I give this book an A- because it is only a part of his major war cycle, The Red Wheel. And not one of the works for which he earned the Nobel Prize.
Solzhenitsyn used real German and Russian generals, dukes, czars, etc., but make up a colonel to tie various people and actions together.
The Russian army was so dysfunctional that it could not possibly have defeated the organized Germans. They telegraphed their plans without encrypting the messages, being sure the Germans would never stay up at night to interpret them: they were wrong.
They planned to strike to the north then the west, etc. and sent their troops marching back and forth to no avail. They claimed victory when they had only retreated to a previously held town. They lied incessantly and tried to appear heroic in cowardly retreat. It is no wonder the author was up a big creek without a paddle. I heartily recommend.
Grade: A-
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