Robert Chandler

War reporting from one of Russia's greatest writers, an indispensable record of World War II and the Eastern Front. June 22, 1941: Launch of Operation Barbarossa. Hitler invades the Soviet Union. Vasily Grossman soon begins a new career as a war reporter. During the next four years, he covered all the major battles of the Eastern Front, from Stalingrad to Berlin, writing brutally vivid reports that were read by millions of soldiers and civilians alike.
And as the war drew to a close, he was one of the first to expose the horrors of the Treblinka death camp. Grossman had a remarkable memory and the ability to win the trust of men and women from all walks of life: snipers, generals, fighter pilots, peasants, soldiers in a Soviet penal battalion, and German prisoners of war. Not many reporters are able to write so vividly, and with such understanding, about world-changing events while they are still unfolding.
This collection brings together the best of the forty-nine articles Grossman wrote for the Red Star newspaper, many in newly unearthed versions that have not been distorted by censors. It is still a vital record of a deadly time.