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Russia's War: A History of the Soviet Effort: 1941-1945 / SalesRank : 31036

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Russia's War: A History of the Soviet Effort: 1941-1945
Author : Richard Overy

Amazon Price : $9.35 45%($7.65) OFF
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Paperback [ Penguin (Non-Classics) ] [ Release : 1998 / 08 / 01 ]
ISBN : 9780140271690 / ASIN(ISBN-10) : 0140271694
[ ListPrice : $17.00 ] [ Used Price:$4.43 ]

Average Customer Review :

4.0stars [ See more reviews ]

This isn't a cheery book to read. In fact my jaw dropped, on a number of occasions, as I read it.

For me the most important thing to say about it is that it quite radically challenged my understanding of what happened in the Second World War, a view which was formed primarily by reading Churchill.

In his book 'The World at War', which kind of softened me up for reading Overy, Mark Arnold-Forster suggests that if necessary Russia could have defeated Germany unaided, and that the Germans weren't defeated because of their own incompetence or the weather but that they met a militarily superior opponent.

Overy doesn't make the first claim but he backs up the rest. Although Russia had a vast army and considerable weaponry at the outset of the war they were disorganised and in particular Stalin was unwilling to trust his generals. It took about a year and a half for these problems to be overcome and after that Russia hardly put a foot wrong. Having said that he also makes clear the important of the 'lend-lease' supplies the Russians got from the USA.

According to Khruschev in 1956, and these figures are supported by Overy, Russia lost about 25 million people as a direct result of the war. This included over six million soldiers killed in action. 80% of Germany's soldiers killed were on the Eastern Front. The scale of the war is what had not got through to me prior to reading this book.

Other points which Overy makes were that the Germans regarded the Russians as subhuman and committed many atrocities in the huge areas of Russia they occupied.

He also goes into great length about internal repression in Russia before, during and after the war.

Overy makes a sincere effort to understand Stalin and the Russian people, the enormous difficulties they overcame in this war. He doesn't assert definitive answers, and acknowledges uncertainty.

Nevertheless I felt having finished this book as though to some extent I had been given a sense of the Russian point of view. Information about the Germans is here but the book is written to shine a light on the Russians.

5stars - "Shines a light on the Russian experience." (conjunction)
This is the best history of the eastern front of World War Two that you will ever read! It is as simple as that.

This is the best history of the eastern front of World War Two that you will ever read! It is as simple as that.

5stars - "fantastic" (Punk Doctor)

Overy's well-crafted history leaves one with many vivid impressions. For this reader they include the almost unbelieveable death toll in the Soviet WWII effort; and the singular and monstrous perfidy of the thug Stalin who, says Overy, may have been the reason Russia won the war or, on the other hand, may have been less relevant to the effort. While it outlines the history of the Soviet war effort, the book is also a litany of death. For on almost each page we read about the killing and the maiming: 25,000 here, 15,000 there, a million (Stalingrad) and so on. And though much of the killing is through war, much also is through numerous, almost endless purges by the demented Stalin. Though not a historian, I would say that this book, while perhaps not definitive, gives the layman a perspective that brings him a little closer to understanding why and how the world went totally and murderously mad in the early '40s, only several generations ago.

5stars - "Compelling History of the Soviet Union in WWII" (zorba)

This is an excellent, wide ranging, laden packed short summary of history during Stalin's time in power but I couldn't give it five stars for it's not the equal of John Erickson's two volume set. Its also a synthesis from existing works and as far as I could see doesn't present any new information for the well read student.
The first two chapters, which consume a surprising amount of the book, cover the prewar years starting with the Communist Revolution.
The first chapter deals entirely within the country and the ordeals Stalin had in nuturing Communism and consolidating his power. It includes, among many other things, the five year plans to increase industrial and military output as well as food production through the collectivization of farms and the brutal methods Stalin took in achieving these goals. Stalin knew how susceptible his country was to invasion or overthrow and wanted to eliminate that scenario.
The second chapter covers the few years before the war and includes more of the military aspects of Russia and her relations with Europe with added emphasis on France and England as they woo her to join an alliance with them against Germany. When it was discovered that Great Britain didn't have an army to resist Hitler, Stalin decided it was better to align himself with the powerful Germans and proceeded to form an alliance with Hitler. The author covers many of the key aspects in the prewar years that will lead to war; I've just mention couple of them. The coverage is sufficient and varied to give a basic understanding of Stalin, his country and the political environment between the key participants of the war.
Though the book was very engaging and you could learn a lot from it, the coverage of the operational aspects of the war was very limited. There is a high level summary of the results and ramifications for the battles for Leningrad, Moscow, Stalingrad, Kursk and Operation Bagration and Berlin but don't buy this book for comprehensive tactical coverage of the ground war. if that is your main interest you'll be disappointed. For a good all around understanding of the war, buy this book which will cover the political, including profiling Stalin, and the human interest aspects plus David Glantz's book, "When Titans Clashed", for the military summary. Between these two books, a reader will have a good foundation, a good beginning of understanding the war on the eastern front.

