Nik Cornish Livres

07The final volume in a four-part photographic history of the war between Germany and the Soviet Union.

Photographic history of the Russian army during the First World War Insight into the ordinary soldier's experience of the war on the Eastern Front Rare photographs of the Tsar and his commanders

The 900-day siege of the Soviet city of Leningrad by the combined forces of the Germans and the Finns is one of the most remarkable, terrible events of the World War II, yet until recently it has not received the attention it deserves. This book tells of the ruthless struggle of Hitler's armies to capture the second city of the Soviet Union.

Imperial Russia's massive, if finally fatal contribution to the Allied war effort of 1914-17 involved huge numbers of men and some of the greatest battles of the war. This volume provides illustrated detail on the range of uniforms worn by the troops who played central roles in these events.

In April and May 1945 the city of Berlin was the site of the final destructive act of the Second World War in Europe. The German capital became a battleground. After three weeks of ruthless fighting against a desperate, sometimes suicidal, defense, the Red Army took the city and crushed the last remaining German armies in the East. This momentous battle and the elaborate preparations for it were recorded in graphic detail by photographers whose images have come down to us today. These images, which give us an unforgettable glimpse into the grim reality of mid-twentieth-century warfare, are the raw material of Nik Cornish’s evocative book.Using a rich selection of rare photographs from the Russian archives as well as images from German sources, most of which have not been published before, he traces the course of the entire campaign. The battles fought in East Prussia, eastern Germany and Hungary – in particular the assault on Budapest – are covered. But the body of his book is devoted to the battle for Berlin itself - the monstrous onslaught launched by Zhukov’s armies on the Seelow Heights, the bitter street fighting through the suburbs, then the ultimate confrontation, the merciless room-by-room struggle for the center of the city and the Reichstag.

The Soviet victory over the Germans at Stalingrad was decisive for the war on the Eastern Front and for the Second World War as a whole, and the story of the long, bitter battle on the banks of the Volga has fascinated historians ever since. While it has been the subject of countless histories, memoirs and eyewitness accounts, the grueling reality of the battle on the ground, in the shattered streets and buildings of the city, has rarely been recorded photographically.

The partisan war in the Soviet Union from 1941 to 1944 has been the subject of considerable political manipulation in the decades following 1945. In great part this was due to the need to project the image of a country united behind Joseph Stalin and the Communist regime when the truth was more complex than that. This book deals with this topic.

The book provides a comprehensive photographic history of the October Revolution, the Bolshevik rise to power, and the tumultuous Russian-German war that preceded it, along with the complex civil war between the Reds and Whites that ensued. Nik Cornish's work highlights the significance of these historical events, ensuring that the broader context and the multifaceted nature of this turbulent period are equally represented through vivid imagery.

The book provides a detailed and visually engaging account of the Red Army's strategic advances during World War II, leading to the pivotal fall of Berlin in 1945. Through illustrations and narrative, it captures the military tactics, key battles, and the broader historical context of this significant campaign, illustrating both the challenges faced by the soldiers and the impact of their efforts on the war's outcome.

Dramatic photographic record of the Soviet partisans of the Second World War