The Greatest Battle

by Andrew Nagorski

  The most challenging task of all is to figure out what to say about my wife Christina, or Krysia as all of us call her. She’s always been my first editor and critic, who pulls no punches. Since she grew up in Poland when Soviet propaganda films were common fare and then lived in Moscow with me in both Soviet and post-Soviet times, she was quick to question anything that didn’t ring true. Often this meant I’d have to go back to my sources for what seemed like the umpteenth time, only to discover that, yes, there was something more that had to be nailed down or straightened out. But along with the tough questioning, she provides everything else that makes my life and work possible. Which says everything and not nearly enough.

  Index

  Agriculture National Commissariat, Soviet

  Air Force, Soviet

  Albania

  Alexander I, Tsar of Russia

  Alliluyeva, Nadezhda

  Anders, General Wladyslaw

  Aniks, Aleksandr

  Anti-Semitism

  Anufriyev, Yevgeny

  Araki, General Sadao

  Army Group Center, German

  counteroffensive against

  Fourth Army of

  and Hitler’s delay of drive on Moscow

  impact of weather on

  Orders for the Autumn Offensive, 1941, issued to

  Army Group North, German

  Army Group South, German

  Artemyev, General Pavel

  Associated Press

  Atlantic Charter

  Auschwitz concentration camp

  Austria, German annexation of

  Babi Yar, massacre of Jews at

  Bakunin, Mikhail

  Baldwin, Hanson W.

  Balkans

  Baltic states

  desertion of Soviet troops in

  grievances against Stalin in

  Stalin’s postwar territorial ambitions for

  terror campaign in

  Barbarossa, Operation, SEE Operation Barbarossa

  Beaverbrook, Lord

  Beck, General Ludwig

  Beer Hall putsch

  Belgium

  Belorussia

  invasion of

  Military District of

  occupation of

  Belov, Ivan

  Belov, General Pavel

  Beneš, Edvard

  Berezhkov, Valentin

  Beria, Lavrenty

  arrested by Khrushchev

  and launching of German invasion

  and military purges

  and proposal for State Defense Committee

  and Revolution Day celebration

  undercover activities reported to

  Vlasov and

  and wartime terror campaign

  Beria, Sergo

  Bialystok

  massacre of Jews in

  Birkenau

  BLIND SPOT—HITLER’S SECRETARY (documentary)

  BLITZKRIEG strategy

  Blocking units

  Blumentritt, General Günther

  Blyukher, General Vasily

  Bock, Field Marshal Fedor von

  Bogolyubskaya, Irina

  Bohlen, Charles “Chip,”

  Boldin, General Ivan

  Bolshevik Revolution

  celebration of anniversary of

  civil war following, SEE Russian civil war

  Bolsheviks

  anger of peasants at

  Goebbels on

  Nazi extermination of

  SEE ALSO Communist Party

  Borneo

  Braginskaya, Ella

  Braun, Eva

  Brauchitsch, Field Marshal Walther von

  Brest

  Bridges, Edward

  Britain

  appeasement policy of

  battle of

  evacuation at Dunkirk of forces from

  and German invasion of Russia

  India governed by

  Japan and

  Lend-Lease program for

  Soviet assessment of

  Soviet Union as ally of

  in World War I

  British Broadcasting Company(BBC)

  Brownshirts

  Bryansk

  fall of

  Buchenwald concentration camp

  Buchin, Aleksandr

  Budenny, Marshal Semyon

  Bukharin, Nikolai

  Bullitt, William

  Burckhardt, Carl

  Burns, General James

  Busanov (factory director)

  Butyrka prison (Moscow)

  Bylinina, Tamara

  California State University at San Bernardino

  Canaris, Admiral Wilhelm

  Cassidy, Henry

  Censorship of foreign correspondents’ reports

  of letters

  Center for Military History(Moscow)

  Chamberlain, Neville

  Chegrinets, Yegor

  Chernyavsky, Viktor

  Chervyakov

  CHICAGO DAILY NEWS,

  China

  People’s Republic of

  Churchill, Clementine

  Churchill, Winston

  aid provided to Stalin by

  and Polish government in exile

  response to German invasion of Soviet Union of

  and Soviet counteroffensive

  and Stalin’s postwar territorial ambitions

  Stalin warned of Hitler’s invasion plans by

  summit at sea of Roosevelt and

  Ciechanowski, Jan

  Cold War

  Collectivization, forced

  COLLIER’S WEEKLY,

  Columbia Broadcasting System(CBS)

  Colville, John

  Comintern

  Commissar Decree

  Communist Party

  brigades of, SEE Home guard units

  Central Committee of

  purge of

  Concentration camps

  SEE ALSO Gulag; NAMES OF SPECIFIC CAMPS

  Congress, U.S.

