Unabridged Audiobook
The Second World War comprised a number of different struggles between the key participants, but none of these was more epic than that between Stalin's Soviet Union and Hitler's Nazi Germany. Of course, this has been recognised by historians for some while, as is evidenced by the amount written on such aspects as Operation Barbarossa, the siege of Leningrad, the battle for Stalingrad and the advance on Berlin. However, as Robert Forczyk, the author of 'Where Iron Crosses Grow' points out, relatively little had previously been written about the battles fought in the Crimea, despite the scale of the resources committed by both sides to this front. This book addresses the shortcoming superbly. As well as giving an excellent account of the military exchanges, this book explains the different ways in which Germany and the Soviet Union ran the Crimea when they were in control of the territory and briefly sets out the fate of the key individuals who participated in the battles. Forczyk finishes the book with a summary of Putin's recent seizure of The Crimea, leaving open the question of what its eventual impact will be on relations between Russia and the West. I greatly enjoyed listening to 'Where Iron Crosses Grow' and recommend it to anyone with an interest in the history of the Twentieth Century.
The relating of the land battles were blow by blow, repetitive and a bit dry but the naval and ethnic cleansing segments were more interesting.
Good book!
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