Glantz, David M. 1942–

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Glantz, David M. 1942–

PERSONAL:

Born January 11, 1942, in Port Chester, NY; son of Malcolm Ives (a high school teacher) and Susan (an artist and art teacher) Glantz; married Mary Ann Weeks (a nurse), April 17, 1965; children: Mary Elizabeth, Susan Ann. Education: Virginia Military Institute, B.A. (with distinction), 1963; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, M.A., 1965; attended U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, 1973-74, Defense Language Institute, 1974-75, U.S. Army Institute for Russian and East European Studies, 1975-77, and U.S. Army War College, 1982-83. Politics: "Independent." Religion: Reformed Baptist. Hobbies and other interests: Classical music, running, mountain climbing, gardening.

ADDRESSES:

Office—805 Forbes Rd., Carlisle, PA 17013.

CAREER:

Historian, writer, and educator. U.S. Army, career officer, 1963-93; became colonel; battery commander in Germany, 1965-67; analyst with Fire Support Coordination Center in Vietnam, 1968-69; U.S. Military Academy, West Point, NY, began as instructor, became assistant professor of modern European history, 1969-73; Office of the Chief of Staff for Intelligence, intelligence analyst, 1977-79; U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, KS, faculty member and deputy director of Combat Studies Institute; 1979-83; U.S. Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, PA, faculty member and director of Soviet Studies and Center for Land Warfare, 1983-86; Combined Arms Center, Fort Leavenworth, director of research and deputy director of Soviet Army Studies Office, 1986-90, acting director, 1990, director of Foreign Military Studies Office, 1991-93. Lecturer at U.S. Air Force Academy, British Army Staff College, Harvard University, Old Dominion University, Dalhousie University, and Bowdoin College. Consultant to British Services Sound and Vision Corp.

AWARDS, HONORS:

National Intelligence Study Center Award, 1990, for Soviet Military Intelligence in War; the Samuel Eliot Morison Prize for historical writings from the Society for Military History, 2000. Recipient of two Bronze Stars, two National Defense Service Medals, Army Achievement Medal, Army Commendation Medal, two Meritorious Service Medals, Legion of Merit, and Distinguished Service Medal.

WRITINGS:

August Storm: The Soviet 1945 Strategic Offensive in Manchuria, Combat Studies Institute (Fort Leavenworth, KS), 1983, published as The Soviet Strategic Offensive in Manchuria, 1945: August Storm, Frank Cass Publishers (Portland, OR), 2003.

August Storm: Soviet Tactical and Operational Combat in Manchuria, 1945, Combat Studies Institute (Fort Leavenworth, KS), 1983.

The Soviet Airborne Experience, Combat Studies Institute (Fort Leavenworth, KS), 1984.

Soviet Military Deception in the Second World War, Frank Cass (Portland, OR), 1989.

The Role of Intelligence in Soviet Military Strategy in World War II, Presidio Press (Novato, CA), 1990.

Soviet Military Intelligence in War, Frank Cass (Portland, OR), 1990.

Soviet Military Operational Art, Frank Cass (Portland, OR), 1990.

From the Don to the Dnepr: Soviet Offensive Operations, December 1942-August 1943, Frank Cass (Portland, OR), 1990.

The Soviet Conduct of Tactical Maneuver: Spearhead of the Offensive, Frank Cass (Portland, OR), 1991.

The Military Strategy of the Soviet Union: A History, Frank Cass (Portland, OR), 1992.

(Editor) The Initial Period of War on the Eastern Front, 22 June-August 1941: Proceedings of the Fourth Art of War Symposium, Garmisch, 1987, Frank Cass (Portland, OR), 1993.

The History of Soviet Airborne Forces, Frank Cass (Portland, OR), 1994.

(With Jonathan M. House) When Titans Clashed: How the Red Army Stopped Hitler, University Press of Kansas (Lawrence, KS), 1995.

(Editor and translator) Aleksander A. Maslov, Fallen Soviet Generals: Soviet General Officers Killed in Battle, 1941-1945, Frank Cass (Portland, OR), 1998.

Kharkov 1942: Anatomy of a Military Disaster, Sarpedon (Rockville Centre, NY), 1998.

Stumbling Colossus: The Red Army on the Eve of World War II, maps by Darin Grauberger and George F. McCleary, Jr., University Press of Kansas (Lawrence, KS), 1998.

(Editor and translator with Harold S. Orenstein) The Battle for Kursk, 1943: The Soviet General Staff Study, Frank Cass (Portland, OR), 1999.

(With Jonathan M. House) The Battle of Kursk, maps by Grauberger, University Press of Kansas (Lawrence, KS), 1999.

