accounts provided throughout this book are largely presented in an interesting first person manner, which gives the text a very tangible “you are there” feel to it. The author presents accounts from German, Soviet, and civilian sources equally well, with horrific accounts of atrocities committed by both German and Soviet forces, as well as by civilian groups, mostly upon their Jewish neighbors. Nothing appears to be sugar coated or minimized by the author, there were a lot of heinous actions committed by a great many people, even in the earliest stages of the invasion of Russia.

All aspects of the opening weeks of Barbarossa are well examined and described in the first person anecdotal method used by the author, from the high commands of both sides (reading of Stalin’s absolute shock and denial regarding the invasion is eye opening) all the way down to aircraft pilots, tank crewmen, and the poor bloody infantry, and even the plight of the unfortunate civilians caught up in the maelstrom of war. The author describes and provides a great many fascinating first hand accounts of panicked German formations running into the superior Soviet T-34 and KV tanks, the mostly one sided aerial combat that took place in the Russian skies, river crossings under fire, the battles for Soviet strong points or fortresses (Brest in particular), it’s all very well presented.

Conclusions

This book is quite unlike many other treatments that I’ve read on major battles or campaigns. The author’s use of so many first hand accounts of the actions and activities lend a real sense of immediacy or reality to the text. The accounts seemed to jump off the page at me. 

I enjoyed reading this account of the opening weeks of Operation Barbarossa, it opened my eyes to many aspects of the operation that I did not previously know, and confirmed other things that I had known.

The author has done a terrific job of drawing together a great many sources, voices sometimes unheard from in decades, and weaving them together into a very interesting, highly detailed and yet quite readable book. If you have interest in the actions in the earliest days of Germany’s invasion of the Soviet Union, this book is a must have on your book shelf.

Highly Recommended! 

Thanks to Osprey Pub for the review copy

Reviewed by Chuck Aleshire, AMPS Chicagoland

AMPS 2nd Vice President, Midwest Region

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