|
Stalin's Guerrillas: Soviet Partisans in World War II (Modern War Studies) | 
 enlarge | Author: Kenneth Slepyan
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
Category: Book
List Price: $34.95
Buy New: $9.95
You Save: $25.00 (72%)
New (17) Used (9) from $8.75
Avg. Customer Rating:  4 reviews
Sales Rank: 920932
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 409
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.7
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.4
ISBN: 070061480X
Dewey Decimal Number: 940.548647
EAN: 9780700614806
ASIN: 070061480X
Publication Date: October 11, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: Brand New ... Hardcover ... Fresh from publisher ... From smoke-free environment
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Book Description
When the Wehrmacht rolled into the Soviet Union in World War II, it got more than it bargained for. Notwithstanding the Red Army's retreat, Soviet citizens fought fiercely against German occupiers, engaging in raids, sabotage, and intelligence gathering--largely without any oversight from Stalin and his iron-fisted rule. Kenneth Slepyan provides an enlightening social and political history of the Soviet partisan movement, a people's army of irregulars fighting behind enemy lines. These insurgents included not only civilians--many of them women--but also stranded Red Army soldiers, national minorities, and even former collaborators. While others have documented the military contributions of the movement, Slepyan is the first to describe it as a social phenomenon and to reveal how its members were both challenged and transformed by the crucible of war. By tracing the movement's origins, internal squabbles, and evolution throughout the war, Slepyan shows that people who suddenly had the autonomy to act on their own came to rethink the Stalinist regime. He assesses how partisan initiative and self-reliance competed with and countered the demands of state control and how social identities influenced relations among partisans, as well as between partisans and Soviet authorities. Slepyan has tapped newly opened Soviet archives, as well as wartime radio broadcasts and Communist Party publications and memoirs, to depict the partisans as agents actively pursuing their own agendas. His book gives us a picture of their day-to-day struggle that was previously unknown to all but those few who personally survived the experience, paying special attention to questions of nationality, ethnicity, and gender to illuminate the sociopolitical relations within this diverse group. Through these varied accounts, he demonstrates that Soviet citizens reinterpreted Stalinism and the Soviet experience in the context of total war. Offering numerous fresh insights into the partisans' multifaceted relationship with the state, Slepyan's book reveals the ways in which the war simultaneously reinforced and undermined both Stalinism and the Soviet system. Ultimately, his study rescues the Soviet partisans from obscurity to depict the complexity of their lives and underscore their vital contributions to the defense of their homeland. This book is part of the Modern War Studies series.
|
| Customer Reviews:
Stalin's boring organization of anti-Nazi Partisans April 27, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
A better title for this book would have been: "Stalin's inept organizational planning of Soviet Partisans." This book is not really about detailing the heroic exploits of hundreds of partisan attacks against the Nazi invaders of Russia (which I was expecting). It tries to show that there was some planning by the Soviet military leaders in attempting to organize and coordinate the anti-Nazi (and maybe pro-Soviet) partisans, but as much as the author combed through newly released Soviet war files, Slepyan fails to add much eatable meat onto the frame of his book. I am a retired U.S. Army colonel, and I see this book of being of limited interest to just a few historians reviewing partisan activities during the World War II. A few partisan experiences are recounted, but only a few, which provide the only brief interesting moments while reading this book. From a military perspective, there are no standard "unit organizational charts" -- apparently, because Stalin had very little control over the partisan "units", and being small, really lack any need for an organizational chart. There is no discussion as to how much effectiveness that these units had in seriously thwarting the Geman Army's activities. Out of the hundreds of books that I have read on many subjects, "Stalin's Guerrillas" is probably the second most boring (and useless) book that I have ever read, outside of the Qur'an. The author tried to add some titillating "spice" into his book by devoting several pages discussing the promiscuous sexual activities of communal "camp wives" for the partisans; but given the bland writing style of the author even these pages could not arouse my libido in recommending this book. One reviewer wrote that this book "brings to life" the partisan struggle; in reality, this book is more of a solemn wake rather than a revival. To condense this book: "Stalin's planning of anti-Nazi partisan warfare was inept." Okay, now that you have read the book, go read something else about anti-Nazi partisan warfare.
Review November 15, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I was a bit disapointed in this book. I was expecting much more about the imfamous "bandit" hunting operations the German SS-Polizei, their auxillaries, and Wehrmacht Security divisions conducted against the guerrillas. These were by 1943 large scale operations involving multiple regiments where the Germans would attempt to kill almost everyone, burn the villages, and carry off the livestock.
