
The Anvil of War
German Generalship in Defense of the Eastern Front
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Narrated by:
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Mikael Naramore
About this listen
An unprecedented look at German operations on the Russian Front during World War II.
The Anvil of War collects US Army - commissioned reports by two highly ranked German officers who served on the disastrous Russian Front: Military Improvisations During the Russian Campaign, German Defense Tactics Against Russian Breakthroughs by Erhard Raus, and Operations of Encircled Forces by Oldwig von Natzmer. The reports show how the Germans adapted techniques to cope with their enemy's great numerical superiority and managed to delay and sometimes drive back the steamroller Russian forces during the German retreat. The significance of the material detailing the Germans' vast experience on the Russian Front was emphasized with the onset of the Cold War and the perceived Soviet threat to Europe.
Written as part of a US Army program instigated after World War II by Colonel S. L. A. Marshall of the Army Historical Division, who was convinced that no record of the war could be complete without the input of the German commanding officers and their main staff officers, these reports offer an invaluable record of German operations for historians and general audiences. Compiled, edited, and introduced by renowned military historian Peter G. Tsouras, The Anvil of War stands as one of the great historical records of one of the largest military confrontations in history.
©2016 Lionel Leventhal Limited; Introduction copyright 2016 by Peter Tsouras/Lionel Leventhal Limited (P)2016 Audible, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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Great account of a light tank commander during WWII, BUT
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The fighting between the German and Russian armies in the Rzhev Salient during World War II was so grisly, so murderous, and saw such vast losses that the troops called the campaign 'The Meat Grinder'. Though millions of men would fight and die there, the Rzhev Salient does not have the name recognition of Leningrad or Moscow. It has been largely ignored by Western historians – until now.
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A totally absurd effort in racist German Bashing with some grudging respect for the German soldier and German Army.
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The war on the Eastern Front from 1941 to 1945 was the bloodiest combat theater in the bloodiest war in history. Oberleutnant Friedrich Wilhelm Sander experienced this bloodshed firsthand when serving with the 11th Panzer-Regiment. This regiment made up the core of the 6th Panzer-Division, one of Hitler's top armored formations, which was involved in most of the major campaigns on the Eastern Front; campaigns such as Operation Barbarossa and Operation Winter Storm.
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By: Friedrich Sander, and others
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Meat Grinder
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
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-
-
A totally absurd effort in racist German Bashing with some grudging respect for the German soldier and German Army.
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- Length: 20 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
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Performance
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Story
Prit Buttar retraces the ebb and flow of the various battles and campaigns fought throughout the Ukraine and Romania in 1944. January and February saw Army Group South encircled in the Korsun Pocket. Although many of the encircled troops did escape, in part due to Soviet intelligence and command failures, the Red Army would endeavour to not make the same mistakes again. Indeed, in the coming months the Red Army would demonstrate an ability to learn and improve, reinventing itself as a war-winning machine, demonstrated clearly in its success in the Iasi-Kishinev operation.
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Exceptional
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To Besiege a City
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- Length: 20 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
At a huge cost, the Red Army and the civilian population of Leningrad ultimately endured a bitter 900-day siege, struggling against constant bombing, shelling, and starvation. Throughout the siege, Soviet forces tried to break the German lines and restore contact with the garrison. To Besiege a City charts the first of these offensives which began in January 1942 and was followed by repeated assaults.
-
-
Outstanding
- By E. Ronakov on 09-30-23
By: Prit Buttar
-
When Titans Clashed
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- By: David M. Glantz, Jonathan M. House
- Narrated by: James Romick
- Length: 17 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Revised and updated to reflect recent Russian and Western scholarship on the subject, this new edition maintains the 1995 original's distinction as a crucial volume in the history of World War II and of the Soviet Union and the most informed and compelling perspective on one of the greatest military confrontations of all time.
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Robert Forczyk's incisive study offers fresh insight into how the two most powerful mechanized armies of WWII developed their tactics and weaponry during the early years of the Russo-German War. He uses German, Russian, and English sources to provide the first comprehensive overview and analysis of armored warfare from the German and Soviet perspectives.
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The rulers’ mistakes are paid for with the blood of the people. This is shown in history both recent and ancient, time and time again. It was no different for an Austrian mountain farmer’s son who was thrown into the carnage of the Eastern Front. He was in the prime of his youth, and the German Reich was already close to losing the war. In ripe-old age, he remembers those dark hours that have haunted him throughout his life.
