v. 2

The Road to Berlin

by John Erickson

Published 9 November 1983

Completing the most comprehensive and authoritative study ever written of the Soviet-German war, John Erickson in this volume tells the vivid and compelling story of the Red Army's epic struggle to drive the Germans from Russian soil. Beginning with the destruction of the German Army at Stalingrad, he describes a campaign of almost unimaginable hardship and fighting that led to the Soviet invasion of the Reich and the triumphant capture of Berlin.

"Monumental. . . . In the future, no history of the Russo-German war can be written without reference to Erickson's detailed research and brilliant narrative."-Steven T. Ross, Naval War College Review

"Erickson is our most eminent expert on Russian military history. . . [and] one of the foremost historians of the twentieth century. There is little doubt that his books will remain the definitive study of this period of Soviet history for the foreseeable future."-Michael Parrish, American Historical Review

"As close to being the definitive work on Soviet strategy, and the military history, as it is possible to imagine."-Norman Stone, The Observer

"With unflagging energy Professor Erickson has completed his task with a second volume in every way equal to the first. . . . [He] carries his readers along by the sheer vigour of his style and by his vivid account of the harrowing events with which he has to deal."-Sunday Times

"This is a book which every thinking soldier and every student of military history simply has to read."-British Army Review


Vol 1

The Road to Stalingrad

by John Erickson

Published 29 May 1975

In this first volume of John Erickson's monumental history of the grueling Soviet-German war of 1941-1945, the author takes us from the pre-invasion Soviet Union, with its inept command structures and strategic delusions, to the humiliating retreats of Soviet armies before the Barbarossa onslaught, to the climactic, grinding battle for Stalingrad that left the Red Army poised for its majestic counteroffensive.

"Erickson. . . has written the outstanding history of the Soviet-German war in English, or, for that matter, any language. The research alone is breathtaking. Erickson has mastered all the Russian sources and compared them with the German records. . . . He has shed light on many heretofore murky matters."-Reid Beddow, Washington Post Book World

"Masterly. . . . A vividly detailed yet comprehensive account of the decisive Eastern-front battleground."-Christopher Hudson, London Evening Standard

"The outstanding book on the Soviet war in any language."-A. J. P. Taylor, Observer

"This authoritative book by a first-class military historian is easily read."-Philip Warner, Daily Telegraph