Stumbling Colossus: The Red Army on the Eve of World War (Modern War Studies)

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Summary: An Essential Reference on the Red Army
Review: This book is an essential reference on the state of the Red Army on the eve of Operation Barbarossa. Although a bit dry in tone, there is a wealth of information in these pages. Excellent maps and statistical data on the Soviet Army Order of Battle in 1941. The author uses recent Russian archival material to provide an unprecedented look into the Red Army just prior to Barbarossa. His assessment is that the Red Army was caught in the throes of rapid expansion, with most units at 60-70% strength. The purges further diluted the pool of available military leadership. Units on the front-line were short of ammo, fuel and key equipment. Finally, the Red Army staff misjudged the German main effort - which they expected in the southwest along the Kiev axis - and thus further weakened the defenses of Leningrad and Moscow. In the long run, the main Soviet success was their ability - albeit initially slow - to tap the full human resources of the USSR and to field replacements to fill the huge losses of 1941. However once again, the Russian fascination with quantity rather than quality cost them dearly. Stalin would have done better with 80-90 well-trained, well-equipped divisions than 170+ poorly-trained, poorly-equipped divisions.