It becomes apparent after reading the book that Mr Overy has gained an admiration for Russia and its people. There is much to admire about their fortitude and ingenuity of overcoming the hardships of the first six month of war to defeat the powerful Wehrmacht but I believe the author has lost some of his objectivity while researching and writing his book. He praises Stalin too much and while mentioning his cruel deeds you can tell by his wording that he overlooks them. He claims Stalin was a good commander which is questionable. In some ways he had forsight by instituting a mobilization program, reserve armies, an aggressive tank training program and moving industry to the east out of harm's way. He also converted the country to a total war status quickly which was necessary but his command decisions were too aggressive and missions unrealistic for the condition of his armies that first year. He also ignored the warning signs that invasion was coming despite his itelligence network and his generals warnings. His defense preparations before the invasion were untimely and inadequate. The author also devalues the impact the military purges of the late 30s had on the war effort. He also ignores the British participation in North Africa which pulled Rommel and the DAK away from participating on the eastern front.
It took Zhukov to save Leningrad and Moscow in those early days and Stalingrad the next year. Stalin wanted to start Uranus too soon, before his armies were ready. He wanted to go on the offensive at Kursk before Citadel started. Zhukov stopped Stalin from making these huge errors. Both events would have ended in disaster for Stalin if he had his way. It also took commanders like Konev, Rokossovsky, Chuikov and others who made the smart military decisions. Overy also discounts the fact that Russia had three times the Army as Germany, more and better tanks, more planes, guns, oil and had the advantage of knowing the battlefield better. He also discounts the billions in aid Stalin received from his allies. He also doesn't give much significance to Hitler's errors or the wrangling in the German command structure.
There are also several little quibbles to mention about the numbers mention. The numbers quoted for Russian casualties and prisoners at Kiev are low by 25 pct. The numbers of tanks, especially Russian tanks deployed at Kursk are low and his numbers of tanks destroyed there are a little vague. The number of Germans who escaped from the Korsun Pocket are also low. His coverage of the Warsaw Uprising also favor the Russian interpertation of the event. These and a few other things make me believe the author's objectivity had slipped with this book.

There are 32 photos; some were very good. For me, the photo of a young Stalin in 1924 was worth the price of the book. There are also 11 general purpose maps and three tables. There is also a scholarly Notes section and an impressive Bibliography of secondary sources. The book closes with an Index.

There are many events that are covered in the book that due to space limitations could not be discussed in this review. The overall quality of the book is good and if you're looking for a concise summary that covers the political machinations, human tragedies of the war and a few years past the war with a brief coverage of the military and all from a Russian perspective then this book should be seriously considered.

4stars - "A selective synthesis of Stalin and his wars." (Dave Schranck)

Already from the title, it is clear that this is yet another propaganda book. Writing about the Soviet contribution in World War II is absurd without starting from 1939 or earlier. Soviet played an extremely big role in STARTING the war, when they entered into the Molotow-Ribbentrop-agreement with Nazi Germany and decided to split Europe between them. Hitler should have the Western part, Stalin should have the Eastern part. Correspondingly, when Nazi Germany attacked the Western part of Poland in 1939, it only took some days before Soviet attacked the Eastern part of Poland. Thereby the two horrible dictators divided Poland between them. Soviet also attacked and occupied Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Moldava and so on. They also attacked Finland.

Starting the book in 1941, when Soviet suddenly was forced to change side in the war, is a horribly biased way of telling the world history.

