ABSTRACT
The author brings his expert knowledge of the Russian archives to bear in analysing a military relationship that has not only been kept secret for decades, but what little has been known of it was thoroughly distorted by the propaganda needs of the Soviet Union and its rulers. This essay unravels a unique civil-military relationship as it develops over time. In the first year of the war we see that Stalin, distrusting all of his senior commanders, ruled with an iron hand over even the minutest details. But, as the war went on, and generals of proven competence revelled themselves, Stalin began giving increasing control of the planning and execution of operations to his generals, while retaining total command of wartime strategy. This is directly contrary to the approach of his nemesis – Adolf Hitler – who increasingly deprived his generals of the power to make operational decisions as the war went on. Hill expertly explores how Stalin's relationships with his senior commanders changed, how these changes impacted the war, and most crucially how the relationships set the foundation for Soviet policy in the postwar environment.
