The Greatest Battle - By Andrew Nagorski
Simon & Schuster

The struggle for Moscow was a far bigger than that for Stalingrad. There were 7 million troops involved and casualties were over 2.5 million. Andrew Nagorski former Newsweek bureau chief in Moscow, Berlin & other postings, is ideally suited to tell this story of possibly the greatest single battle ever anywhere. The full story of this epic battle has never been able to be told before because access to files and other material was impossible until, the fall of the USSR. What we previously knew from Soviet sources were sanitized accounts of the war and the myth that the Russian people heroically united against the Nazi invaders. It wasn't so. Stalin's blunders, incompetence and brutality nearly made it possible for a German victory but Hitler's blunders were greater. As Churchill said, ' war is won by he who make the least blunders". What comes forth to me is that during wars, crises etc. a dictatorship will always fail compared to a healthy democracy for the simple reason that no man is omnipotent. He brings out the main characters personalities superbly, the pre war politics of Stalin's purges, captures the almost uncanny similarities between Hitler and Stalin. While Moscow's fate hung in the balance Stalin was haggling with Britain and the USA with his eyes on the future of Soviet Europe. Churchill saw this and was powerless to stop it and Roosevelt was naive. What truly makes this somewhat untold story come alive is the authors ability to blend personal interviews, excerpts from survivors memoirs, and telling statements for interviews he had with its survivors. An extremely well written account of one of the most decisive battles in modern history. Had it gone the other way I hate to imagine the world we would have had.

PS: Ironically - The Stratfor Weekly - June22, headline is Germany and Russia Move Closer.