The millions of Red Army soldiers who died deserve credit for their efforts to end the war, but nobody should forget that the same army STARTED the war in 1939 together with their co-operation partners in the Wehrmacht.

1stars - "Propaganda" (J. Reberg)

AT LENINGRAD'S GATES: The Combat Memoirs of a Soldier with Army Group North / SalesRank : 7018

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AT LENINGRAD'S GATES: The Combat Memoirs of a Soldier with Army Group North
Author : William Lubbeck

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Kindle Edition [ Casemate ] [ Release : 2006 / 10 / 31 ]
ISBN : - / ASIN : B002FQJP76
[ ListPrice : $19.95 ]

Average Customer Review :

4.5stars [ See more reviews ]

From the German perspective, Leningrad has been the least covered sector of the Russian Front. Of course for the Russians, it is quite the opposite --- the defense of Leningrad ranks in first order of the epic battles that won them the war.

AT LENINGRAD'S GATES is only the second first-hand account I have read from a German soldier who spent most of the war on this front. William Lubbeck manages to add some insights into this front, and into the minds of the German people before, during, and after the war, that I did know of before.

First, Lubbeck adds some color to the background of the war. We have learned from history that the Germans were angered by the Treaty of Versailles that ended World War I. Lubbeck explains from a personal point of view the humiliation and shame that the Germans felt in the interwar years. He describes how their anger made them receptive to Adolph Hitler's ambition to restore German prestige, even though many, including Lubeeck and his family, absolutely detested Hitler on a personal level.

Then there is the campaign of Germany's Army Group North that, with Lubbeck's division in the spearhead, fought its way to "within 7 or 8 miles of Leningrad's city center." Lubbeck explains the exhilaration of the drive as his unit was on the verge of overrunning the city only to be ordered to retreat into siege lines by Hitler's personal command. (Hitler pulled troops out of Leningrad to bolster the flagging attack on Moscow several hundred miles to the south). Lubbeck wonders if the war might have had an entirely different outcome if the drive into Leningrad had been allowed to continue for a few more days. As it turned out the units withdrawn from Leningrad were thrown into the catastrophic defeat at Moscow, so neither city was ever taken. One can feel Lubbeck's frustration, standing in the hills of Leningrad's suburbs and seeing the city that the Germans would never take.

Lubbeck also explains that the fighting in and around Leningrad was orderly. Except for the encirclement of an army corps at Demyansk, the Germans did not experience the catastrophic events on this front that destroyed their armies fighting at Moscow, Stalingrad, Kursk, and Byelorussia. Even the Demyansk encirclement was successfully lifted, causing a sense of false optimism that was to doom the much larger encirclement of an entire army at Stalingrad the following year. Lubbeck says that except for the shortages of the first winter the German army around Leningrad was well equipped with food and equipment. Its fighting retreat back to Germany remained orderly until the last month of the war when in East Prussia it was finally swept up by the disintegration that had overtaken the rest of the German army. Even then Lubbeck's unit managed a cohesive evacuation to western Germany and was able to escape capture by the Russians.

Finally, the book explains the dreadful aftermath of the war in Germany. Germany did not really begin to get back on its feet economically until 1949. Until then the country was threatened with actual starvation, even in the western zone occupied by the Americans, British, and French. Lubbeck had to make the dreadful decision to return to his family's farm in the Soviet Zone in order to smuggle food back to his family in the Western Zone. He was captured by the Soviets who had turned their zone into a police state, but was very fortunate to escape. Lubbeck says that the Germans had no love lost for the Western Allies until conditions begin to improve in the late 1940s. It would seem that the Marshall Plan by which America rebuilt Germany came none too soon.

I also enjoyed reading Lubbeck's experience after the war when he emigrated to Canada and then the United States. He became a world authority on electric furnaces for the steel industry and enjoyed a very colorful career. The story of how he matured after the war was almost as interesting as his experiences during it.

The only possible negative I would see in the book is that it is event-driven and therefore lacks the "novelesque" quality that one finds in Guy Sajer's classic FORGOTTEN SOLDIER. For example, Lubbeck tells us that he rode a train home on furlough and leaves it at that; Sajer tells us what the train smelled like, what his passengers looked like, and what he saw out the windows. However, Lubbeck's work, being briefer, is also more coherent. Bottom line is that it provides some insights into Germany before the war, during the war, and after the war that I had not encountered in other writings. For that reason it is worth the read.

