A Fresh Look at the German Army in Russia

In his first book Dr. Liedtke joins the ranks of scholars who have in recent years dismantled the largely pro-German image of the Russo-German war that prevailed during the immediate postwar decades.

Concentrating on the first two years of the campaign, Liedtke makes an impressive case against the “perception of numerical weakness” perpetuated by German memoirists and the Cold War-era historians who referenced them. Through analysis of masses of data, Liedtke illustrates that the German Army’s ability to replace men and materiel was considerably better than usually depicted, while at the same time he critiques weaknesses in political and military policy making, prewar planning, and organization, and examines flaws in industrial mobilization.

Although perhaps not an easy read, occasionally turgid, Enduring the Whirlwind is nevertheless a valuable addition to the revisionist literature on the Russo-German War, and more broadly applicable to the Second World War.

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