The Road to Berlin (155 page)

IVMV
, 9, pt 1, pp. 139–48, Soviet operations, Baltic states, breakthrough on Tallin and Riga axes, severing of communications between Army Group North and East Prussia.

Altukhov, P.K.
et al., Nezabyvaemye dorogi. Boevoi put 10-i gvardeiskoi armii
(Moscow: Voenizdat 1974). See pp. 156–96, 10th Guards Army and drive on Riga.

Bagramyan, Marshal SU I.Kh., ‘Shaulyaisko–Mitavskaya operatsiya voisk 1-vo Pribaltiiskovo fronta’,
VIZ
, 1962 (10), pp. 3–23. Bagramyan’s highly personalized account, Shauliya operation.

Bagramyan, I.Kh.,
Kak shli my k pobede
, pp. 339–418, early July consideration of further operations (drive on Riga–Shaulyai), liberation of Polotsk (July 4), Vasilevskii proposes drive on Kaunas and Shaulyai to cut Army Group North escape route to NE frontier of E Prussia, Kaunas fixed as prime objective, July 11 orders to Front armies, problems of co-ordination with Yeremenko/2nd Baltic Front, fall of Shaulyai and Daugavpils—‘our road to the sea open!’—Vasilevskii assumes operational direction, German concentration in the Riga area,
Stavka
plans for 4-front offensive (1st, 2nd, 3rd Baltic and Leningrad Fronts) to destroy Army Group North.

Collective authorship,
Bor’ba za Sovetskuyu Pribaltiku v Velikoi Otechest. voine 1941–1945
(Riga: Liesma 1967), vol. 2 (this is a 3-vol. series), ch. 2, operational narrative, 3rd Belorussian Front offensive, Vilna–Kaunas, 5–31 July, pp. 39–60 (note on heavy Soviet losses, p. 60—11 Guards Army battalions reduced to two-company strength, in some regiments battalions with only one company); 1st Baltic Front offensive, operational narrative, 5–31 July, breakthrough to Gulf of Riga, cut communications of German Army Group North with East Prussia, pp. 60–73.

Collective authorship,
Rizhskie Gvardeiskie
. Sbomik voenno-istoricheskikh ocherkov (Riga: Liesma 1972). Detailed memoir-monograph studies, 52nd Guards, 30th Guards, 85th Guards, 43rd Guards, 22nd Guards, 65th Guards Rifle Divisions (‘Riga’ divisions), 315th ‘Riga’ Fighter Aviation Div.

Kazakov, General M., ‘V boyakh za sovetskuyu Pribaltiku’,
VIZ
, 1967 (2), pp. 62–75: Soviet attack towards Riga,
Stavka
planning, operations of 2nd Baltic Front, Govorov’s co-ordinating role.

Krasnov, V.I.
et al., Gimn ratnym podvigam
(Moscow: Mosk. Rabochii 1966), under ‘Vyshli na granitsu’, pp. 128–34, Zakabluk’s unit on the frontier line with E Prussia, Frontier Marker No. 56; Zakabluk himself was to receive Hero of the Soviet Union decoration but was killed in action three days later.

Pern, Lt.-Gen. L.A.,
V vikhre voennykh let
(Tallin: Eesti Raamat 1976), pp. 172–210. Operations of Estonian Rifle Corps (operating with 2nd Shock Army), Sept. 1944. (Previous edition: Tallin, 1969.)

Portnov, Maj.-Gen. S.I. (ed.),
V srazheniyakh za Sovetskuyu Latviyu
(Riga: Liesma 1975), pp. 29–120, operations in Soviet Latvia, July–Aug. 1944. Extremely detailed operational narrative based almost exclusively on Soviet military archives. Note also one of contributing authors, Admiral of the Fleet S.G. Gorshkov.

Sandalov, Col.-Gen. L., ‘Osvobozhdenie Sovetskoi Pribaltiki’,
VIZ
, 1969 (10), pp. 14–26. Sandalov Chief of Staff, 2nd Baltic Front, detailed operational narrative, drive on Riga, Tallin.