5stars - "Unique insights on the Leningrad Front" (Alan F. Sewell)

Review by a reader from former Leningrad. Although I was not even born when Germany Army invade the Soviet Union, I was raised in Leningrad and acutely aware of the much suffering and 20 million lives lost by the Soviet Union, some are my relatives. The author deserves a credit for his account of battlefield experiences that was put in the historic context. It is interesting to follow the author's life path with his eventual arrival to United States to fulfill an "American dream". However, even though the book is structured in a way to present the authors' life and views as the story unfolds, I was shocked that there was virtually NO remorse that he was part of the war machine bringing death to another country in the name of patriotism, destruction of Communism, as well as simply following orders. A few words of regret in the Epilogue that Hitler's crimes caused much suffering on all sides seemed too little, too late, and too vague. The author's notion of similar suffering endured by the civilians at the Leningrad's siege and allies' bombing of Hamburg is unfortunate. Any loss of life is incomparable. As far as the personal account presented in this book, there is a lack of closure and feeling of injustice (I much agree with the prior review by R.A Forczyk). The book left me with mixed feelings. An incredible insight into the history. I was also astonished the pride of serving in the Wermacht Army is still there.

4stars - "Good read. No closure..." (Sergei)

If you are looking for a detailed account of frontline conditions and actual combat actions on the Eastern Front in WWII, this is NOT the book for you. The very few actual descriptions of combat are terse and laconic, widely spaced out between boring accounts of strategic army movements and the author's attempts to maintain his love life away from the front. There are some interesting tidbits about home life in Germany during the war and attitudes towards the Nazis, but most of the focus seems to be on Lubbeck's interest in various women. Details of daily living conditions, comrades, tactics, or enemy encounters are largely absent. I have no doubt that the author saw combat, but he seems unable or unwilling to describe any of the real thoughts, feelings, and emotions that his combat experiences provided. Sometimes the book seems like it was largely written as a doctoral dissertation by the co-author with just a sprinkling of personal information about Lubbeck added here and there for flavor. Overall, I was sadly dissappointed.

If you are looking for a gritty and gripping tale of the Eastern Front, I would highly recommend The Forgotten Soldier by Guy Sajer.

1stars - "Where's the combat? Not here." (R. KELSEY)

David Hurt and William Luebbeck have given us a poorly researched and rather prosaic personal history of the latter's narcissitic recollections of his experience as soldier-officer in the Wehrmacht Infanterie Division 51. Reads more like a text book than autobiography. If you are an avid student of the purported subject, and understand the difference between an infantry gun and a howitzer, you will find annoying and transparent disingenuities throughout. Can't help feeling Hurt missed a golden opportunity to have Luebbeck refer to/ comment on Kurt von Zydowitz's authoritative history DIE GESCHICHTE DER 58. INFANTERIE DIVISION 1939-1945.

An OK read for curious readers with a passing interest in German soldier memoires - but check it out from your local public library.

2stars - "Bland and uninteresting" (Steven P. Bohlin)
Numerous reviews for this book can be found by clicking on the link immediately above to "At Leningrad's Gates" listed under the heading: "What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?"

Numerous reviews for this book can be found by clicking on the link immediately above to "At Leningrad's Gates" listed under the heading: "What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?"

5stars - "Reviews available" (World War Two Historian)

Deathride: Hitler vs. Stalin - The Eastern Front, 1941-1945 / SalesRank : 189643

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Deathride: Hitler vs. Stalin - The Eastern Front, 1941-1945
Author : John Mosier

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Hardcover [ Simon & Schuster ] [ Release : 2010 / 06 / 15 ]
ISBN : 9781416573487 / ASIN(ISBN-10) : 1416573488
[ ListPrice : $30.00 ] [ Used Price:$12.53 ]

Average Customer Review :

3.5stars [ See more reviews ]

This book is a real thought provoker. I gave it a 4 star because it will, if nothing else get you thinking. Any book that does that is a good thing. However, I do see some problems in the book. It isn't a be all book on the subject.

