Retired Colonel David Glantz is a leading American military historian, the largest Western specialist in the Red Army and World War II. Knowing the Russian language and Soviet military literature well, having access to Russian archives, Glants got the opportunity to work with primary sources, which makes his works certainly worthy of attention. They compare favorably with most of the works of Western "Sovietologists" in the absence of a "accusatory bias," anti-communism and Russophobia. This book was recognized as the best in Western military historical literature, a study of the circumstances of the 1941 tragedy.