The Retreat
Hitler's First Defeat

This latest book from Michael Jones covers the German offensive in 1941 to take Moscow, Operation Typhoon, and the subsequent Soviet counter-offensive, leading to Hitler’s first retreat. The author uses numerous first-hand accounts throughout the book, taken from German and Russian soldiers and Russ......more

Nice narrative for a very important turning point during WW 2 . It was during the battles described in this book during the early months of the Russian campaign that the outcome of the War would be decided. While I had read many books in the subject, it will be a good effort to read this book to gai......more

The fall of the Iron Curtain and the Soviet Union, and the subsequent release of archives and documents, has been a boon to military historians like Michael Jones. Jones has written several books on the Eastern Front, including my most recent read: The Retreat: Hitler's First Defeat. The Retreat doe......more

I really don't know why I keep reading books about the war on the Eastern Front. It is grim reading of atrocities, death and human suffering of an incomprehensible magnitude. But still the topic is fascinating, and I read books like this with horrified fascination. Maybe in the hope to get an answer......more

The reason I have spent much of my reading time these past several years reading about the Eastern Front, WWII, is to capture an understanding of the struggles, purposes, insights of the common soldier, both on the German side and on the Soviet side. Michael Jones very effectively captures some very......more