The book style is interesting. All to often ideas of history seem set in stone. The problem is these ideas are wrapped in historical luster and the PR battles after the fact. The author writes so as to rip away the historial luster on the subject. He tries to frame the subject of the eastern front in a new way. John Mosier's style is akin to newspaper writing. As you read the book you will feel like you are reading a newpaper account. Mr. Mosier also interjects some new declassified information into the story line. This is the biggest sales point of the book. This new information does get you thinking. You can see what might have been clearer than ever. You can also see why people did what they did. Events make sense now which in the past they maybe didn't. For example the author does mention that the Russians probably lost a million men in Finland. That would make Hitler or anyone else rethink the monster of Russia.

Mr. Mosier does make some conclusions that are interesting. This is where you will start to think. He does a real good job using statistics to support his claim. You can see the incredible druming the Russians got at the hands of the Germans. Mr. Mosier does show how the Germans weren't beat to death. Their loss numbers were far less than the Russians. The Germans were exhausted. Mr. Mosier does show the huge contribution the allies made towards propping up the Russians. Few other books do this in such great detail.

Mr. Mosier's conclusions are a jump. He seems to want to glorify the Germans and show it was Hitler's fault they lost. Hitler did make a contribution to that but I wouldn't say it was everything. Through this analysis you can see how the Allies together defeated Hitler. The fear of problems in one theater forced Hitler to draw troops out of one area towards another, right at the wrong time. This back and forth according to the author contributed greatly to victory. That shows how the allies together won victory, not exclusively the Russians or exclusively the West. That is the one thing that makes this book remarkable.

4stars - "A New Look at the Eastern Front" (Thomas M. Magee)

Having read very skeptical accounts of some of Mozier's other books, I am interested to see this one more widely accepted in these columns. Perhaps people like the political reverberations? In passing, John Tooze's 'Wages of Destruction' seemed to me to do a much better job on the economic war.

Moreover, while one can argue that the West did a useful job in diverting divisions etc from the East, this does raise the issue: what in the hell the West would have done without the Soviet effort? The argument cuts both ways.

I am also a little puzzled by the allied material support argument, given that as far as I know almost all the armor, artillery, small arms, aircraft and ammunition were Soviet built. And as for the casualty rate imbalance, I find it hard to see the Soviets were running out of manpower, when they could throw away a million dead on the drive to Berlin as per Anthony Beevor, and there really was not much German Army left by the end. The Red Army could probably have kept going to the sea if it had been ordered to. Think how many divisions the allies had? That said, I don't of course wish to sound apologetic for Stalin; but I think his soldiers deserve more credit for endurance and his generals more strategic credit, especially Zhukov. Norman Davies is another useful corrective and heaven knows he is no Stalin apologist.

Somehow, Russian victories like Stalingrad and Kursk don't seem to make much sense in this thesis, or were their secret American weapons deployed we don't know about. :) In any event, while I love new interesting counter intuitive theories, I also prefer professional military historians who know what they are talking about. Though of course as a fellow amateur, I also understand the temptations.

2stars - "Doubtful Thesis" (Historied)

One of the problem with reading an omnibus rewriting of history such as John Mosier attempts in "Deathride" is determining veracity.

Mosier is clearly on a mission: all the other historians are wrong - the Soviet Union, he says, deserves no credit for the victory over the Germans. If Hitler hadn't made a mistake here or there and the Allies hadn't shipped the Soviets prodigious quantities of arms, munitions and other supplies, the Soviet Union would have been crushed.

Mosier is monomaniacal. There is no grey. He is right and that is all here is to it.

But Mosier plays fast and loose with facts. He disparages Soviet statistics - except where he needs them to support his arguments, then Soviet statistics that were suspect a few pages earlier become acceptable for the present argument. He latches on to off-the-wall memes such as one professor's very arguable contention that 150,000 Jews served in Hitler's military. Here, the proposition is accepted as solid fact.

Mosier argues that Hitler, for the most part, was a brilliant strategist who made a mistake or two. Incredibly, Mosier argues that the Battle of Kursk ended not because the Germans were defeated, but because Hitler decided to move key armor units elsewhere - in the middle of a major battle!

It is contentions like this that lead me to give this book five-stars. Mosier provides plenty of citations to support his assertions, but as with much conspiracy literature, the citations often cut both ways - they can be cast to support either side of an argument.

