The Turning Point 1942. When Surprise Was No More

After the victory near Moscow, euphoria from success was short-lived for the Soviet Union, and the consequences were severe: in spring and summer 1942, the Red Army faced a series of serious defeats comparable to the start of the war—but no longer explainable by the suddenness of the enemy’s attack. Why didn’t 1942 become the year of a complete defeat of the German troops, as Stalin proclaimed? Who is to blame for the fact that instead of a continuous offensive, the Red Army ended up on the brink of retreat all the way to the Volga and the Caucasus? How was it possible to avoid total collapse and regain control of the situation? Where was the outcome of the war truly decided—in Stalingrad or on another front? From the catastrophe near Kharkov to victory near Stalingrad; from the hard fighting near Rzhev to the breakthrough of the siege of Leningrad—this book offers a fresh perspective on key military events, revealing their causes and reconstructing the true events of that turning year of the Great Patriotic War.