What is the most detailed book on the war on the Eastern Front [WWII]?

by griii2

I am fascinated by the Eastern Front theatre, I read War on the Eastern Front by James Lucas and few other books but they all seem too general. What is the most detailed book or series of books that I could read? I am interested in the whole story - battle tactics, military equipment, chronology of operations, politics and economics of war, lives of leaders as well as ordinary soldiers.

facepoundr

Howdy! Sadly, one that deals with everything like you're suggesting would be terribly concise and would be basically a general overview of the war and would likely not go into great detail. There is simply too much for one book to cover everything. I can however make a couple suggestions. However, keeping in mind that to really get into the nitty gritty of the war you'll need to look at more specialized books.

The one that comes straight to mind is Ivan's War: Life and Death in the Red Army 1939-1945 by Catherine Merridale. She does some really interesting research in certain sections as well. A definite must read.

The other popular big book of the Eastern Front is Daniel Glantz's When Titans Clashed: How the Red Army Stopped Hitler.

There is a couple of books that deal with specific battles, however they give an ooverview around the battles as well. The three that come to mind are Anthony Beevor's two books Stalingrad: A Fateful Siege and The Battle for Berlin. There is also a book called The 900 Days: The Siege of Leningrad that deals with, obviously, the siege of Leningrad which took place over a majority of the war with Nazi Germany.

Finally, AskHistorians has a booklist that we periodically update that has additional books. You can find the books for the Eastern Front here. Many of the ones I suggested are already there, and there is some additional ones as well.

jonra678

I'm not a historian and have never posted here, just a daily reader, so take that into account... but "most detailed book" would be highly subjective. I doubt you are going to find one book to cover every subject you mention in your post.

The official book list for the Eastern Front is loaded with info you want from real historians here - http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/wiki/books/wwii#wiki_eastern_front

I have not read most of these books, but Barbarossa: Hitler's Invasion is quite good and probably my favorite on the list that I've read.

That said however, my favorite book on the Eastern Front is Kershaw's "War Without Garlands". It may not be considered up to par by the subreddit's standards given it is a day to day account from mainly a soldier's point of view (secondary vs primary source debate I would guess), but it gives a detailed account of Barbarossa from a civilian and soldier viewpoint. I really like the day to day layout of it.

Again, I'm guessing actual historians here may take issue with the book as it definitely has some drawbacks - mainly that it is from a German perspective, ignores many other central points of the war. Still, as an Eastern Front only book goes, it's one of my favorites.

Richard Evan's trilogy includes a book titled "Third Reich At War" that is not focused solely on the Eastern Front, but definitely has a very detailed layout of the war in the East. Doesn't cover logistics as much as some others (Speer's Memoir comes to mind, even though that too is a 'grain of salt' book), but it goes into very good detail of what was happening in the East.

Hope that helps and that I haven't gone against any rules. I know how picky you guys are here :)