stereotypes about the Red Army and Soviet Union

Morlar, at the end of the document is Glantz's endnotes where he publishes his sources. He is not writing this on a whim. I would also note that David Glantz is a fairly reputable historian who had fairly good access to the Soviet Archives. His work is not above reproach but amongst Eastern Front students he comes out fairly well. Here are his sources:



Endnotes

1. This view is drawn from a review of newspaper coverage of the war by the New York Times but, more important, by local newspapers as well. It is also based on ten year's experience in teaching and listening to a generation of postwar students at the U.S. Military Academy, The U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, and the U.S. Army War College.BACK

2. Despite efforts by the Communist Parties of the United States and Great Britain to publicize the Soviet role in war.BACK

3. Americans also believed, and still believe, the use of the atomic bomb in early August 1945 rendered Soviet operations in Manchuria superfluous.BACK

4. H. Guderian, Panzer keader, (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1957) First edition published in 1952.BACK

5. F. von Mellenthin, Panzer Battles: A Study of the Employment of Armor in the Second World War, (Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1972) First edition published in 1956.BACK

6. Ibid., 185-186, 209, 233-234, 292-304. Mellenthin did, however, note the tremendous improvements in Soviet armored capability during wartime and noted, "The extraordinary development of the Russian tank arm deserves the very careful attention of students of war."BACK

7. Ibid., 175-185.BACK

8. One of the few Soviet accounts of action along the Chir River is found in K. K. Rokossovsky, ea., Velikaya pobeda na Volge (The Great Victory on the Volga), (Moskva: Voenizdat, 1960), 307-309. An indicator of reduced 1st Tank Corps strength is apparent from German situation maps, see Lagenkarte XXXXVIII Pz-Kps, 7.12.42 through 12.12.42.BACK

9. Particularly in Mellenthin's brief account of operations in the Donbas in February 1943. The map and text provide incorrect positions for two divisions of II SS Panzer Corps.BACK

10. E. von Manstein, Lost Victories, (Chicago, Ill: Henry Regnery, 1958).BACK

11. Manstein cites force ration as being 8:1 in favor of the Soviets opposite Army Groups Don and B and 4:1 against Army Groups Center and North. Fremde Heeres 0st documents dated 1 April 1943 give the ratios of just over 2:1 against Army Groups South and A and 3:2 against Army Groups Center and North. The overall German estimate of Soviet superiority on that date was just under 2:1. See Fremde Heeres 0st Kraftegegenuberstellung: Stand 1.3.43.BACK

12. For example, H. Schroter, Stalingrad, (London: Michael Joseph, 1958).BACK

13. DA Pamphlet No. 20-232, Airborne Operations: A German Appraisal, (Department of the Army, October 1951), 36.BACK

14. H. Reinhardt, "Russian Airborne Operations, "Foreign Military Studies MS No. P-116, Reproduced by the Historical Division, U.S. Army, Europe, 1953.BACK

15. DA Pamphlet No. 20-233, German Defensive Tactics Against Russian Break throughs, (Department of the Army, October 1951).BACK

16. Ibid., 64-70. This article treated German defensive operations between Belgorod and Khar'kov from 5-23 August 1943 and subsequent delaying actions in late August and early September 1943 as a continuous delay, when, in fact, the Germans attempted to hold the Khar'kov area until forced to withdraw by heavy Russian attacks east and west of the city.BACK

17. A. Werth, Russia at War 1941-1945, (New York: E. P. Dutton Co., 1964).BACK

18. A. Clark, Barbarossa: The Russo-German Conflict 1941-1945, (London: Hutchinson, 1965).BACK

19. E. Ziemke, Stalingrad to Berlin: The German Defeat in the East, (Washington, DC: Office of the Chief of Military History, United States Army,1968).BACK

20. P. Carell, Hitler Moves East and Scorched Earth, (New York: Little, Brown, 1965, 1966).BACK

21. A. Seaton, The Russo-German War 1941-1945, (London: Arthur Barker, 1971); A. Seaton, The Battle of Moscow, (New York: Playboy Press, 1980), original edition 1971.BACK

