Audiobook9 hours
Forgotten Bastards of the Eastern Front: American Airmen behind the Soviet Lines and the Collapse of the Grand Alliance
Written by Serhii Plokhy
Narrated by Alex Wyndham
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
5/5
()
About this audiobook
At the conference held in Moscow in October 1943, American officials proposed to their Soviet allies a new operation in the effort to defeat Nazi Germany. The Normandy Invasion was already in the works; what American officials were suggesting until then was a second air front: the US Air Force would establish bases in Soviet-controlled territory, in order to "shuttle-bomb" the Germans from the Eastern front. Stalin, recalling the presence of foreign troops during the Russian Revolution, balked at the suggestion of foreign soldiers on Soviet soil. Eventually in early 1944, Stalin was persuaded to give in, and Operation Baseball and then Frantic were initiated. B-17 Flying Fortresses were flown from bases in Italy to the Poltava region in Ukraine.
As Plokhy's book shows, what happened on these airbases mirrors the nature of the Grand Alliance itself. While both sides were fighting for the same goal, Germany's unconditional surrender, differences arose that no common purpose could overcome. Soviet secret policeman watched over the operations, shadowing every move. A catastrophic air raid by the Germans revealed the limitations of Soviet air defenses. Relations soured and the operations went south. Indeed, the story of the American bases foreshadowed the eventual collapse of the Grand Alliance and the start of the Cold War.
As Plokhy's book shows, what happened on these airbases mirrors the nature of the Grand Alliance itself. While both sides were fighting for the same goal, Germany's unconditional surrender, differences arose that no common purpose could overcome. Soviet secret policeman watched over the operations, shadowing every move. A catastrophic air raid by the Germans revealed the limitations of Soviet air defenses. Relations soured and the operations went south. Indeed, the story of the American bases foreshadowed the eventual collapse of the Grand Alliance and the start of the Cold War.
More audiobooks from Serhii Plokhy
The Last Empire: The Final Days of the Soviet Union Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Man with the Poison Gun: A Cold War Spy Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nuclear Folly: A History of the Cuban Missile Crisis Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ukraine's Maidan, Russia's War: A Chronicle and Analysis of the Revolution of Dignity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related to Forgotten Bastards of the Eastern Front
Related audiobooks
In Wartime: Stories from Ukraine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The End of the Cold War 1985-1991 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ivan's War: Life and Death in the Red Army, 1939-1945 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Russian Revolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Journey to a Revolution: A Personal Memoir and History of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Devils' Alliance: Hitler's Pact With Stalin, 1939-1941 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Marshall Plan: Dawn of the Cold War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Savage Continent: Europe in the Aftermath of World War II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The End of Tsarist Russia: The March to World War I and Revolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Yalta: The Price of Peace Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Armageddon Averted: The Soviet Collapse, 1970-2000 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Weak Strongman: The Limits of Power in Putin's Russia Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/51946: The Making of the Modern World Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5After Hitler: The Last Ten Days of World War II in Europe Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Cold War's Killing Fields: Rethinking the Long Peace Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Return of the Russian Leviathan Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Stalin's Secret Agents: The Subversion of Roosevelt's Government Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Gulag: A History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Stalin, Volume I: Paradoxes of Power, 1878-1928 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5No Simple Victory: World War II in Europe, 1939-1945 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Balkan Ghosts: A Journey Through History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Revolution 1989: The Fall of the Soviet Empire Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Retribution: The Soviet Reconquest of Central Ukraine, 1943-44 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Berlin Wall: August 13, 1961 - November 9, 1989 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Berlin Airlift: The Cold War's most remarkable operation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/51848: Year of Revolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Russia at War, 1941–1945: A History Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Wars & Military For You
American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Korean War: A History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Last Kingdom Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/577 Days of February: Living and Dying in Ukraine, Told by the Nation’s Own Journalists Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Valiant Women: The Extraordinary American Servicewomen Who Helped Win World War II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of September 11, 2001 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel: Genius, Power, and Deception on the Eve of World War I Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ghosts of Honolulu: A Japanese Spy, A Japanese American Spy Hunter, and the Untold Story of Pearl Harbor Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Diary of Anne Frank Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You're Stepping on My Cloak and Dagger Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Nazi Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Kill Anything That Moves Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Rape of Nanking: The History and Legacy of the Notorious Massacre during the Second Sino-Japanese War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin - Book Summary: How U.S. Navy SEALS Lead And Win Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Making of the Atomic Bomb: 25th Anniversary Edition Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Book of Five Rings Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5On Palestine Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Countdown 1945: The Extraordinary Story of the Atomic Bomb and the 116 Days That Changed the World Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5When I Come Home Again: 'A page-turning literary gem' THE TIMES, BEST BOOKS OF 2020 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Founding Mothers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Four Battlegrounds: Power in the Age of Artificial Intelligence Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Saved: A War Reporter's Mission to Make It Home Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Shortest History of Israel and Palestine: From Zionism to Intifadas and the Struggle for Peace Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5V Is For Victory Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for Forgotten Bastards of the Eastern Front
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
5/5
2 ratings0 reviews