I have been a student of World War II, particularly of the war on the Eastern front, for more than 50 years. Anyone who seriously studies this conflict isd always very, ery careful because truth is elusive and incontrovertibly absolute truth essentially non-existent.

Mosier claims that the West was deluded by Stalin, who wrote the history he wanted believed. There is much more than a grain of truth in Mosier's argument. But can Mosier's vehement dismissal of Stalin and the Soviet Union be supported by the evidence Mosier puts forth?

Well, that's why Mosier's book requires a thorough reading and perhaps even a second reading.

My first impression, reached during the first few pages, was that Mosier is a crank. Many of the assertions and claims he makes strike the student of the period as flat-out wrong. However, here and there, Mosier does bring an interesting twist to more or less accepted knowledge.

Overall, I don't think Mosier's analysis holds water. It is riddled with what can be proven to be factual errors, unsupported assertion stated as fact, hypotheticals presented as fact, off-the-wall extreme individual opinions accepted as fact and so on. Yet, the careful student of the German/Soviet conflict will do well to check everyone of Mosier's claims. The exercise is worth the time invested and will prove Mosier to be an interesting theorist who, ultimately, is largely mistaken in his views.

Jerry

5stars - "Fact or fiction?" (Jerry Saperstein)

"Deathride: Hitler vs. Stalin - The Eastern Front, 1941-1945", by John Mosier, seems to be one of those books that you either love or hate. Based on the ratings here on Amazon at the time of my review, there were eight 4 or 5 star ratings, and four 1 star ratings. There were no 2 or 3 star ratings; very polarizing indeed.

Historian John Mosier takes the controversial position that Germany came very close to winning the war against the Soviet Union and that support from the Allies ... both from lend-lease aid and in opening combat fronts on the ground in Africa/Italy and in the air over Germany ... tipped the scales and saved the USSR. He further states that Stalin was able to paint a picture of an all-conquering, unstoppable Red Army to the world that was not at all accurate but was accepted by the world. He also writes that it was primarily due to the severe economic shocks that World War II had on the Soviet economy that the USSR finally collapsed.

My take? I find much to like about the book and much that I disagree with. Mr Mosier has taken many of the facts about World War II, added some new interpretations of his own, and basically reassembled them in a way that challenges the conventional wisdom about the war on the Eastern Front.

A few of the things I agree with: Hitler, although ultimately a madman and guilty of the murder of untold millions, was probably a better armed forces commander than his generals portrayed him. The German generals shifted most of the blame for losing the war onto Hitler's interference rather than their own shortcomings or the valor and sacrifices of the Red Army. While I disagree that Hitler's decisions and leadership was as positive as portrayed by Mr Mosier, I think he was better than how history views him. Second, Mr Mosier disputes the tremendous Soviet production figures for tanks/heavy weaponry, casualty reports, and other official records, arguing that Soviet records are somewhat disingenuous due to the nature of the Soviet regime. I agree that they are not to be wholly trusted at face value. Third, Mr Mosier believes the German's were basically bleeding the Red Army to death due to a favorable casualty exchange rate, and if they could have held on longer, they could have forced a stalemate. While I don't think the Soviets had hit the bottom of the barrel of their manpower reserves, I do believe they were having increasing difficulty in sustaining their units at full strength as the end of the war approached.

A few of the things I disagree with: First, Mr Mosier felt that the Germans could have won the war as late as 1943, arguing among other things, that German casualties were much lighter than popularly believed. While German casualties were perhaps not as catastrophic as perceived, Mr Mosier doesn't fully account for the fact that human losses were only part of the equation. At Moscow in 1941 and at Stalingrad in 1942/43, the Germans lost perhaps the equivalent of a full year's production of war material. Even if the Germans had broken out of Stalingrad in December 1942, the remains of Sixth Army would have been close to worthless for months until it could be re-equipped, as it would have had to leave most of its artillery, armor, and supporting equipment behind. While Mr Mosier points out that German tank/AFV totals actually rose during the war, I don't think he gives enough weight to the fact that other key war items, such as number of trucks, transport aircraft, and so on, were on a continual decline over the course of the war, and those losses had a dramatic impact on how the war was fought as time went on. Second, I disagree that Allied aid and the establishment of a second front and third front (in the Mediterranean and the air over Germany) basically saved the USSR. I think their cumulative impact was much greater than historically portrayed, but it was ultimately the Red Army that broke the back of the Wehrmacht. Third, Mr Mosier writes that the Red Army did not improve much in combat techniques as the war went on, basically just continuing to bludgeon the Germans, with the exception of Operation Bagration, and that operation's success was in large part due to allied aid in providing enough trucks to enable the Soviets to advance faster than the Germans could retreat. While there is some truth in that allied trucks were an important element in providing needed mobility and logistical support to the Red Army, I believe that Soviet war performance improved greatly between 1941 and 1945. While I don't think they ever reached the level of proficiency of the Wehrmacht, they greatly closed the gap.

