A short (138 pages) packed account by Adam Zamoyski of Lenin’s attempt to conquer Poland and send the Red Army on to Germany, to Berlin, to support the fledgling German communists there and, ultimately, to spread the Russian Revolution across Europe.
The Poles were initially pushed back by sheer weight of Russian numbers until they rallied at the gates of Warsaw whereupon, to everyone’s surprise, there occurred the ‘Miracle on the Vistula’ and the Russians were held, repelled, and then routed all the way back to East Prussia. Here thousands surrendered or continued their rout back to Russia itself. Poland was saved and the entire area had 20 years breathing space to experience some kind of autonomous government before the Nazi-Soviet Pact and a new Dark Age descended.
One of the key Red Armies in the campaign was the First Cavalry Army operating in the South. It’s their part in this campaign which Isaac Babel describes in his chilling, brutal, haunting classic Red Cavalry.
Books & Boots 