22. J. Erickson, The Soviet High Command: A Political-Military History 1918-1941, (London: St. Martins, 1962).BACK

23. J. Erickson, The Road to Stalingrad: Stalin's War with Germany,(Boulder, Co: Westview Press, 1984), First edition in 1975; J. Erickson, The Road to Berlin: Continuing the History of Stalin's War with Germany, (Boulder, Co: Westview Press, 1983).BACK

24. General histories of the war included I. V. Anisimov, G. V. Kuz'min, Velikaya Otechestvennaya voina Sovetskovo Soyaza 1941-1945 gg (The Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union 1941-1945), (Moskva: Voenizdat, 1952), and F. D. Vorobtev, V. M. Kravtsov, Pobedy Sovetskykh vooruzhennykh sil v Velikoi Otechestvennoi voine 1941-1945 (The Victory of the Soviet Armed Forces in the Great Patriotic War), (Moskva: Voenizdat, 1953). All were highly political, focused on the role of Stalin, and lacking in any useful military details. A notable exception was one monograph, V. P. Morozov, Zapadnee Voronezha (West of Voronezh), (Moskva: Voenizdat, 1956), a work whose factual content and candor set the tone for subsequent studies published after 1958. During this apparently sterile period in terms of military details, substantial articles did appear in some Soviet military journals, in particular in the Journal of Armored and Mechanized Forces (Zhurnal Bronetankovykh I mekhanizirovannykh voisk), and in Military Thought (Voennaya Mysl'), but both of these journals were unavailable to the American reading public and historians as well.BACK

25. Military History Journal (Voenno-istoricheskii Zhurnal) is the official organ of the Soviet Ministry of Defense.BACK

26. S. P. Platonav, ea., Vtoraya miroveya voina 1939-1945 gg (Moskva: Voenizdat, 1958).BACK

27. K. S. Rolganov, ea., Pazvitie taktiki Sovetskai Armii v gody Velikoi Otechestvennoi voiny (1941-1945 gg) (The development of Soviet Army tactics during the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945), (Moskva: Voenisdat, 1958). A companion book related the experiences of armored forces.BACK

28. Among the front and army commanders who did not write memoirs, either because they died during wartime or in the immediate postwar period or because of other reasons were Vatutin (Voronexh and 1st Ukrainian Front commander who died in early 1944), Chernyakovsky (3rd Belorussian Front commander who died in February 1945), Bogdanov (2d Guards Tank Army), Rybalko (3rd Guards Tank Army), and Kravchenko (6th Guards Tank Army). Rotmistrov (5th Guards Tank Army) wrote half of his memoirs before death interrupted his work.BACK

29. Among which are most of the armies which operated on secondary directions, in particular in 1944 and 1945.BACK

30. These include operational studies by a single author or by a "collective" of authors or anthologies made up of made up of articles written by distinguished participants in the operation from all command and staff levels.BACK

31. All of these highly technical studies have been periodically updated to include the results of subsequent research. Most are used in the Soviet military education system.BACK

32. Istoriya Velikoi Otechestvennoi voiny Sovetskovo Soyuza 1941-1945 (History of the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union 1941-1945) in 6 volumes (Moskva: Voenizdat, 1960-1965).BACK

33. Istoriya vtoroi mirovoi voiny 1939-1945 (History of the Second World War 1939-1945) in 12 volumes (Moskva: Voenizdat, 1973-1982).BACK

34. Stalin himself contributed to the military writings in the form of a short general history of the war. In the same period he established his claim as military theorist by enunciating 0a "permanent operating factors" which he claimed governed the conduct and outcome of war.BACK