(Editor and author of foreword) Leonid D. Grenkevich, The Soviet Partisan Movement, 1941-1944: A Critical Historiographical Analysis, Frank Cass (Portland, OR), 1999.

Zhukov's Greatest Defeat: The Red Army's Epic Disaster in Operation Mars, 1942, German translations by Mary E. Glantz, maps by Grauberger, University Press of Kansas (Lawrence, KS), 1999.

Barbarossa: Hitler's Invasion of Russia, 1941, Frank Cass Publishers (Portland, OR), 1999.

The Siege of Leningrad, 1941-1944: 900 Days of Terror, MBI Publishing (Osceola, WI), 2001.

The Battle for Leningrad, 1941-44, University Press of Kansas (Lawrence, KS), 2002.

(Editor and translator, with Harold S. Orenstein) The Battle for L'vov, July 1944: The Soviet General Staff Study, Frank Cass (Portland, OR), 2002.

Colossus Reborn: The Red Army at War: 1941-1943, University Press of Kansas (Lawrence, KS), 2005.

(Editor and translator) Evgenii D. Moniushko, From Leningrad to Hungary: Notes of a Red Army Soldier 1941-1946, Frank Cass (New York, NY), 2005.

Companion to Colossus Reborn: Key Documents and Statistics, University Press of Kansas (Lawrence, KS), 2005.

Red Storm over the Balkans: The Failed Soviet Invasion of Romania, Spring 1944, University Press of Kansas (Lawrence, KS), 2007.

Also author of monographs. Work represented in anthologies, including Transformation in Russian and Soviet Military History, Office of Air Force History, 1990; and The Lost Empire: Perceptions of Soviet Policy Shifts in the 1990s, Brassey's, 1991. Contributor of articles and reviews to military studies journals. Founder and U.S. editor, Journal of Soviet Military Studies (became Journal of Slavic Military Studies, 1993), 1987—.

SIDELIGHTS:

David M. Glantz has written extensively about World War II battles on the Eastern Front, where the Soviet Union's army clashed with Nazi Germany's troops. For many of his works undertaken since the early 1990s, he has been able to use documents that became available with the breakup of the USSR. For instance, Zhukov's Greatest Defeat: The Red Army's Epic Disaster in Operation Mars, 1942 details events that Soviet officials preferred to de-emphasize in the decades that followed. According to World War II magazine contributor Michael Breen, most chroniclers have characterized this campaign near Moscow as a "minor diversionary attack" going on at the time of the Battle of Stalingrad, but Glantz makes the case that it was "the personal priority of Marshal Giorgi Zhukov, deputy commander of the Soviet high command." Breen observed that "Glantz's strong narrative vividly portrays the fighting" and "also shows how the Soviet leadership's desperation and frustration led to costly frontal attacks and the continuation of fighting even after it was clear that victory was no longer possible." The reviewer also commented that Glantz hypothesizes a bit too much, but found that to be a "minor flaw" in a book that offers "solid scholarship, strong sources and a clear and concise writing style." Library Journal commentator William D. Bushnell also recommends the work, calling it an "exhaustive study" with a "comprehensive view."

Glantz once told CA: "My goal has been to foster sound, objective military research within the U.S. Army and to harness that research toward providing better educated army officers. In addition, I want to promote understanding of military subjects between the military and academe."

Glantz is also the author of The Role of Intelligence in Soviet Military Strategy in World War II, which focuses on how Soviet intelligence capabilities affected political and military decisions during World War II. Genevieve Stuttaford wrote in Publishers Weekly that the book is "aimed at serious students of modern military warfare."

When Titans Clashed: How the Red Army Stopped Hitler, written with Jonathan M. House, is a comprehensive view of the war between the Soviets and Germany during World War II. Drawing on newly released Soviet documents, the authors provide the first full account of the war from the Soviet perspective. "The book conveys the colossal scope and scale of the five-year struggle," wrote a Publishers Weekly contributor. Writing in Foreign Affairs, Eliot A. Cohen commented that the authors "describe with remarkable concision how the Soviets defeated their Nazi opponents."

In The Battle for Leningrad, 1941-44, Glantz provides a definitive military history of the German siege and the Soviet defense of Leningrad during World War II. Instead of focusing solely on the besieged city of Leningrad, Glantz also looks at the conflict waged beyond the city's borders. "The clash between the Wehrmacht and the Red Army was the largest and most ferocious war in history," wrote Benjamin Schwarz in the AtlanticMonthly, who went on to note that the author "meticulously chronicles the [battle's] operational history." Harold J. Goldberg noted in History: Review of New Books: "Glantz has written the most complete military and operational history of this epic battle to date, and it would be difficult to imagine anyone surpassing Glantz's effort in the future unless significant new material becomes available."

