Stumbling Colossus: The Red Army on the Eve of World War (Modern War Studies)

Synopsis Germany's surprise attack on June 22, 1941, shocked a Soviet Union woefully unprepared to defend itself. The day before the attack, the Red Army still comprised the world's largest fighting force. But by the end of the year, 4,500,000 of its soldiers lay dead. This study based on formerly classified Soviet archival material and neglected German sources, reveals the truth behind this national catastrophe. David Glantz claims that in 1941 the Red Army was poorly trained, inadequately equipped, ineptly organized, and consequently incapable of engaging in large-scale military campaigns - and that both Hitler and Stalin knew it. He provides reasons for why the Soviets almost lost the war that summer, dispelling many of the myths about the Red Army that have persisted since the war and refuting Viktor Suvonov's controversial thesis that Stalin was planning a pre-emptive strike against Germany. "Stumbling Colossus" describes the Red Army's command leadership, mobilization and war planning, intelligence activities, and active and reserve combat formations. It includes a complete Order of Battle of Soviet forces on the eve of the German attack, documents the strength of Soviet armoured forces during the war's initial period, and reproduces texts of actual Soviet war plans. It also provides biographical sketches of Soviet officers and explains how Stalin's purges of the late 1930s left the Red Army almost decimated.