ISBN 1-58545-075-8
127 pages

Introduction; photos; diagrams; tables

   In the year 2000 Craig Crofoot set out on the long road toward self-publication of a forty-eight volume series covering the complete Soviet order-of-battle during the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, and we published a review of his first Soviet OB volume in October 2000. Crofoot's second self-published volume was planned for January 2001. However, there have been a few twists and turns and bumps in the road.
   Before completion of the second OB volume, Crofoot made arrangements to have The Nafziger Collection undertake publication and distribution of the series. Earlier this year this revised edition of the original Soviet OB volume was released by Nafziger, now billed as "volume 1, part one." Subsequently, disaster struck Crofoot's computerized OBs when "lightning hit my apartment building and fried my computer (even with a surge protector) so right now I'm trying to rebuild my files." In the meantime, Crofoot has announced that when Nafziger's publication of the series resumes, it will be co-authored by Paul Dunigan and the first release will be a third edition of the first volume of the OB covering 22 June 1941. Nafziger, by the way, also advertises two volumes by Crofoot with very similar titles, The Soviet Order of Battle: Volume 1, Part 1: The Northern Theater of Operations, 22 June 1941- 1 Jun 1942 and The Soviet Order of Battle: Volume 1, Part 2: The Northern Theater of Operations, 1 July 1942 - 1 April 1943, but these are different books from the "Sleeping Bear" volume(s).
   So what we have here is a book which is simultaneously the second edition of a book we reviewed a year ago and a volume which looks like it will be superseded by a third edition. Here's a quick run-down of the differences between the new version and the original (and it might be helpful to glance at our review of the first edition before proceeding).
   Most importantly, the first volume has been split into two parts. Only part one was made available for review, and apparently part two of the first volume of the second edition has never been published.
   The second edition adds two new organigrams at the very beginning of the booklet: "Soviet Security Forces Command Structure, 22 June 1941" and "Soviet Army Command Structure, 22 June 1941." These complement the original organigram which has been retained and renamed "Soviet Army Headquarters, 22 June 1941."
   Like the first edition, the second edition begins OB coverage with "Northwestern Front, 22 June 1941." The new edition adds a photo of the front commander (and that addition is true of all the Front/District listings in the new version). Otherwise, the data is identical, but with an expanded footnote including information on where the Front was deployed plus information on NKVD units in the area. The OB coverage then continues as in the first edition with army by army listings (8th, 11th, 27th) for Northwestern Front with no appreciable changes.
   Following the army OBs for the Front, Crofoot adds several very detailed tables not found in the original edition:

"Artillery and Mortar Totals"
"Tank Totals"
"Aircraft Totals"
"Manpower, Small Arms and Transportation Totals"

   All these tables are sub-titled "in the Baltic Special Military District (Northwestern Front), 1 June 1941." The first two tables contain columns for "readiness categories" and rows for specific models of hardware (such as "T-34 line," "T-34 with radio," "122mm Howitzer M1909/30"). The aircraft table contains columns for "operational," "non-operational," and "combat crews" with rows for specific aircraft models (such as "DB-3," "DB-3a," "MiG-1"). The fourth table includes categories such as "rifles and carbines," "cargo trucks," "tractors," and "horses." Here's a partial example of one of the tables from the Western Special Military District:

   This sequence of Front information, subordinate armies, and tables of hardware and manpower continues for each Front (and each army within each Front). Unlike Northwestern Front, other HQs can reveal substantial revision. For example, Western Front now shows 20th Mechanized Corps (which had not previously appeared within that Front) as a "Front Ground Asset" with 26th Tank Division, 38th Tank Division, 210th Mechanized Division, and 24th Motorcycle Regiment.
   Following listings for the "Reserves of the Headquarters of the Main Command (Stavka GK)" come more new tables.
   "Movement Status of Forces of the Stavka Reserves" shows columns for each army (and "separate elements") and, within each of those, additional columns for "point of origin," "en route," and "point of destination" with rows for component corps, divisions, separate regiments, and separate battalions. This reveals where in the movement process units were (but not exactly which unit). No date is given for this table, but it must be either 1 June 1941 or 22 June 1941.
   "Numerical Composition of the Forces of the Stavka Reserves" shows the same columns, but provides rows with numeric totals for manpower, tanks, artillery, and other weapons. Again, no date is given.
   Just as in the first edition, after the Fronts (and their armies) and the Stavka forces, Crofoot lists the Soviet Military Districts (and their armies).
   For the Military Districts, new tables are given with artillery and mortar totals, tank totals, aircraft totals, and manpower totals just like for Fronts.
   Unlike the original edition of volume one, which was published in one part, the first part of volume one of the second edition ends with the Volga Military District, so the Urals, Central Asia, Siberia, Transbaikal, and Far Eastern MDs and their components are not included. This part of the new edition also excludes all the Navy data from the original volume.
   The new edition adds a lengthy list of "Corps and Division Commanders" for 22 June 1941 with unit, name and rank of commander, and higher HQ to which the unit was assigned. This is shown in numeric order by unit, so it also acts as a very handy reference for finding to which corps/army/front any division was assigned on this date.
   Finally, the first part of the new edition contains no bibliography.
   That concludes a side-by-side comparison of the first and second editions of the first volume of the series. While the actual OB material is not much changed, the new tables mean that overall the second edition provides vastly more data than the original. In fact, while the original amounted to 79 pages in total, just the first part of the second edition includes 127 pages.
   The bottom line? Well, several conclusions can be drawn:

• The second edition is much improved over the first edition.
  
• However, because it looks like the second part of the first volume of the second edition hasn't been—and won't be?—published, the second edition remains incomplete.
  
• Because Crofoot tells us the third edition of volume one will contain even more newly discovered OB information, those in no immediate hurry might be best advised to wait for the next version to arrive when the author recovers from his computer melt-down.

   In any event, it will be nice to see publication resume and this series get back on track. Crofoot still has a long road ahead of him, but if he can maintain enough forward momentum, these books will certainly pay off for readers, researchers, OB enthusiasts, and wargame designers.
   Available from online booksellers, local bookshops, or directly from The Nafziger Collection.
   Thanks to Nafziger for providing this review copy.