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[SOVIET COUNTER-OFFENSIVE] Desiat’ sokrushitel’nykh udarov. Kratkii obzor operatsii Krasnoi Armii v 1944 g. [i.e. Ten Crushing Blows: A Concise Overview of Red Army Operations in 1944] / N. Zamiatin, F. Vorobyov, F. Artemyev, I. Parot’kin]

Item #2778

Moscow: Voennoe izdatel’stvo narodnogo komissarita oborony, 1945. 121, [3] pp.: maps. 22x14,5 cm. In original printed wrappers. Spine chipped with small tear, creases of front wrapper, pale water stains occasionally, ink and pencil underlines, previous owner’s note on rear side of front wrapper, tiny hole in p. 53-54 (no text or ill. affected,) otherwise good.

First and only edition. The book was approved for print at a military printshop on May 28, 1945. No printrun indicated.

The earliest book on this topic – ten successful strategic offensives conducted by the Red Army in 1944. Soon they became “ten Stalin’s blows” reflecting Stalin's cult of personality. The book was co-created by 4 military figures and historians: Major General N. Zamiatin; one of the founders of the scientific history of the Great Patriotic War, Fyodor Vorobyov; military pilot and squadron commander of Aviation Division, lieutenant colonel Fyodor Artemyev; and lieutenant colonel Ivan Parot’kin who worked in the operations division until in 1943 when he became a military historian, probably due to a wound.

The book is based on materials published in the periodical press. Gathered together and arranged sequentially, the operations were intended to impress the reader and assure them of the “systematic nature of the Red Army’s brilliant successes”. The first blow was the defeat of the fascist army near Leningrad in January 1944 and the lifting of the city's prolonged siege. This was followed by Red Army victories in battles across Ukraine, Finland, Belarus, the Baltics, Crimea, Romania, and Hungary. Thus, it was coined the year of decisive victories of the USSR.

The texts are supplemented with many maps showing the frontline in certain moments and areas of the war.

Not found in Worldcat.

Price: $550.00