  Conquest, Robert

  Cossacks

  Council of Evacuation, Soviet

  Coy, Wayne

  Cripps, Stafford

  Curie, Eve

  Curie, Marie

  Curzon line

  Custine, Marquis de

  Czechoslovakia

  dismemberment of

  Daladier, Edouard

  Danilov (road department employee)

  Davies, Joseph

  Davies, Norman

  Dedovo

  Dedovsk, report of fall of

  Defectors, Soviet

  de Gaulle, Charles

  Dekanozov, Vladimir

  Democratic Party

  Denisova, Maria

  Denmark

  Dergachev, Colonel Ivan

  De-Stalinization

  Deutscher, Isaac

  Dill, John

  Dimitrov, Georgi

  Dirdelsen, Lance Corporal van

  Directive

  Directive 34a

  Dolgov, General Vyacheslav

  Donskoi, Dmitri

  Dronov (soldier)

  Druzhnikov, Ilya

  Druzhnikov, Yuri

  Dudkina, Olga

  Dunkirk

  evacuation of French and British forces from

  Duranty, Walter

  Edelman, Vladimir

  Eden, Anthony

  Ehrenburg, Ilya

  87th Infantry Division, German

  EINSATZGRUPPEN (mobile SS units)

  Eisenhower, General Dwight D.

  Eitingon, Naum

  El Alamein, battle of

  Estonia

  terror campaign in

  Evacuations of equipment and supplies

  of factories and workers

  of foreign diplomats

  of journalists

  of Lenin’s body

  of prisoners

  of top officials and their families

  Factories bombing of

  evacuation and relocation of

  during October panic


  preparations to blow up

  Famine

  Faymonville, Colonel Philip

  Fedoseyev, Sergei

  Fedyuninsky, General Ivan

  Finland

  German alliance with

  Soviet attack on

  First Army Group, Soviet

  First Cavalry Corps, Soviet

  First Shock Army, Soviet

  First Special Communist Battalion of Moscow

  Folimonov, N. I.

  Foreign Ministry, Soviet

  Foreign Office, British

  Forty-first Infantry Division, Soviet

  Fourteenth Armored Division,

  Soviet

  France

  evacuation of French and British forces from

  German victory in

  Indochinese bases of

  Napoleonic

  redeployment to Russia of

  German troops from

  Soviet assessment of

  in World War I

  Franco, Francisco

  FRANKFURTER ZEITUNG,

  Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor

  Frederick II (the Great), King of

  Prussia

  Free France movement

  Freisler, Ronald

  FSB (Russian Federal Security Service), Central Archives of

  Galeyev, Lieutenant Mirzakhan

  Gallipoli, battle of

  Gamarnik, Yan

  General Foods

  Georgians

  German Army, SEE Wehrmacht; SPECIFIC UNITS

  German-Soviet Agreement of Friendship and on the

  Frontier between the U.S.S.R. and Germany

  Gestapo

  Geykhman, Lieutenant Mikhail

  Glantz, David M.

  Glasnost

  Godov, Boris

  Goebbels, Joseph

  on Anglo-Soviet alliance

  Beaverbrook-Harriman mission declared failure by

  on German losses on Eastern front

  Soviet collapse anticipated by

  winter clothing donation appeal by

  Goldensohn, Leon

  Golikov, Filipp

  Golovanov, Air Force Marshal

  Gordon, Abram

  Göring, Hermann

  Gorky, orders to seize

  Great Terror

  Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity

  Sphere

  Greece

  Grigorenko, General Petro

  Gromyko, Andrei

  Grossman, Vasily

  GRU (Main Intelligence Directorate), the Soviet military intelligence service

  Gruman, Lieutenant Kurt

  Guderian, General Heinz

  in advance on Tula

  and Commissar Decree

  in French campaign

  losses inflicted on

  at Orel

  relieved of his duties

  at Smolensk

  and superiority of T-34 tanks

  targeting of Kiev opposed by

  Gulag (forced labor camps)

  forced evacuations of

  penal battalions filled with prisoners from

  Poles and Ukrainians sent to

  Günsche, Otto

  Guzeviius, Aleksandras

  Halder, General Franz

  confrontation over strategy between Hitler and

  during counteroffensive

  and Hitler’s assumption of direct command of army

  plot against Hitler contemplated by

  targeting of Kiev opposed by

  Halifax, Lord

  Harriman, W. Averell

  Haupt, Captain Karl

  Havas news agency

  Heineman, SS Senior Lieutenant

  Henderson, Loy

  Herwarth, Hans von

  Heyden, Conrad

  High Command of the Armed

  Forces, German

  Himmler, Heinrich

  HISTORY OF THE ALL-UNION COMMUNIST PARTY (Stalin)

  HISTORY OF GERMAN FASCISM, THE (Heyden)

  HISTORY OF THE GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR OF THE SOVIET UNION