Nor was their very much in the way in the specific activities undertaken. Primarily rail sabotage which was extremely effective. What this book does well is mentioned in the reviews above. Myself, I thought of it as yet another doctorial thesis published for academic credential purposes.
I would recomend, if you can find it:
Fyodorvich, Alexi. The Underground Committee Carries On. Moscow: Foreign Languages Publishing House. 1952
 Academic echo of the Cold War September 18, 2007
7 out of 9 found this review helpful
I picked up this book hoping to find a sample of new post-perestroika
scholarship one would hope eventually arrives. With the Cold War war
over and the relationships between the West and Russia on the mend, a
serious analysis of the events of modern history untainted by
ideological biases and enriched with the data newly available from the
archives would be most welcome. In this sense, Slepyan's "Stalin's
Guerrillas" is a letdown.
First, a word of caution. Despite what the title says the book is not
about Soviet partisans. Rather, the book's main subject is far
narrower: their search for identity. This is the author's former PhD
thesis. And thus it is in part his advisor's fault for selecting such
a banal topic out of such a dramatic event as people's struggle to
defend their motherland against overwhelming odds. Another warning is
that the intended audience for the book is professional
historians. The second chapter provides some background on the
partisan movement. However, it is solely insufficient for a person
unfamiliar with the events of the WWII or with the Soviet realities of
that period. Moreover, Slepyan tries to do original research thus
skirting known facts and avoiding extensive citations of other
material however interesting. For most of the book Slepyan adopts a
dispassionate wooden academic writing style. A touch of compassion and
respect for people starving, freezing, fighting and dying for their
country certainly would not have hurt this book.
That said, it is surprising how much Slepyan manages to get out of his
topic. For example there are a number of questions about guerrilla
tactics and organization. Should they accept civilians or military
professionals? Should they accept non-combatants, women? Should they
defend the population or expose it to German reprisals hoping to speed
up recruitment. Should they accept former collaborators? Should they
organize along party or military guidelines? Should they help the
peasants raise the crops or destroy it so that it does not fall into
occupier's hands? Should they attack collaborators? And so on.
The rivalry between military-formed and party-formed partisan
detachments is interesting. Also interesting is a fact that
"okruzhentsy" (the soldiers that were left behind the enemy lines
after German blitzkrieg of '41) frequently chose to collaborate with
the Germans to get out of POW camps and then switched sides and joined
the partisans. Interesting how in '43-44 the ranks of partisans swell
with the people who sat out the war and now wanted to get on the good
side of the advancing Soviets. The sections on relationship between
minorities and Slavic partisans and the treatment of women are well
done. It is interesting how, in the masculine culture of a partisan
detachment, women were treated as "camp followers" and to be considered
equals they went on military missions; and then, after returning, had
to pull a double duty of cooking and laundering because men refused to
do "woman's work". Nice to see Slepyan acknowledging that Soviet
ideology required egalitarian treatment of women and achieved
(limited) gains against the macho partisan culture. One might also
mention that US military of that war was fighting in racially
segregated units and even medics were male.
Slepyan seems to get better when he gets off the subject. The last
chapter discusses Soviet historiography on partisans and WWII. This
is probably not his, but he provides a good summary of anti-Soviet
scholarship. How a "master narrative" was constructed to shoehorn
history into propping the Soviet state: the Party and Stalin
personally led the partisans into fight against the German aggressors
and how people's avengers rose as one to the party's call. How nuances
and stories that contradicted this narrative were expunged or ignored.
How this master narrative mutated after Stalin's death. This rings so
true.
Little is done to enliven the text. There are few personal stories,
war anecdotes to illustrate the points the author makes. There are
few comparisons to guerrilla movements elsewhere.
Anti-Sovietism, largely contained throughout the book, (even though
any attempt at centralized control had to be called "Stalinist") rears
its ugly head in the last several pages where Slepyan examines "Homo
Sovieticus" (A Cold-War bogey man) as a basis for partisan identity.
In the list of minor shortcomings. Slepyan gratuitously uses
Russian words. Some, like "oblast" (province) and "rayon" (region) are
used without initial translation. Occasionally the usage is even
incorrect. Slepyan could not seem to decide how to call partisan
formations: units, detachments, brigades, bands, occasionally even
Russian "otriad"s.
 Buy This Book! July 29, 2007
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
The passion and dedication of the author shines through. His thorough knowledge of the subject matter is obvious. This is a fascinating time in history and Mr. Slepyan brings it to life.
|
|
|
Web Design, Maintenance, and Hosted by K9Sites.com | |