Hitlers War Against the Partisans During The Stalingrad Offensive (Hardcover)

Hardcover. From the start of the war on the Eastern Front, Hitler's Ostheer, his Eastern Army, and its associated forces would wage a vernichtungskrieg, or war of annihilation, in the East. Never before had such a wide-reaching campaign been fought. The preparations for the war against the partisans began before the launches of Operation Barbarossa, during which the Axis forces immediately put their plans into effect. The effects upon the newly conquered territories were soon being felt. The end of the initial phase of the German invasion of the Soviet Union was met by a Red Army winter offensive which began on 5 December 1941. As the author shows, this had repercussions behind the German lines, where the nascent Soviet partisan movement was attempting to grow and gain a foothold. By the spring of 1942 those early Soviet partisan units were ready to expand. The Germans, aware of the military situation both on the frontlines and in the rear of their armies, also prepared to counter the growing partisan threat. The partisans undoubtedly made a significant contribution to Stalin's war effort by countering Axis plans to exploit occupied Soviet territories economically, as well as providing valuable assistance to the Red Army by conducting systematic attacks against Hitler's rear communication network. As the German military planned to continue the Russian campaign into the summer of 1942, new security forces were gathered together and sent to the Soviet Union, and a new headquarters specifically organized to fight the guerrilla menace, was established. In this follow-up study, author Antonio Munoz picks up the partisan and anti-partisan struggle in the East, where Hitler's War Against the Partisans During Operation Barbarossa left off. The struggle behind the frontlines in Russia proved to be as grand and epic as the fight along the front lines. Dr. Munoz describes this war of attrition along the entire breath of the USSR. In 1942 the Ostheer, acting on Adolf Hitler's orders, launched their 1942 summer offensive which was aimed at capturing the Caucasus Mountains and the Russian oil fields that lay there. Dr. Munoz not only covers the war behind the lines in every region of the occupied USSR, but also describes the German anti-partisan effort behind the lines or Army Group South, as its forces drove into the Caucasus Mountains, the Volga River bend and Stalingrad. No other work has included the guerrilla and anti-partisan struggle specific to the Stalingrad campaign. Munoz manages to accomplish this, but also to convey the story of the rest of the partisan and anti-guerrilla war in the rest of the USSR from the spring of 1942 to the spring of 1943. AUTHOR: Antonio J. Munoz is a retired professor of history living in New York city. He joined the United States Marine Corps right after graduating from high school. He served honorably for four years, two of them with the Fleet Marine Force Atlantic. He obtained his bachelor's and master's degree in history from Queens College. He later attended St. John's University, where he received a doctorate in history. Before he retired, he taught at St. John's University and, later, at Farmingdale State College. Dr. Munoz has previously been published. His study The German Secret Field Police in Greece, 1941-1944 was released in 2018. He has been married for forty-three years and has several grandchildren. His family in Spain hails from the province of Asturias while his wife's family is from Galicia. He and his family hold dual American and Spanish citizenship. 16 b/w illustrations Shipping may be from our Sydney, NSW warehouse or from our UK or US warehouse, depending on stock availability.…