Enduring the Whirlwind, Gregory Liedtke
Enduring the Whirlwind, Gregory Liedtke
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Enduring the Whirlwind
The German Army and the Russo-German War 1941-1943

Author: Gregory Liedtke

Narrator: James Anderson Foster

Unabridged: 9 hr 11 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 10/31/2017


Synopsis

Despite the best efforts of a number of historians, many aspects of the ferocious struggle between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union during the Second World War remain obscure or shrouded in myth. One of the most persistent of these is the notion—largely created by many former members of its own officer corps in the immediate postwar period—that the German Army was a paragon of military professionalism and operational proficiency whose defeat on the Eastern Front was solely attributable to the amateurish meddling of a crazed former Corporal and the overwhelming numerical superiority of the Red Army. A key pillar upon which the argument of German numerical-weakness vis-à-vis the Red Army has been constructed is the assertion that Germany was simply incapable of providing its army with the necessary quantities of men and equipment needed to replace its losses. In consequence, as their losses outstripped the availability of replacements, German field formations became progressively weaker until they were incapable of securing their objectives.

This work seeks to address the notion of German numerical-weakness in terms of Germany's ability to replace its losses and regenerate its military strength, and assess just how accurate this argument was during the crucial first half of the Russo-German War.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Al on October 17, 2023

Very well researched (given the limitations of the records available), very dense historical reconsideration of the German logistics and manpower situation regarding the Eastern Front and the Army of the East for the first two years of the War in the East. The author is basically suggesting that the......more

Goodreads review by Dave on June 22, 2018

Enduring the Whirlwind is a non-fiction book which seeks to lay to rest some of the mythology around the German battle on the Eastern Front. While it doesn't cover any new ground, its contention is that there is a narrative set by previous historians about the Russian's numerical advantage being the......more

Goodreads review by Arya on March 03, 2022

Basically a long wehraboo debunking article. The author argues (with a barrage of statistics) that the German army wasn't this flawless and brilliantly led force that only lost because of how much "Asiatic hordes" were thrown at them or because they were so often micromanaged by a half-mad corporal.......more

Goodreads review by Vladimiro on April 30, 2021

I like it. I agree with a critic I read in Goodreads that there are too many numbers presented, which for an audiobook is no simple task to concentrate on the detail they represent. Still, I got a better idea about the situation and the central argument of the book. It is an interesting point and th......more

Goodreads review by Mark on November 05, 2017

Interesting review of the data A strategic overview of the German War in the East. The author discusses if the Germans were so outnumbered as their Post war narratives would like you to believe they were.......more