Overall, I give this book four stars. Mr Mosier provides support for his analysis, and whether you agree with his interpretations or not, he presents a plausible alternative to the conduct of the war on the Eastern Front. Although I'm far from a professional historian, I own well over 400 books on World War II, with a primary focus on the Eastern Front, and I found it to be an interesting and thought provoking read.

4stars - "Polarizing Analysis of the Eastern Front" (WryGuy2)

A brilliant look at the Eastern Front. Having read over 50 books on the subject, I found Mosier's DEATHRIDE to be the freshest, most conclusive and exhaustedly researched book ever on the subject.

It appears that all of the previous texts and videos on this front bought to some degree the Soviet myth perpetrated by the "victor" Stalin about the Russian campaign. He pokes holes in these erroneous assumptions backed by by undeniable research and casualties statistics that lay bare his case.

His conclusion that the damage done by the Germans in this war greatly contributed to the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989 opens up my eyes to the myth of the Communist regime for these 50 years and substantiates many conclusions I had thought of about.
A great job!

5stars - "Overturns 60 years of misinformation" (Don Scioli)

Blood Red Snow: The Memoirs of a German Soldier on the Eastern Front / SalesRank : 60439

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Blood Red Snow: The Memoirs of a German Soldier on the Eastern Front
Author : Gunther K Koschorrek

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Paperback [ Zenith Press ] [ Release : 2005 / 10 / 30 ]
ISBN : 9780760321980 / ASIN(ISBN-10) : 0760321981
[ ListPrice : $18.99 ] [ Used Price:$10.85 ]

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4.5stars [ See more reviews ]

I found this book to be a riveting accounting of the terrors of war in the Eastern front with the Russian army. While there are sections of the book that are horrifying, the book is not written to be a horror book of war but rather to say "This is what happened." I have read that of all the German soldiers who were killed in the Second World War, over 75% of them were killed by the Russian forces. The fighting in western Europe was almost considered to be a 'civilized' war where the fighting in the Ukraine and Russia was a horrifying barbaric fight with an ememy who had no choice but to charge the German position or be killed by their own commanders. In their retreat from the Ukraine, I couldn't help but feel sorry for the Germans as they were being continously hounded by the Russians. A wonderful story of survival.

5stars - "A look at the Ost front" (R. Common)

I found this to be a great book, minus the gramar as noted by many reviewers. These first hand experiences do seem to always steer away from the many atrocities commited. This guy makes no bones about the cold blooded killings and desperate attempt to survive an untenable front. Really enjoyed the book as others have stated it is hard to put down. I rate this book right with "I Deadly Combat" and just behind "The Forgotten Soldier". This is a book you will probably read more than once.

4stars - "One of the better memours by an axis soldier" (SPF)

Without rehashing what other reviewers have written, I'll just add a few points and clarify some things that others seem to be having issues with.

- Gunter Koschorrek was an MG34 (later MG42) gunner in the 1st Schwadron of the 21st Panzergrenadier Regiment, 24th Panzer Division. Having been converted from the 1st Cavalry Division in late 1941, the division retained much of its old cavalry traditions - a company being called a Schwadron (a British squadron or US troop), their uniforms kept the yellow cavalry Waffenfarbe as opposed to the usual pink Panzertruppe piping, and that NCOs and officers kept many of their cavalry titles (e.g. a Hauptmann (captain) was a Rittmeister, a Feldwebel(sergeant) was a Wachtmeister).

- Koschorrek's narrative tallies extremely closely with the combat history of the 24th PzDiv, from its destruction in Stalingrad, its reformation in France in 1943, its subsequent disarmament of Italian troops, and then its role as a mobile reserve for Army Group South's withdrawal across the Ukraine, Romania and into Hungary.

