ABSTRACT

The Eastern Front witnessed the critical battles between the German and Russian armies which won and lost the Second World War. In Red Storm on the Reich, Christopher Duffy uncovers a military campaign of unprecedented scale and ferocity during which thirty million lives were lost - a deadly harvest in which the slaughter and suffering of German civilians reached unfathomable dimensions.
By quoting extensively from the memoirs of Soviet and German commanders and the diaries of infantrymen, Red Storm on the Reich brings to life not only the Russian military assault on the lands of Germany, but also the human drama behind what can only be called epic seiges of the fortress cities of Danzig, Kolberg and Breslau.
Christopher Duffy's gripping narrative of this unexplored offensive and the psyches behind it makes for essential reading for all those interested in the Second World War and European history.

part I|63 pages

Total War

chapter 1|4 pages

The Evolution of Total War

chapter 2|8 pages

The War Until 1945

chapter 3|23 pages

Instrument of Vengeance

chapter 4|27 pages

The Reich Before the Storm

part II|59 pages

From the Vistula to the Oder

chapter 5|12 pages

Breakthrough on the Vistula

chapter 6|8 pages

The First German Response

chapter 7|11 pages

Konev's Exploitation

chapter 8|16 pages

Zhukov's Exploitation

chapter 9|11 pages

Stay of Execution

part III|23 pages

The Southern Flank: Konev and the Continuing Contest for Silesia

chapter 10|15 pages

The Actions on the Oder

part IV|49 pages

The Baltic Flank

chapter 12|4 pages

The East Prussian Setting

chapter 15|11 pages

The Buildup of German Army Group Vistula

chapter 16|13 pages

The East Pomeranian Operation

part V|3 pages

The Siege of the Fortress Cities

chapter 17|17 pages

East Prussia

chapter 18|12 pages

Danzig and Gotenhafen

chapter 19|4 pages

Kolberg

chapter 20|3 pages

The Altdamm Bridgehead

chapter 21|10 pages

Küstrin

chapter 22|3 pages

Posen

chapter 23|17 pages

Breslau

part VI|41 pages

1945 and Germanic Eastern Europe

chapter 24|22 pages

The Catastrophe

chapter 25|11 pages

The End of the War and Beyond

chapter 26|7 pages

Summary and Conclusions