num_pages: 688
description: On June 22 1941 Germany launched the greatest land assault in history on the Soviet Union an attack that Adolf Hitler deemed crucial to ensure German economic and political survival. As the key theater of the war for the Germans the eastern front consumed enormous levels of resources and accounted for 75 percent of all German casualties. Despite the significance of this campaign to Germany and to the war as a whole few English-language publications of the last thirty-five years have addressed these pivotal events.In Ostkrieg: Hitler's War of Extermination in the East  Stephen G. Fritz bridges the gap in scholarship by incorporating historical research from the last several decades into an accessible comprehensive and coherent narrative. His analysis of the Russo-German War from a German perspective covers all aspects of the eastern front demonstrating the interrelation of military events economic policy resource exploitation and racial policy that first motivated the invasion. This in-depth account challenges accepted notions about World War II and promotes greater understanding of a topic that has been neglected by historians.
language: English
title: Ostkrieg: Hitler's War of Extermination in the East
publisher: University Press of Kentucky