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The liberation of Europe and the destruction of the Third Reich is a story of courage and enduring triumph, of calamity and miscalculation. In this first volume of the Liberation Trilogy, Rick Atkinson shows why no modern learner can understand the ultimate victory of the Allied powers without a grasp of the great drama that unfolded in North Africa in 1942 and 1943. That first year of the Allied war was a pivotal point in American history, the moment when the United States began to act like a great power.
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During one sweltering week in July 1948, the Democratic Party gathered in Philadelphia for its national convention. The most pressing and controversial issue facing the delegates was not whom to nominate for president—the incumbent, Harry Truman, was the presumptive candidate—but whether the Democrats would finally embrace the cause of civil rights and embed it in their official platform. On the convention's final day, Hubert Humphrey, the relatively obscure mayor of the midsized city of Minneapolis, ascended the podium.
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Narrator bungles pronunciations
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Using archival records, in this book, David Stahel presents a history of Germany's summer campaign from the perspective of the two largest and most powerful Panzer groups on the Eastern front. Stahel's research provides a fundamental reassessment of Germany's war against the Soviet Union, highlighting the prodigious internal problems of the vital Panzer forces and revealing that their demise in the earliest phase of the war undermined the whole German invasion.
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Best book on Operation Barbarossa so far
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StuG III Brigade 191, 1940-1945
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Based on their experiences during the First World War, the Reichswehr decided that the infantry support gun of the future should be an armored, motorized vehicle: the Sturmgeschütz III. The weapon was used in the 'fire brigade role' at hotspots along the Front, where it was much feared by enemy forces. This book tells the tale of Brigade 191, aka the 'Buffalo Brigade', who used the Sturmgeschütz III as they took part in Operation Barbarossa in the Ukraine, saw action during the fight for Greece and were deployed to the areas of heaviest fighting in the campaign against the Soviet Union.
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Ruined by awful narrator
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Death in the Highlands
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In fall 1965, North Vietnam's high command smelled blood in the water. The South Vietnamese republic was on the verge of collapse, and Hanoi resolved to crush it once and for all. The communists set their sights on South Vietnam's strategically vital West-Central Highlands. Their first target was the American Special Forces camp at Plei Me, remote and isolated along the Cambodian border.
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Boting
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Russia at War, 1941–1945
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In 1941, Russian-born British journalist Alexander Werth observed the unfolding of the Soviet-German conflict with his own eyes. What followed was the widely acclaimed book, Russia at War, first printed in 1964. At once a history of facts, a collection of interviews, and a document of the human condition, Russia at War is a stunning, modern classic that chronicles the savagery and struggles on Russian soil during the most incredible military conflict in modern history.
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Simply Astonishing
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What listeners say about The Anvil of War
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
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Performance
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- JOAQUIN M.
- 04-18-16
STUDY YOUR EASTERN EUROPEAN GEOGRAPHY
Would you try another book from the authors and/or Mikael Naramore?
Yes.
Would you be willing to try another book from the authors? Why or why not?
Yes. Really informative
Which character – as performed by Mikael Naramore – was your favorite?
n/a
If this book were a movie would you go see it?
Yes. If they can display the struggles from the individual soldier's perspective.
Any additional comments?
You need a really solid understanding of Eastern European Geography to fully appreciate this book and visualize all the maneuvers in the locations the author describes. Without a clear map in my head it was tough to focus on what the author was telling.
While there is no denying the atrocities committed by the NAZI's this book really makes you cringe at some of the strategic blunders made by Hitler. I was expecting more of description of the individual struggles and innovations implemented by small unit leaders and the individual soldiers as a result of supply and manpower shortages but this book is describes innovations and adaptations made at the general grade officer echelon of command.
Not bad though
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9 people found this helpful
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- W_T_K
- 01-18-23
German’s AAR vs Russian victory
WW2 Germany’s loss in the East is oft forgotten by western military historians. The vast quantity of valuable lessons on maneuver warfare and its application against a numerically superior force strikes a cord for todays military professionals. HOWEVER, if you knew where to find the CARL website and use an app like SPEECHIFY you need not spend credits on this fantastic book.
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- anthony ulrich
- 06-29-24
Good book
Very good audio book which flows well while going over the military situation on the eastern front.
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- R. Mikesell
- 01-05-18
WW2 from the German perspective
What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?
It was kind of interesting for a while, but it seemed like I kept getting an impression like the Germans were smarter and better soldiers, the only reason they lost the war was because they were overwhelmed by numbers. After a while I got tired of that recurring theme.
Any additional comments?
No apologies for the fact that they senselessly and violently invaded other countries and were responsible for the slaughter of millions of lives, many of them innocent civilians.
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