Barbarossa cover art

Barbarossa

And the Bloodiest War in History

 Preview

Get 30 days of Standard free

£5.99/mo after trial. Cancel monthly.
Try for £0.00
More purchase options

Barbarossa

By: Stewart Binns
Narrated by: Michael Fenner
Try for £0.00

£5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for £17.23

Buy Now for £17.23

Drawing on remarkable and never-before-seen material, the extraordinary story of one of the most horrific and devastating encounters of the Second World War.

'This is a truly astounding book, packed with searing hitherto-unpublished testimony about what it was like to endure, and ultimately defeat, the most formidable invasion in the history of Mankind. The sheer endurance of the Russian people between 1941 and 1945 will leave readers utterly staggered. It is a debt that we in the West should do more to acknowledge.' - Andrew Roberts, author of CHURCHILL: WALKING WITH DESTINY

Sunday June 22nd 1941: almost 4 million Nazi troops marched on Moscow, with a brutal scorched-earth tactic that saw millions of Soviet citizens massacred. A level of brutality only paralleled after the Soviet's triumphed at Stalingrad, and took mindless revenge as they marched back into Berlin.

Beginning with Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, to the appalling circumstances of the Fall of Berlin in April 1945 and told from the perspective of the people of Russia and Eastern Europe, Barbarossa is a heartrending story of tragedy, suffering and heroism.

Stewart Binns draws on Russian archives to paint a uniquely intimate picture of the war from the Soviet side of this terrible conflict - presenting this dark moment in history in panoramic detail, matching sweeping accounts of tactical manoeuvres with harrowing personal stories of civilian hardship and bravery.

'A masterful narrative, deeply enriched by extraordinary research and a profound analysis of the soul of Russia.' - Nick Hewer

(P)2021 Headline Publishing Group Ltd©2021 Stewart Binns Europe Germany Military Russia War Soviet Union Imperialism
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_c

Critic reviews

This is a truly astounding book, packed with searing hitherto-unpublished testimony about what it was like to endure, and ultimately defeat, the most formidable invasion in the history of Mankind. The sheer endurance of the Russian people between 1941 and 1945 will leave readers utterly staggered. It is a debt that we in the West should do more to acknowledge.
A masterful narrative, deeply enriched by extraordinary research and a profound analysis of the soul of Russia.
Barbarossa reads wonderfully well
This compact and well-written account clearly demonstrates the close links between the military events at the front, the suffering of the civilian population and the genocide of the Jews.
His subject is dramatic, of course, but nonetheless his writing is vivid, personal and adds to the impact of the narrative.
This is an admirable book. How can anyone write an all-encompassing narrative of these times in a mere 305-pages? Binns has managed to do it beautifully, capturing the story, the rationale for the response by the Soviet people in general to mobilise willingly against the invader, whatever their view of their own dictator and his murderous cronies, and the sheer military, industrial and human enormity of the subject. That he's also done so through the lens of a wide range of voices of those who experienced the war adds to the scale of his achievement.
Barbarossa contains an even wide fund of harrowing testimonies, drawn from diaries and letters in Russian archives, and sources such as Svetlana Alexievich's superlative oral history The Unwomanly Face of War. We are always the richer for hearing ordinary voices at war, reclaiming the human from the military, the barbaric, the statistics.
There is very little that happened in Operation Barbarossa that does not still have an effect on our lives today. . . A sobering but vital read
This compact and well-written account clearly demonstrates the close links between the military events at the front, the suffering of the civilian population and the genocide of the Jews. This is important because accessible English-language books on the war in the East, written in an engaging style and directed to a wider public, still rarely point out these crucial connections
All stars
Most relevant
The books focuses on the brutal war in the East, mainly from the perspective of ordinary soviet soldiers and civilians. It starts from the disasters and despair of 1941 and ends with the final triumph in Berlin in 1945. For me the human aspect of the war is far more interesting than the military matters, most books about WW2 focus on, so I enjoyed the book very much. The narration is also very competent and engaging.

One of the most captivating books about WW2

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A blind spot in my knowledge was brutally brought home by the horrors of the Eastern Front . Educational .

Absolute Horror of War

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Straight off the bat, the narrator, Michael Fenner does a fantastic job in this telling of Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union. Human behaviour at it's worst & most base. Shocking but illuminating.
5*

A tough listen

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The enormity of the eastern front during world war 2; the vastness of the battlefields, the colossal numbers of machines, armies, operations, deaths and wounds and displacements make it difficult to hear the individual voice from within the inferno. This book gives air to those voices, takes care to contextualise events and lets those who had no choice but to experience the almost unimaginable horrors evoke their impact.

Book of horrors, written with sensitivity and skill

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The war in the east was more barbaric than any other theatre of war in WW2. A mixture of personal accounts and historical facts made this book very good. The only reason it did not get 5 stars is because of the anti communist polemic that was devoid of context and counter arguments. As this was not primarily a political discourse it should have, as far as possible, left well alone. As a piece of work about the war in the east it was enthralling.

The telling of the untold!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews