Bibliography of the Soviet Union during World War II


This is a select bibliography of English language books and journal articles about the Soviet Union during the Second World War, the period leading up to the war, and the immediate aftermath. For works on Stalinism and the history of the Soviet Union during the Stalin era, please see Bibliography of Stalinism and the Soviet Union. Book entries may have references to reviews published in English language academic journals or major newspapers when these could be considered helpful.
Additional bibliographies can be found in many of the book-length works listed below; see [|Further reading] for several book and chapter length bibliographies. The [|External links] section contains entries for publicly available select bibliographies from universities.
A limited number of English translations of significant primary sources are included along with references to larger archival collections.
Inclusion criteria
Works included are referenced in the notes or bibliographies of scholarly secondary sources or journals. Included works should either be published by an academic or widely distributed publisher, be authored by a notable subject matter expert as shown by scholarly reviews and have significant scholarly journal reviews about the work. To keep the bibliography length manageable, only items that clearly meet the criteria should be included.
Citation style
This bibliography uses APA style citations. Entries do not use templates. References to reviews and notes for entries do use citation templates. Where books which are only partially related to Soviet history are listed, the titles for chapters or sections should be indicated if possible, meaningful, and not excessive.
If a work has been translated into English, the translator should be included and a footnote with appropriate bibliographic information for the original language version should be included.
When listing works with titles or names published with alternative English spellings, the form used in the latest published version should be used and the version and relevant bibliographic information noted if it previously was published or reviewed under a different title.

General works

  • Buttar, P.. Between Giants: The Battle for the Baltics in World War II. Oxford: Osprey Publishing.
  • David-Fox, M., Holquist, P., & Martin, A. M.. Fascination and Enmity: Russia and Germany as entangled histories, 1914–1945. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.
  • Glantz, D. M.. . The Journal of Slavic Military Studies, 27, 676–720.
  • Goldman, S. D.. Nomonhan, 1939: The Red Army's Victory that Shaped World War II. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press.
  • Harrison, M.. Soviet Planning in Peace and War, 1938-1945. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Harrison, M.. Accounting for War: Soviet Production, Employment, and the Defence Burden, 1940-1945. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Hill, A.. The Red Army and the Second World War. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Linz, S. J.. The Impact of World War II on the Soviet Union. Totowa: Rowman & Allanheld.
  • Merridale, C.. Ivan's War: Life and Death in the Red Army, 1939–1945. New York: Metropolitan Books.
  • Noggle, A.. A Dance with Death: Soviet Airwomen in World War II. College Station: Texas A&M University Press.
  • Rieber, A. J.. Stalin as Warlord. New Haven: Yale University Press.
  • Roberts, G.. Stalin's Wars: From World War to Cold War, 1939-1953. New Haven: Yale University Press.
  • Roberts, G.. . History Ireland, 16, 42–48.
  • Shearer, D.. . Jahrbücher Für Geschichte Osteuropas, 66, 188–217.
  • Weiner, A.. Making Sense of War: The Second World War and the Fate of the Bolshevik Revolution. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Spanish Civil War

  • Beevor, A.. The Battle for Spain: The Spanish Civil War 1936–1939. New York: Penguin Books.
  • Cox, Geoffrey. Defence of Madrid. Victor Gollancz, London,
  • Hooton, E. R.. Spain in Arms: A Military History of the Spanish Civil War 1936–1939. Philadelphia, PA: Casemate Books.
  • Krammer, A.. The Russian Review, 32, 388–402.
  • Payne, S. G.. The Spanish Civil War. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Preston, P.. The Spanish Civil War: Reaction, Revolution and Revenge. London: William Collins.
  • Thomas, H.. The Spanish Civil War. New York: HarperCollins.
  • Volkova, I.. . Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History, 21, 327–346.

The Nazi-Soviet alliance (1939—1941)

  • Hiden, J., & Lane, T.. The Baltic and the Outbreak of the Second World War. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Kornat, M.. . The International History Review, 31, 771–797.
  • Rentola, K.. . The International History Review, 35, 1089–1112.
  • Moorhouse, R.. The Devils' Alliance: Hitler's Pact with Stalin, 1939–1941. New York: Basic Books.
  • Moorhouse, R.. Poland 1939: The Outbreak of World War II. New York: Basic Books.
  • Roberts, G.. The Unholy Alliance: Stalin's Pact with Hitler. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
  • Sanford, G.. Katyn and the Soviet Massacre of 1940: Truth, Justice and Memory. New York: Routledge.
  • Toczewski, A.. . The Polish Review, 37, 209–215.
  • Uldricks, T. J.. . Slavic Review, 36, 599–603.
  • Uldricks, T. J.. . Slavic Review, 58, 626–643.
  • Watson, D.. . Europe-Asia Studies, 52, 695–722.
  • Watson, D.. . Europe-Asia Studies, 54, 51–85.

NaziSoviet War

These works focus on Soviet experiences and operations from the Soviet perspective; see also Bibliography of World War II.
  • Beevor, Antony.. Stalingrad: The Fateful Siege: 1942–1943. New York: Penguin Books.
  • Bellamy, C.. Absolute War: Soviet Russia in the Second World War. New York: Knopf.
  • Erickson, John.. The Road to Stalingrad, Stalin's War with Germany, Volume 1, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1975, 1983
  • Erickson, John..The Road to Berlin. Stalin's War with Germany, Volume 2, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1983
  • Exeler, F.. . Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
  • Glantz, D. M.. From the Don to the Dnepr: Soviet Offensive Operations. New York: Routledge.
  • Glantz, D. M.. After Stalingrad: The Red Army's Winter Offensive, 1942–1943. Warwick: Helion and Company
  • Glantz, D. M.. Stalingrad. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas
  • Glantz, D. M.. Barbarossa Derailed. Warwick: Helion and Company.
  • Glantz, D. M.. Operation Barbarossa: Hitler's Invasion of Russia, 1941. Cheltenham: History Press.
  • Glantz, D. M., & House, J. M.. When Titans Clashed: How the Red Army Stopped Hitler. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas.
  • Hardesty, V., & Grinberg, I.. Red Phoenix Rising: The Soviet Air Force in World War II. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas.
  • Harvey, A.. . Air Power History, 65, 23–30.
  • Overy, R.. Russia's War: A History of the Soviet Effort: 1941–1945. New York: Penguin Books.
  • Snyder, T.. Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin. New York: Basic Books.

The Soviet homefront during World War II

  • Barber, J., & Harrison, M.. The Soviet Home Front, 1941-1945: A Social and Economic History of the USSR in World War II. London: Longman.
  • Bidlack, R.. . The Russian Review, 59, 96–113.
  • Braithwaite, R.. Moscow 1941: A City and Its People at War. London: Profile Books.
  • Collingham, E. M.. The Taste of War: World War II and the Battle for Food. New York: Penguin Books.
  • Garrard, J., & Garrard, C.. World War 2 and the Soviet People. New York: Macmillan.
  • Goldman, W. Z., & Filtzer, D.. Fortress Dark and Stern: The Soviet Home Front during World War II. New York: Oxford University Press.
  • Jekelʹčyk, S. O.. Stalin's Citizens: Everyday Politics in the Wake of Total War. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Kragh, M.. . War in History, 18, 531–546.
  • Manley, R.. To the Tashkent Station: Evacuation and Survival in the Soviet Union at War. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
  • Reid, A.. Leningrad: The Epic Siege of World War II, 1941–1944. New York: Walker & Company.
  • Stites, R.. Culture and Entertainment in Wartime Russia. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
  • Thurston, R. W., & Bonwetsch, B.. The People's War: Responses to World War II in the Soviet Union. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
  • Weiner, A.. . The Russian Review, 55, 638–660.
  • Yekelchyk, S.. Stalin’s Citizens: Everyday Politics in the Wake of Total War. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

The Allies and the Soviet Union in World War II

  • Butler, S.. Roosevelt and Stalin: Portrait of a Partnership. New York: Vintage Books.
  • Fischer, G.. . The Review of Politics, 12, 363–378.
  • Haas, M. L.. . In Frenemies: When Ideological Enemies Ally. Cornell University Press.
  • Havlat, D.. The Journal of Slavic Military Studies, 30, 290–320.
  • Havlat, D.. The Journal of Slavic Military Studies, 30, 561–601.
  • Herring, G.. . The Journal of American History, 56, 93–114.
  • Hett, B. C.. The Nazi Menace: Hitler, Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin, and the Road to War. New York: Henry Holt and Company.
  • Hill, A.. . The Journal of Military History ''71, 773–808.
  • Kelly, J.. Saving Stalin: Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin, and the Cost of Allied Victory. Hachette: Hachette Books.
  • Kettenacker, L.. . Journal of Contemporary History, 17, 435–458.
  • Mayers, D.. . The International History Review, 33, 299–333.
  • Munting, R.. . Journal of Contemporary History, 19, 495–510.
  • Munting, R.. . Soviet Studies, 36, 582–593.
  • Neiberg, M. S.. Potsdam: The End of World War II and the Remaking of Europe. New York: Basic Books.
  • Plokhy, S. M.. Yalta: The Price of Peace. New York: Penguin Books.
  • Preston, D.. Eight Days at Yalta: How Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin Shaped the Post-War World. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press.
  • Reynolds, D., & Pechatnov, V.. The Kremlin Letters: Stalin's Wartime Correspondence with Churchill and Roosevelt. New Haven: Yale University Press.
  • Watson, D.. . Europe-Asia Studies, 52, 695–722.
  • Watson, D.. . Europe-Asia Studies'', 54, 51–85.

Genocide, ethnic cleansing, and war crimes

This section contains works relating to war crimes and acts of genocide committed by or against the Soviets and events of the Holocaust committed on Soviet territory.
  • Arad, Y.. The Holocaust in the Soviet Union. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press.
  • Beevor, A.. The Fall of Berlin 1945. New York: Penguin Books.
  • Beorn, W. W.. Marching into Darkness: The Wehrmacht and the Holocaust in Belarus. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
  • Cassedy, E.. We Are Here: Memories of the Lithuanian Holocaust. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press.
  • Cienciala, A. M.. . The Polish Review, 46, 391–402.
  • Gerhard, G.. Nazi Hunger Politics: A History of Food in the Third Reich. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
  • Kay, A. J., Rutherford, J., & Stahel, D.. Nazi Policy on the Eastern Front, 1941: Total War, Genocide, and Radicalization. Rochester: University of Rochester Press.
  • Kershaw, I.. The End: The Defiance and Destruction of Hitler's Germany, 1944-1945. New York: Penguin Books.
  • Koerber, J.. Borderland Generation: Soviet and Polish Jews under Hitler'. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press.
  • Lower, W.. Nazi Empire-building and the Holocaust in Ukraine. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.
  • McBride, J.. . Slavic Review, 75, 630–654.
  • Pohl, D.. Russians, Ukrainians, and German Occupation Policy, 1941–43. in Kappeler, A., Kohut, Z. E., Sysyn, F. E., & von Hagen, M.. Culture, nation, and identity: the Ukrainian-Russian encounter, 1600–1945. Toronto: Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies Press.
  • Sanford, G.. . Journal of Contemporary History, 41, 95–111.
  • Statiev, A.. The Soviet Counterinsurgency in the Western Borderlands. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Steinhart, E. C.. The Holocaust and Germanization of Ukraine. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Tuszynski, M., & Denda, D. F.. . The Polish Review, 44, 183–216.
  • Wheatcroft, S. G.. . Europe-Asia Studies, 48, 1319–1353.

Holocaust in the Soviet Union

For works on the Holocaust in Ukraine, please see Bibliography of the Holocaust in Ukraine.
  • Cassedy, E.. We Are Here: Memories of the Lithuanian Holocaust. University of Nebraska Press.
  • Gordon, H.. The Shadow of Death: The Holocaust in Lithuania, University Press of Kentucky.
  • Issrof, S.. The Holocaust in Lithuania, 1941-1945: A Book of Remembrance.. Gefen Books.
  • Levin, D.., Holocaust and Genocide Studies, 7, 247–262.
  • Levin, D.., Holocaust and Genocide Studies, 5, 53–56.
  • Sepetys, R.. Between Shades of Gray. Philomel Books.
  • Stasiulis, S.. . East European Politics and Societies, 34, 261–279.
  • Vanagaite, Ruta, Zuroff, Efraim.. Our People: Discovering Lithuania's Hidden Holocaust. Rowman & Littlefield.

Topical

Works included here are specifically about the civilian and military aspects of the war years. For a broader scope, please see Bibliography of Stalinism and the Soviet Union.
  • Under Construction

Foreign Policy and external relations

Gender and family

  • Giedroyć, M.,.. Crater’s Edge: A Family’s Epic Journey Through Wartime Russia. London: Bene Factum Publishing.
  • Jolluck, K. R.. Exile and Identity: Polish Women in the Soviet Union During World War II. Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh University Press.
  • Simmons, C.. . Canadian Slavonic Papers / Revue Canadienne Des Slavistes, 40, 43–65.

Military life

  • Reese, R. R.. Stalin’s Reluctant Soldiers: A Social History of the Red Army, 1925-1941. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas.

Propaganda

  • Stanley Bill.. . The Slavonic and East European Review, 96, 432–468.
  • Thompson, E. M.. . Slavic Review, 50, 385–399.

Religion

  • Eden, J.. God Save the USSR: Soviet Muslims and the Second World War. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Motadel, D.. . Journal of Contemporary History, 48, 784–820.
  • Murav, H., & Estraikh, G... . Boston: Academic Studies Press.
  • Pinchuk, B. C.. . Slavonic and East European Review, 56, 387–410.

Rural studies and agriculture

  • Marples, D. R.. . Canadian Slavonic Papers / Revue Canadienne Des Slavistes, 27, 158–177.
  • McBride, J.. . Slavic Review, 75, 630–654.

Urban studies, industry and labor

  • Barnes, S. A.. . International Labor and Working-Class History, 58, 239–260.
  • Barskova, P.. '. DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press.
  • Braithwaite, R.. Moscow 1941: A City and Its People at War. New York: Knopf.
  • Cohen, L. R.. '. Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer.
  • Piankevich, V. L., & Burkum, E.. . The Russian Review, 75, 107–137.
  • Reid, A.. Leningrad: Tragedy of a City Under Siege, 1941-44. New York: Bloomsbury.
  • White, E.. . Europe-Asia Studies, 59, 1145–1161.

Other studies

  • Andreyev, C.. Vlasov and the Russian Liberation Movement: Soviet Reality and Emigre Theories. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Armstrong, J. L.. . The Polish Review, 35, 51–65.
  • Barany, G.. . Jahrbücher Für Geschichte Osteuropa's, 31, 161–209.
  • Burds, J.. . Journal of Contemporary History, 42, 267–314.
  • Ciechanowski, J.. The Warsaw Rising of 1944. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Cienciala, A. M.. . The International History Review, 7, 129–145.
  • Eimeleus, K. B. E. E., & Allen, E. J. B.. Skis in the Art of War. DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press.
  • Hartley, J. M.. Chapter 15:The Volga and the Second World War: Conflict, reconstruction, and identity. In The Volga: A History. New Haven: Yale University Press.
  • Hasegawa, T.. . Cahiers Du Monde Russe, 52, 245–271.
  • Herman, J.. . Journal of Contemporary History, 15, 577–602.
  • Kiebuzinski, K., & Motyl, A... . Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.
  • Kondoyanidi, A.. . The Russian Review, 69, 438–462.
  • Krylova, A.. . Contemporary European History, 23, 167–192.
  • Lee, E.. Night of the Bayonets: The Texel Uprising and Hitler's Revenge, April–May 1945. Barnsley: Greenhill Books.
  • Mark, J.. . Past & Present,, 133–161.
  • Pinchuk, B.-C.. . Jewish Social Studies, 48, 163–174.
  • Qualls, K. D.. Stalin's Niños: Educating Spanish Civil War Refugee Children in the Soviet Union, 1937–1951. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2020.
  • Reese, R. R. . The Journal of Slavic Military Studies, 20, 263–282.
  • Raack, R. C.. . Journal of Contemporary History, 25, 467–488.
  • Raack, R. C.. . Journal of Contemporary History, 26, 215–227.
  • Raack, R. C.. . Journal of Contemporary History, 28, 53–73.
  • Reynolds, D.. . The Historical Journal, 45, 211–227.
  • Roberts, G.. . Yale University Press.
  • Zubok, V.. . Diplomatic History, 21, 295–305.

Historiography

  • Cienciala, A. M.. . Cahiers Du Monde Russe, 40, 251–269.
  • Jażborowska, I.. . The Polish Review, 53, 139–157.
  • Sandomirskaia, I.. . Slavic Review, 69, 306–326.

Memory studies

  • Clapperton, J.. . Oral History, 35, 49–60.
  • Barskova, P.. . Slavic Review, 69, 327–355.
  • Hicks, J.. The Victory Banner over the Reichstag: Film, Document, and Ritual in Russia's Contested Memory of World War II. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.
  • Jilge, W., & Troebst, S.. . Jahrbücher Für Geschichte Osteuropas, 54, 1–2.
  • Kudryashov, S.. . In J. Echternkamp & S. Martens, Experience and Memory: The Second World War in Europe. New York: Berghahn Books.

Historical fiction

A select list of notable historical fiction related to the Soviet Union during World War II.

Primary sources

A select list of notable primary sources related to the Soviet Union during World War II.
  • Peri, A.. The War Within: Diaries from the Siege of Leningrad. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Filmography

A select list of notable films related to the Soviet Union during World War II.
  • Under construction