  Hitler, Adolf

  attitude of Soviet citizens toward

  benefit of Red Army purges for

  birth of

  British objective of

  childhood of

  communists arrested by

  compared to Napoleon

  cult of

  Directive issued by

  early victories of

  elimination of rivals by

  and Finnish campaign

  focus on Moscow of

  Franco supported by

  generals and

  hesitation to move on Moscow of

  imprisonment of

  inner circle of

  invasion of Soviet Union launched by

  planned by

  Japanese alliance with

  Mussolini and

  NKVD targeting of cronies of

  nonaggression pact of Stalin and, SEE Molotov-Ribbentrop pact nonaggression pact October 3 speech of

  offensive operations suspended by

  optimism of

  plan to invade Britain abandoned by

  plots against

  redeployment of troops by

  retreat of forces of

  sexual abilities and proclivities of

  similarities between Stalin and

  soldiers sentenced to death by

  during Soviet counteroffensive

  Stalin’s plans for Europe after defeat of

  strategic importance of Soviet resources to

  terror policies in occupied territories of

  transport priorities of

  United States role in fight against

  Vlasov and

  Wolf’s Lair military headquarters of

  HITLER’S PANZERS EAST (Stolfi)

  Hiwis (HILFSWILLIGE)

  Hoepner, General

  Holland

  Holocaust

  Home guard units

  Hoover, Herbert

  Hopkins, Harry

  House of Commons, British

  Hull, Cordell

  Human wave tactics

  Hurricane fighter aircraft

  Ignatova, Tasya

  Imperial Chancellery, German

  India, British in

  Indochina

  IN THE NAME OF CONSCIENCE

  (Khokhlov)

  Institute of Foreign Languages

  Intourist

  Isakov, Admiral Ivan

  Ismay, General Hastings

  Italy

  Ivan IV (the Terrible), Tsar of Russia

  IZVESTIA (newspaper)

  Japan

  and German invasion of Russia

  invasion of Mongolia by

  Ministry of the Navy

  Pearl Harbor attacked by

  Sorge’s mission to

  Jews

  American

  attacks on, SEE Anti-Semitism cosmopolitan

  German massacres of

  Nazi denunciations of

  as POWs

  in Soviet military

  Stalin’s purge targeting

  Jodl, General Alfred

  Joseph Stalin Institute of Physical Fitness (Moscow)

  Ju-87 Stuka dive bombers

  Junge, Traudl

  Kagan, Boris

  Kaganovich, Lazar

  Kalinin front at

  NKVD headquarters at

  Katayeva, Vera

  Katyn forest massacre

  Katyushas (rocket-propelled artillery)

  Keitel, Field Marshal Wilhelm

  Kennan, George

  Kerr, Walter

  KGB (Committee for State Security)

  Khalkin Gol, battle of

  Kharkov University

  Khokhlov, Nikolai

  Khrushchev, Nikita

  on invasion of Finland

  military purges criticized by

  Vlasov and

  Zhukov dismissed from duties by

  Kiev

  battle for

  f
all of

  Kirov, Sergei

  Klin, liberation of

  Klubkov, Vasily

  Kluge, General Güenther von

  Kobulov, Bogdan

  Koch, Erich

  Komsomol

  Konev, General Ivan

  Königsberg

  Kopets, General I. I.

  Korean War

  Kosmodemyanskaya, Zoya

  Krainov, Boris

  Krasavchenko, N. P.

  KRASNAYA ZVEZDA (newspaper)

  Krasny Bor

  Kravchenko, Natalya

  Krebs, Colonel Hans

  Krupskaya, Nadezhda

  Kube, Wilhelm

  Kuhn (ethnic German)

  Kuibyshev

  evacuation of foreign diplomats to

  evacuation of top officials and their families to

  journalists in

  Kumanev, Georgy

  Kurbanov (construction worker)

  Kursk, battle of

  Kutuzov, Field Marshal Mikhail

  Labas, Yuliy

  Lansen, Heinrich

  Latvia, terror campaign in

  League of Nations

  Lend-Lease program

  Lenin, Vladimir Ilyich

  Bullitt and

  death of

  embalming of

  evacuation to Tyumen of body of

  pictures of

  political testament of

  Leningrad

  civilians used as human shields at

  counteroffensive at

  defensibility of

  food rationing in

  German drive on

  German plans for destruction of

  Siberian divisions redeployed to

  siege of

  Leonov, S.

  Leskov, Semyon

  Lesueur, Larry

  LIFE AND FATE (Grossman)

  LIFE magazine

  Liskov, Alfred

  Lithuania, terror campaign in

  Litvinov, Maxim

  LIVING AND THE DEAD, THE (Simonov)

  LIVING AND THE DEAD, THE: THE RISE AND FALL OF THE CULT OF WORLD WAR II IN RUSSIA (Tumarkin)

  London blitz

  London Stock Exchange

  Lozovsky, Solomon

  Lublin

  Luftwaffe

  Lvov, shelling of

  Machiavelli, Niccolò

  Maisky, Ivan

  Maklyarsky, Boris

  Maklyarsky, Mikhail

  Malenkov, Georgy

  Maloyaroslavets

  Manchuria, Japanese troops in

  Mannerheim Line

  Manstein, Field Marshal Erich von

  Mardashev, Sergei

  Marines, U.S.

  Mars, Operation

  Marx, Karl

  Marxism

  Maslennikov, General Ivan

  Matsuoka, Yosuke

  MEIN KAMPF (Hitler)

  Mekhlis, Lev

  Memel

  Meretskov, General Kirill

  Mikoyan, Anastas