Planning and Preparation for Operation Bagration by the Soviet High Command
With H.G.W. Davie
Operation Bagration Week
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Part of our ongoing Eastern Front series on WW2TV
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Also part of our 80th Anniversary Series
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In 1926 Boris Shaposhnikov wrote his classic study on the subject of High Command in his book "The Brain of the Army" and he was Chief of the General Staff in the dark days of 1941 when the German Army. His writings inspired the creation of the Soviet system of High Command: the State Defence Committee (GKO), Stavka, Genstab, Strategic Direction Commands, Stavka Representatives and Front Commands.

How did these bodies work together to control an army of 12 million especially in the climactic days of the summer of 1944? How does this system compare to the Allied system of multi-national command?

One of the problems facing historians is that there is no single work in English on the Soviet High Command during the war. John Erickson's classic study only covers the period 1918-1941 and little has been written since then.

Today's talk will look at all levels of the Soviet High Command and how they interacted together, how we might interpret the role of Stalin and the implications of the structure in delivering Soviet victories. We will compare Soviet accounts of the war and see how they differ from Anglo-Saxon interpretations and what this reveals. Then using this understanding, we will look at the details of the planning that went into the successful Operation Bagration.

You can do some background reading in the Journal of Slavic Military Studies in the paper "Patterns of War: A Re-interpretation of the Chronology of the German-Soviet War 1941–1945"
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This presentation is based on lectures given for the MA Second World War: Conflict Society and Holocaust at the University of Wolverhampton. Taught on a Saturday and online, it is specifically designed for part time students. If you are interested in taking your historical research a step further you can find further details here:
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H.G.W. Davie's previous appearances:
The Red Army Motor Fleet and Lend-Lease
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Railways in German occupied Eastern Europe
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