Red Army

Through the Maelstrom: A Red Army Soldier's War on the Eastern Front, 1942-1945 (Modern War Studies)
$36.95
I had HUGE expactations on this book but was very disapointed. David Glantz said it was better and more accurate than Guy Sejers memoir, and while he might be correct about the accurate part it's in no way more thrilling and gripping than Sejers. Far from it in fact. The book is around 500 pages, if not more, and basically only one real battle which Boris takes part in is described. The rest seems to be battles described by Boris after having heard or read about them afterwards, and even these are few and mostly on large scale movements. When I read a memoir like this I want first-person perspective. The rest of the book contains some interesting parts of Boris movement towards the west, but most of the pages are about people Boris knew or met, but who are not interesting at all to the reader and adds little or nothing at all to the story.

Also, the translator used three names when naming some individuals in the book, just like Dostojekvsky used to do. First name, last name and the common nickname. Alexander suddenly becomes Sasha. Using these randomly might be normal in russian litterature to russian people but it's not for a western reader. You end up mixing up who's mentioned and who's talking to whom. This should've been mentioned or, even better, if only one name was used througout. Otherwise a good job translating.

When Titans Clashed: How the Red Army Stopped Hitler (Modern War Studies)
$17.95
While this work, akin to all of the books written by Glantz and/or House, is articulately written and sheds a little new light on an aspect of Eastern Front warfare, the desire of the authors to "recreate" or "discover" new episodes of World War II have led them to take Soviet sources for granted and at face value. Soviet sources are unreliable and have been continually "revamped" and fabricated since the Great Patriotic War began. Stalin's mandate of "social realism," which dictated that all Soviet histories will reflect what should have happened instead of what did happen, forever tainted all of the "secret" Soviet archives that supposedly convey "new" information about the Eastern Front. All Soviet documents, especially the divisional histories, were edited and doctored by the NKVD and other Soviet political apparatus prior to them being locked away or even being removed from the battlefield. While I applaud both Glantz and House for their desire to find new revelations concerning World War II, this work cannot be relied upon because of the erroneous data that they have collected from Soviet sources.

Red Star: Red Army Chorus and Dance Ensemble
$19.99
When I purchased this DVD I didn't know what to expect. I was actually looking for a Ukranian Dancing one but couldn't find any. I decided to try this one since the dancing is very close to one another. Now I am hooked on it. It is better than Ukranian dancing. Fast paced. The singing is fabulous. Their voices are just plain great. My family loved this one the best out of others I bought so I bought another one of theirs. This is the one Live from Moscow. WE think this is the best one ever. The second one Live from Paris is equally as good. It is well worth every penny and I would pay much more for another one like it!

The Red Army of the Great Patriotic War 1941-45 (Men-at-Arms)
$17.95
Good historical text on the story of the red army not just blah blah about the uniforms.