Stalin's folly : the tragic first ten days of World War II on the Eastern front

Stalin's actions immediately preceding the Nazi attack on the Soviet Union remain somewhat murky because historians cannot search relevant Russian archives. Yet tantalizing but circumstantial evidence suggests Stalin intended to preempt Hitler by launching his own war, a proposition that historian Pleshakov accepts and to which his title refers. Whatever plot the Soviet dictator harbored, the blitzkrieg blasted it to pieces on June 22, 1941, and the ensuing, catastrophic two weeks dramatically unfold in this forceful account. Pleshakov, who displayed excellent popular pitch in The Tsar's Last Armada (2002), adeptly commands the available sources and narrates the destruction of the frontline Soviet armies and the chaotic reports of the disaster that reached Moscow. Tracking the retreats of generals and missions of Stalin's emissaries to ascertain the situation, Pleshakov arrives at the moment--the German capture of Minsk--when Stalin apparently went into a swoon; he plainly expected to be overthrown. Illustrating the terrible totalitarian maelstrom with vignettes of individual fates, Pleshakov powerfully portrays the opening shots of the most destructive war in history. "On June 22, 1941, radios all over the Soviet Union crackled with the announcement that the country had been attacked by Nazi Germany. But the voice on the airwaves was not the familiar one of Joseph Stalin; it was the voice of his deputy, Molotov. Paralyzed by Hitler's unexpected move, Stalin disappeared completely from public view for the crucial ten days of war on the Eastern Front. In this taut, hour-by-hour account, Constantine Pleshakov draws on a wealth of information from newly opened archives to elucidate the complex causes of the Soviet leader's reaction, revealing the feared despot's unrealized military stratagems as well as his personal vulnerabilities, while also offering a new and deeper understanding of Russian history."--Back cover

On June 22, 1941, radios all over the Soviet Union crackled with the announcement that the country had been attacked by Nazi Germany. But the voice on the airwaves was not the familiar one of Joseph Stalin; it was the voice of his deputy, Molotov. Paralyzed by Hitler's unexpected move, Stalin disappeared completely from public view for the crucial ten days of war on the Eastern Front. In this taut, hour-by-hour account, Constantine Pleshakov draws on a wealth of information from newly opened archives to elucidate the complex causes of the Soviet leader's reaction, revealing the feared despot's unrealized military stratagems as well as his personal vulnerabilities, while also offering a new and deeper understanding of Russian history.

Reassessing the Soviet response to the Nazi invasion of Russia, the author portrays Stalin as an ineffective military leader who allowed hundreds of thousands of his soldiers to be slaughtered in the first ten days of the invasion