Vasilevskii, A.M.,
Delo vsei zhizni
(2nd edn), pp. 471–84. See ‘Bor’ba za Pribaltiku’,
Stavka
directive (July 29) to co-ordinate and direct operations of 1st, 2nd Baltic and 3rd Belorussian Fronts (p. 475),
Stavka
order to eliminate shortcomings in command/control—breakdown in communications, poor movement control—
Stavka
‘s direct criticism of 2nd Baltic Front operational order of July 6 (p. 479),
Stavka
criticism of other Front commands (excerpts—1st Ukrainian Front, Leningrad Front, 4th Ukrainian Front, further signals to Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian Front, end Dec. 1944 to 2nd Ukrainian Front—Vasilevskii admits ‘running ahead of myself—pp. 480–83), Baltic offensive involved
four
Front operations, Vasilevskii’s main attention fixed on 1st Baltic Front, fresh Soviet general offensive timed for Sept. 14, each army 1st Baltic given specific operational axis and ‘tank-mechanized fist’ built up—‘the Riga express’.

Yeremenko, Marshal SU A.I.,
Gody vozmezdiya 1943–1945
(Moscow: Nauka 1969), ch. 9, Yeremenko’s 2nd Baltic Front operations opening 21 July, Rezekne–Daugavpils, pp. 341–90; ch. 10, Front directive July 29 (pp. 394–6), heavy fighting Luban–Madona–Gulbene triangle, capture of Krustpils (Aug. 8), investment of Luban plain and crossing of river Aidikste placed Front in position to close on Riga, pp. 393–436.

Finland leaves the war pp.
327
–
330

Seaton, Albert,
The Russo–German War
, pp. 460–66, on Finland leaving the war, military and diplomatic analysis—an excellent, incisive and comprehensive account, utilizing: Marshal Mannerheim’s
Memoirs;
W. Erfurth,
Der finnische Krieg 1941–1944
(Wiesbaden, 1950); L. Rendulic,
Gekämpft, Gesiegt, Geschlagen
(Munich, 1957); and Soviet materials.

Warner, Oliver,
Marshal Mannerheim and the Finns
(London: Weidenfeld, 1967), pp. 195–204, the continuation war, Jodl–Mannerheim Oct. 1943, Kollontai messages, German riposte, Finnish representatives to Moscow March 1944, Soviet terms, Keitel–Heinrichs, Soviet offensive June 10—‘the black day in our war history’ (Mannerheim)—Keitel visit to Mannerheim (Aug. 17),
Eduskunta
approves negotiation for ceasefire.

GMD/KTB

OKH/GenStdH/Op. Abt. I/N
, Band II, Finnland. See signals, items 440 092/44, 117/44, 133/44, 211/44, 213/44: Finnish moves for peace, Soviet–Finnish relations/ Soviet conditions. T-78/R337, 6293167–177.

KTB/OKW
, IV/1 ,
KTB
1944, 9 Abschnitt. Der nördliche Kriegsschauplatz … II Teil. A. Finnland (12), ‘Der Abfall Finnlands’ (31 Aug.–15 Sept.), pp. 893–900.

IVOVSS
, 4, pt 2, pp. 143–51, Soviet offensive in S Karelia, advance to frontiers, Finland leaves the war.

IVMV
, 9, pt 1, pp. 34–8, Finnish moves to leave the war, Soviet–Finnish armistice, setting up of Soviet Control Commission under Zhdanov.

Meretskov, Marshal SU K.A.,
Na sluzbe narodu
(Moscow: Politizdat 1969), pp. 376–91. See ‘Karel’skii front’, 30 May summoned to Moscow, Stalin’s sarcasm about Meretskov’s relief model (p. 377), to 7th Army for attack across Svir, 9 June to Kremlin, planning to destroy enemy force Svir–Petrozavodsk area, discussion with Stalin, Vasilevskii, Antonov, Zhukov, request for additional corps, Zhukov–Vasilevskii objections, Stalin’s whispered promise of the extra corps (p. 379), frontier line reached, Soviet–Finnish armistice talks.

Noskov, A.M.
Skandinavskii platsdarm vo vtoroi mirovoi voine
(Moscow: Nauka 1977), pp. 202–15, German–Finnish tensions, Finnish moves to leave the war. (A specialist monograph, using Soviet and non-Soviet archives, also extensive bibliography again citing non-Soviet publications.)

6 SOVIET LIBERATION, SOVIET CONQUEST: AUGUST–DECEMBER 1944

Wartime events in east-central and south-east Europe present immense complexity, being compounded of heavy German military and political investment, multiple civil wars, irredentism and ethnic warfare, competition between ‘the Big Three’ and the further upheavals brought on by the massive Soviet military irruption into the region in 1944.

