I recently had an opportunity to briefly correspond with military historian Col (Ret) David M. Glantz. He is the author of numerous works on the Second World War and his studies on various Eastern Front battles are among some of the most in-depth and accurate works currently available. His work in this area continues and we were lucky enough to get him to take a brief timeout from his busy schedule to talk to us.

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Don: Please tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do.

David: I am a retired army colonel and a native of Port Chester, NY. I graduated from the Virginia Military Institute, the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill), and a variety of Army schools, including the Defense Language Institute, the Command and General Staff College, and the Army War College. My 30 years and six months of service included duty in Europe and Vietnam and extensive travel in Europe, Japan, and the former Soviet Union.

Don: Your passion for history obviously runs very deep. How did you come to first be interested in history?

David: It is in my genes. My father taught history in high school for 35 years, history books always surrounded me, and I have always been fascinated by the subject, especially about Soviet military history, principally because it was so obscure and impenetrable.

Don: You were the founder and former director of the U.S. Army’s Foreign Military Studies Office. As a military historian, it must have been somewhat of a “dream job” to have these kinds of resources available to you. Can you tell us a little about that?

David: It was indeed a dream job, in essence, a reflection of the times, when the U.S. Army and military was undergoing a renaissance (from 1978 through 1992). It was a rare time when far-sighted military leaders permitted, and, in fact, encouraged basic research in military subjects, as well as “outreach” to the militaries of other nations, in particular the Soviet Union. I began my research of the Red Army as a product of such cooperation with the Japanese from 1979-1983, when, as part of a military history exchange, the Japanese asked us (the Combat Studies Institute at Fort Leavenworth) to research Soviet subjects such as the Soviet Manchurian offensive, August 1945 and Soviet wartime airborne operations. This work got me started on the subject, and, having researched the last chapter of Soviet wartime experiences, I was naturally drawn to investigate the entire story of the war, which I have been doing ever since. Sadly, this renaissance ended abruptly in 1992 and is only now beginning to resume.

Don: It’s probably fair to say you’re best known to readers for your contributions regarding the Eastern Front in WWII. You’ve written a number of in-depth books on the subject and provided fresh interpretations on many aspects of the major campaigns there. Debunking some of the more popular myths about the Eastern Front could not have been popular with everyone. Have you faced any criticism or resistance to your interpretations or ideas in this regard?

David: During the first 10 years of my work, when I focused on researching and revealing military operations that took lace from 1943-1945, which history books usually passed over very quickly, many Germans were annoyed, although not the Wehrmacht veterans I worked with, most of whom never realized what happened to them and their army and why. During the past seven years, however, many Russians are equally annoyed over my investigation of so-called “forgotten battles,” most of which were Red Army defeats.

Don: Since the fall of the Berlin Wall more and more Soviet archival material has been made available to Western historians, is it reasonable to say that we now have a fairly complete understanding of the major events on the Eastern Front, or is there still much more to learn that is still hidden from us?

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