35. Recently Military History Journal has published several articles on mechanized forces in the border battles of 1941. Moskalenko was the first to cast light on details of the Khar'kov debacle in his work Na yugozapadnom napravlenii (On the eouthwest direction), (Moskva: Voenisdat, 1972). A. G. Yershov revealed details of the Donbas operation in his work Osvobazdenie Donbassa (The liberation of the Donbas), (Moskva: Voenizdat, 1973), but cloaked the material on the Soviet February-March 1943 defeat in details concerning the Soviet victories in the same area later in the year. Characteristically bits and pieces of details about these operations are found in individual unit histories. It is left to the historian to fit the pieces together into a coherent whole.BACK

36. Such as 3d, 3d Guards, 27th, 28th, 31st, 40th-49th, 52d, 53d, 60th, 70th, and other armies.BACK

37. For example, the debate between Zhokov and Chuikov over the feasibility of Soviet forces advancing on Berlin in February 1945 at the end of the Vistula-Oder operation and the manner of Zhurkov's conduct of the penetration phase of the Berlin operation.BACK

38. In Soviet studies involving airborne operations west of Moscow in early 1942 Soviet accounts contain German order of battle data unobtainable in German secondary accounts. See I. I. Lisov, Desantniki-vozdazhnye desanty (Airlanding troops --air landings), (Moskva: Voenizdat, 1968).BACK

39. For example, a German account of the seizure of Barvenkovo in the Donbas in February 1943 talks of the Germans using a ruse to frighten Soviet defenders from the city without a fight. In actuality, Soviet accounts and German records indicate it took several days of heavy fighting to expel Soviet forces from the city. Conversely, what the Soviets described as "heavy street fighting" to secure Khar'kov in August 1943 turned out to be lighter action against German stragglers left behind as the Germans deliberately abandoned the city (albeit against the orders of the German High Command).BACK

40. This action is described in G. S. Zdanovich, Idem v nastuplenie (On the offensive), (Moskva: Voenixdat, 1980), 47-53.BACK

41. Interview with Oberst (Formerly Lt.) Helmut Ritgen at the U.S. Army War College in March 1984. Both accounts of the action are confirmed by Lagenkarte XXXXVIII pz. kps, 29.12.42; Kriegs-Tagebuch, Gen. Kdo, XXXXVIII Panzer Korps, 28.12.42, 29.12.42.BACK

42. For example, Fremde Heeres 0st (Foreign Armies East) assessed Soviet strength on the Eastern Front on 1 November 1944 to be 5.2 million men. Soviet sources claim the strength of their operating forces on the Eastern Front was 6 million men.BACK

43. OKH (Army High Command) strength reports show roughly 2.1 million German soldiers on the Eastern Front on 1 November 1944 plus about 200,000 men in Allied forces. The Soviets claim they were opposed by 3.1 million -men. On January 1945 Soviet sources cite German armor strength at 4,000 tanks and self-propelled guns. German records show about 3,500 tanks and self-propelled guns. The Soviets credit the Germans with 28,500 guns and mortars while German records show a figure of 5,700. Similar discrepancies between Soviet and German data exist throughout the war.BACK

44. For example, the Soviets claim they suffered 32,000 killed and wounded in Manchuria and have cited precise figures for some other operations or percentages of losses in particular units during specific operations. Similar figures are usually unobtainable for operations occurring earlier in the war. One can reach gross conclusions about losses from unit histories such as that of the 203rd Rifle Division which, by the end of the Middle Don operation, had losses which reduced the strength of rifle companies to 10-15 men each. In this case full TOE strength would have been 76 men, but most divisions began operations with from 40-60 men per company. Obviously, in this instance losses were high.BACK

45. This includes extensive analysis of operations done within the context of the U.S. Army War College Art of War symposium which has completed a three year analysis of selected Eastern Front operations from late 1942 through 1945. New Ultra information and material from the Fremde Heeres 0st archives cast new light on the actual intelligence picture upon which Hitler and the Army High Command based their decisions. New German works by such historians as H. Boog, G. Ueberscharl and W. Wette are also challenging traditional views concerning the rationale for German strategic and operational decisions. Most of these works however, are not available in English.BACK

I would also agree with this part of the article where he talks about Guderian and Von Mellenthin's memoirs. I have read them both and agree with his assessment:

If American wartime impressions of combat on the Eastern Front were vague and imprecise, there was some improvement in that picture during the first decade and a half after war ended. However, during that period a new tendency emerged that colored almost all future works describing events on the Eastern Front. That tendency was to view operations in the East through German eyes and virtually only German eyes. From 1945 to 1958 essentially all works written in English or translated into English about events on the Eastern Front were written by German authors, many of whom were veterans of combat in the East, works moreover, based solely on German sources.