One of the few composite Soviet views of military-political developments is presented in M.M. Minasyan,
Osvobozhdenie narodov Yugo–vostochnoi Evropy
(Moscow, 1967); Maj.-Gen. Minasyan evidently first embarked on this work not long after the war during his assignment to the Department of the History of Soviet Military Art in the Frunze Academy. I have perforce relied heavily on this work, supplemented by the insights gained by discussing these Soviet operations with Soviet military historians. As for the diplomatic intricacies, here I could find no substitute for Sir Llewellyn Woodward’s history of British wartime foreign policy with its superb clarity and cool elucidation. Much remains to be explained amidst this wider murkiness, but an indispensable guide is part II of Professor Hugh Seton-Watson’s
The East European Revolution
(London: Methuen, New York: Praeger 1950) dealing with the wartime history of Axis satellites, the Resistance movements and ‘Great and small allies’ (pp. 83–166). My own purpose here has been to review
Soviet
policies and
Soviet
actions, the course of military operations being a significant component.

Balkan upheavals pp.
331
–
356

Barker, Elisabeth,
Truce in the Balkans
(London: Percival Marshall 1948), ch. 8 on the Rumanian political scene, pp. 129–40, and ch. 10, on Greek resistance/political movements, pp. 171–80. (Excellently vivid pen-portraits of political personalities.)

Campbell, John and Sherrard, Philip,
Modern Greece
(London: Benn 1969), pt 2(VI), pp. 173–80, on the Greek guerrilla/resistance movements,
EAM–ELAS
aim for political control over mountain Greece, on Saraphis (p. 176), ‘National Bands Agreement’, Lebanon conference, Soviet military mission/Colonel Popov in Greece, July 44—instructions to
KKE
to avoid open opposition.

Churchill, Winston S.,
The Second World War
, vol. 6:
Triumph and Tragedy
. See ch. V, ‘Balkan convulsions’, pp. 72–9, Churchill to Eden May 4—‘… are we going to acquiesce in the Communisation of the Balkans …’ (p. 72)—Soviet discussion of ‘sharing’ over Greece vs. Rumania, Church to Roosevelt (p. 73), American response (June 11–13), Churchill to Stalin July 11, Stalin to Churchill July 15 insisting on American approval, Soviet mission to
ELAS
and British suspicious; ch. VII, pp. 101–5, on the Greek problem:
EAM
repudiation of Lebanon agreement, Churchill consultation with Colonel Woodhouse, Churchill to Eden Aug. 6, British force for Greece planned, Churchill to Roosevelt Aug. 17, meeting with Papandreou, position of Greek king.

Deakin, F.W.D.,
The Embattled Mountain
(London: OUP 1971). See pt 2, pp. 123–227, on British policy, role of SOE, the contacts with Tito and the British mission, supporting Tito, view of Middle East Command on importance of the partisan movement.

Ionescu, Ghita,
Communism in Rumania 1944–1962
. See pt 1, pp. 73–80, Soviet plans for conquest of Rumania, opening of diplomatic contacts (Nano in Stockholm), contacts in Cairo (Stirbey mission), Hitler–Antonescu, Soviet assertion of rights over Bessarabia and B. Bukovina, Maniu sends Visoianu to Cairo (May 27), divisions within Rumanian CP, ‘Tudor Vladimirescu Division’ in USSR, Bodnaras sent to Rumania by
NKVD;
pp. 81–3, breakdown of negotiations between Allies and Rumanian opposition, Roosevelt’s opposition to any creation of ‘spheres of influence’, Soviet attempts to bring about direct capitulation of Rumania, Kollontai’s offer of an armistice (June 2), Rumanian decision to overthrow Antonescu.

MacLean, Fitzroy,
Disputed Barricade. The Life and Times of Josip Broz-Tito
(London: Cape 1957). See pt 2, ‘In the woods’, pp. 131–289, on the Serbian rising, the partisan movement, relations with the British and the Russians (esp. ch. X, ‘How many miles to Babylon?’).

Kiszling, Rudolf,
Die Kroaten
(Graz/Cologne: Böhlau 1956). See ‘Das unabhängige Kroatien 1941–1945’, esp. pp. 179–94 on partisan warfare. (Cf.
KTB/OKW
, IV/1, 6 Abschnitt (d) ‘Aufbau der kroatischen Wehrmacht—1944’,
SS
divisions (14th Mussulman
SS
Div.…),
Ustaša
and
Domobran
, police/security/gendarmerie units, pp. 742–7).