Glantz's 1998 book, Stumbling Colossus: The Red Army on the Eve of World War II, was called "the first study of the state of the Red Army in the summer of 1941" by History: Review of New Books contributor Steve R. Waddell. In his book, Glantz draws on evidence formerly unavailable in the West, such as combat records and previously classified Soviet materials, to examine how the Red Army was poorly trained and inadequately equipped to start a large-scale military campaign in 1941. He goes on to dispel many long held myths about the Soviet Army, including the myth that the Soviets were planning a preemptive strike against Germany. "Both professional historians and general history readers will find this book of interest," wrote Waddell in History: Review of New Books.

Glantz once again collaborates with Jonathan M. House to write The Battle of Kursk, which details the largest tank battle of World War II. In their book, the authors counter traditional views of the battle between the Germans and the Soviets, which had previously relied largely on German accounts. The battle resulted in approximately 200,000 Soviet and 50,000 German casualties. In their book, the authors draw on both German and Soviet sources to show what really happened at Kursk and how it affected the outcome of World War II. Glantz and House provide accurate figures of combat strengths and losses, and the book includes thirty-two maps that clarify troop and tank movements. "This work is the most detailed and thorough examination of the Battle of Kursk to date and makes a major contribution to the study of the war on the Eastern Front," noted Steve R. Waddell in History: Review of New Books. Hubert V. van Tuyll wrote in the Historian that "the authors have produced a masterpiece."

Colossus Reborn: The Red Army at War: 1941-1943, published in 2005, continues the author's exploration of the Red Army during World War II. In the book, Glantz explores why the Soviet army was unprepared for the German blitzkrieg at the end of 1941 that left more than four million Soviet troops dead. Glantz provides a detailed examination of how the Red Army was resurrected and went on to develop advanced military strategy and operations prowess to stop the German invasion. "The book includes many little-known but highly significant battles fought during the first thirty months of the war," wrote Scott A. Porter in the Military Review. Richard S. Faulkner commented in Armor: "Colossus Reborn is an important and meticulously researched addition to the historiography of the Eastern Front."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Armor, May-June, 2007, Richard S. Faulkner, review of Colossus Reborn: The Red Army at War: 1941-1943, p. 51.

Atlantic Monthly, December, 2002, Benjamin Schwarz, review of The Battle for Leningrad, 1941-44, p. 126.

Foreign Affairs, May-June, 1996, Eliot A. Cohen, review of When Titans Clashed: How the Red Army Stopped Hitler, p. 141.

Historian, fall, 2000, John Beeler, review of Zhukov's Greatest Defeat: The Red Army's Epic Disaster in Operation Mars, 1942, p. 192; spring, 2001, Hubert P. van Tuyll, review of The Battle of Kursk, p. 678; winter, 2004, Ivan T. Berend, review of The Battle for Leningrad, 1941-44, p. 869.

History: Review of New Books, winter, 1999, Steve R. Waddell, review of Stumbling Colossus: The Red Army on the Eve of World War II, p. 80; winter, 1999, Steve R. Waddell, review of Stumbling Colossus, p. 80; spring, 2000, Steve R. Waddell, review of The Battle of Kursk, p. 128; summer, 2003, Harold J. Goldberg, review of The Battle for Leningrad, 1941-44, p. 139.

Library Journal, March 15, 1999, William D. Bushnell, review of Zhukov's Greatest Defeat, p. 92.

Military Review, January-February, 2005, Rick Baillergeon, review of The Battle for Leningrad, 1941-44, p. 90; January-February, 2006, Scott A. Porter, review of Colossus Reborn, p. 122.

Parameters, winter, 2000, Dr. Samuel Newland, review of The Battle of Kursk, p. 164; autumn, 2003, Earl F. Ziemke, review of The Battle for Leningrad, 1941-44, p. 153.

Publishers Weekly, May 25, 1990, Genevieve Stuttaford, review of The Role of Intelligence in Soviet Military Strategy in World War II, p. 47; September 11, 1995, review of When Titans Clashed, p. 67.

Reviewer's Bookwatch, May, 2005, John Burroughs, review of The Siege of Leningrad, 1941-1944: 900 Days of Terror.

Times Literary Supplement, March 15, 1991, review of Soviet Military Operational Art, p. 6.

World War II, February, 2000, Michael Breen, review of Zhukov's Greatest Defeat, p. 60.