This German period of war historiography embraced two genre of works. The first included memoirs written during those years when it was both necessary and sensible to dissociate oneself from Hitler or Hitler's policies. Justifiable or not, the writers of these memoirs did just that and essentially laid blame on Hitler for most strategic, operational, and often tactical failures. Thus, an apologetic tone permeated these works. Officers who shared in the success of Hitler's armies refused to shoulder responsibility for the failures of the same armies. Only further research will judge the correctness of their views.

The first of the postwar memoirs to appear in English was the by now classic work, Panzer Leader, by Heinz Guderian. Guderian's work, which casts considerable light on strategic and operational decisions while Guderian was a panzer group commander in 1941 and later when he became Chief of Staff in 1944, set the tone for future treatment by German generals of Hitler's leadership. Guderian laid at Hitler's feet principal responsibility for all failures of the German Army and for the dismantling of the German General Staff. The German General Staff was portrayed as both used and abused by Hitler throughout the war. Guderian's message was best conveyed by the chapter heading he chose for the section of the Polish War of 1939 which read, "The Beginning of the Disaster." As in most subsequent works, Guderian included little Soviet operational data.

One of the most influential postwar German war critiques was General von Mellenthin's Panzer Battles published ln English in 1956. Mellenthin's work, an operational/tactical account of considerable merit, echoed the criticism of Hitler voiced by Guderian and showed how Hitler's adverse influence affected tactical operations. Beyond this, Mellenthin's work adopted a didactic approach in order to analyze operations and hence educate officers. Throughout the book are judgments concerning military principles and assessments of the nature of the Soviet fighting men and officers, most of which have been incorporated into the current "body of truth" about Soviet military capabilities. Hence, Mellenthin made such judgments as these: the Russian soldier is tenacious on defense, inflexible on offense, subject to panic when facing unforeseen eventualities, an excellent night fighter, a master of infiltra- tion, a resolute and implacable defender of bridgeheads, and neglectful of the value of human life. As was in the case of Guderian, Mellenthin's experiences against the Red Army encompassed the period before spring 1944 and reflected impressions acquired principally during years of German success.

Mellenthln's work, written without benefit of archival materials, tended to treat tactical cases without fully describing their operational context. Opposing Soviet units, as in Guderian's work, were faceless. Mellenthin's classic account of XXXXVIII Panzer Corps' operations along the Chir River after the encirclement of German 6th Army at Stalingrad stands as an example of the weaknesses of his book. In it he describes the brilliant operations of that panzer corps in fending off assaults by Soviet 5th Tank Army's units which included first the 1st Tank Corps and later 5th Mechanized Corps. On 7-8 December 1942, 11th Panzer Division parried a thrust of 1st Tank Corps at State Farm 79 while on 19 December, 11th Panzer checked the advance of 5th Mechanized Corps. Despite the vivid accounts of these tactical successes, Mellenthin only in passing describes the operational disaster that provided a context for these fleeting tactical successes. For, in fact, while Soviet 5th Tank Army occupied XXXXVIII Panzer Corps' attention, to the northwest Soviet forces overwhelmed and destroyed the Italian 8th Army and severely damaged Army Detachment Hollidt. Moreover, Mellenthin did not mention (probably because he did not know) that Soviet 1st Tank Corps had been in nearly continuous operation since 19 November and was under strength and worn down when it began its march across the Chir.

He does have a point you know! He's not scorning their work. Merely stating that it gives one viewpoint and doesnt take into account all aspects.