David M. Glantz

David M. Glantz

David M. Glantz was born on January 11th, 1942 and is currently 84 years old. David M. Glantz was born in Port Chester, NY, USA. Glantz attended Virginia Military Institute and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

David M. Glantz is a renowned military expert and historian on how the Soviet Army conducted its operations during the Second World War.

He spent more than three decades with the American Army, where he was deployed to combat zones such as Vietnam and European theatres, too. After working in intelligence and artillery, he founded and led the Foreign Military Studies Office, where he studied battles and wartime records.

Glantz was not only studying documents as he listened to veterans and tried to balance the meticulous Soviet records with Western histories that drew on German sources. His dedication to being more balanced would become the core of his life's work, even as it garnered him much respect among peers.

David M. Glantz is also the founder of the scholarly publication The Journal of Slavic Military Studies. It is a journal devoted to the military history of the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. He would go on to work as editor for the publication for several decades.

In addition to writing books and dozens of articles, David M. Glantz was also involved in running the Art of War symposia, where historians and veterans gather to discuss strategy and battles.

Glantz and his wife make their home in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and continue to speak and write about soldiers' experiences and the great battles of history.

In Barbarossa Derailed, which is the first of The Battle for Smolensk series, David M. Glantz tells of one of the biggest battles of Operation Barbarossa during the Second World War.

In June 1941, German battalions pushed deep into Soviet Russia, expecting a lightning-quick victory. However, they never anticipated how hard it would be, and things would turn complicated when they had to battle seven soviet armies in Smolensk.

Launching counterattacks, the Soviets refused to give up despite being encircled. These actions slowed down the German advance to a crawl, demotivated the troops, and forced Hitler to push back his march on Moscow.

It was a battle that showed the Germans that victory would not come easily, even as it set the tone for future engagements.

Going back to the war in 1942, David M. Glantz published the work To the Gates of Stalingrad, in which he chronicles the fight between the Soviet Union and Germany in 1942.

He explains how Hitler was forced to split his forces so that some would push toward Stalingrad while others went to the Caucasus, hoping to capture its rich oil resources. However, the Soviets put up a determined fight and, in a counterattack, slowed and stopped the Germans.

Drawing from Soviet and German records, it showcases the stubborn defense, the constant resistance, and fierce battles that wore down the Germans and stopped them just before they reached Stalingrad.

In 1984, David M. Glantz published The Soviet Airborne Experience to explain the use of Soviet airborne troops and their development during and after the Second World War.

The author shows that even though airborne and paratrooper units are overlooked in Western history, they were a critical component of Soviet plans for deep strikes and fast attacks.

He describes the training and deployment of troops and how they often found themselves trapped behind enemy lines for weeks, showing just how resilient they were even in extreme conditions.

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Readers who follow David M. Glantz also follow these authors:

1. Stephen King, author of The Dark Tower Series.
2. J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter Series.
3. Charles Dickens, author of: A Christmas Carol.
4. Jane Austen, author of: Pride and Prejudice.
5. Robert Galbraith, author of the Cormoran Strike Series.

David M. Glantz: F.A.Q