- His friend Obergefreiter Gustav Koller really did win the Knight's Cross on the 8th of August 1944 and was subsequently KIA in November of that year.

Now, for a bit of nitpicking:
-1. The diary format is distracting and interrupts the flow of the story - the few sections where he deviates from the diary are, in my opinion, the better parts of the book; also, for American readers, the fact that the translation is geared towards British readers might cause some additional confusion.

-2. As some reviewers have pointed out, Koschorrek repeatedly refers to the PPsH-41 as a Kalashnikov, which is most likely a result of him writing the book fifty years after the fact. Also, he says the Ferdinand tank destroyer is a new weapon being tested in his sector in November 1943, when in actuality they had been first fielded at Kursk in July. There are a few other errors but I don't feel like trawling through the book to find them.

-3. Koschorrek supposedly has a girlfriend (Traudel) throughout the book, yet he only mentions her twice and in passing. One thinks of The Forgotten Soldier, where Sajer is constantly thinking about his beloved Paula, and then one finds something missing in Blood Red Snow. Also, compared to other German memoirs, one doesn't really find out much about his family or comrades, which I feel detracts from the overall story.

-4. The book is too short and very bare-bones in the latter half of the book. Almost half of the book (120 pages) concerns his six weeks outside Stalingrad and on the outside of the "Kessel", i.e. from late October 1942 until he is wounded in early December. The remaining two-and-a-half years of the war are compressed into only another 200 pages, which is disappointing since there is quite a bit of action that he just skims over.

However, these gripes aside, Blood Red Snow is actually not bad at all. It's a little bland stylistically and threadbare in places, but it's a decent German memoir overall.

4stars - "Good, But Flawed In Areas" (Luther Cassell)
I enjoyed this book. Its a good account of a foot soldier's ordeal on the Eastern Front in WWII. Lots of action. I would recomend Blood Red Snow.

I enjoyed this book. Its a good account of a foot soldier's ordeal on the Eastern Front in WWII. Lots of action. I would recomend Blood Red Snow.

4stars - "Good Book" (Rod)

I bought this hardcover version and read it years ago. It is still fresh in my mind however. The tence scenes of a machine gunner in the frigid cold, working fevorishly to clear a jam or change a barrel as the Red tide of soviet soldiers keeps on the charge. A great read with a few slow spots, but will reward the reader with action that can only be interupted by your wife yelling,"come to bed!" At those parts I could not put this book down. A close up look at dealing death on the eastern front at 1200 rounds per minute!

4stars - "A solid German Memior of a Eastern front MG gunner" (A FAIR REVIEWER)

WARSAW 2: THE BATTLE FOR PRAGA: July - September 1944 (Operations: East Front 1944) (v. 2) / SalesRank : 59768

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WARSAW 2: THE BATTLE FOR PRAGA: July - September 1944 (Operations: East Front 1944) (v. 2)
Author : Norbert Bacyk

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Hardcover [ Leandoer and Eckholm ] [ Release : 2009 / 05 ]
ISBN : 9789197589543 / ASIN(ISBN-10) : 9197589543
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Average Customer Review :

4.5stars [ See more reviews ]

The rating of this book is less than five stars but clearly more than four stars so I rounded up. The battle coverage which will last from July to October involve the 1st Belorussian Front under the field commander Rokossovsky in clearing the ground between the Bug River and the Wisla River and capturing the important suburb of Praga on the eastern bank of the Wisla River. This is all in preparation for the encirclement and siege of Warsaw which Hitler has ordered his 9th Army to hold at all cost.
The introduction and background information briefly describes the successes the Russians had in Operation Bagration which saw the Russian Fronts quickly move to the Polish border. It quickly describes the shattered 3rd PzA and 4th Army in that Operation while the 9th and 2nd Armies barely escaped destruction as well. The 2nd Army escaped relatively unscathed and would defend the northern approaches to Warsaw while 9th Army had responsibility for the Warsaw sector.

The action in this book starts at the Bug River with Brest being attacked early in the campaign. Much action would occur along the Bug River as well as the Brest-Deblin front. Siedlce and Minsk Mazowieckia also saw much action. It was also important for the Russians to establish bridgeheads over the Narew and Wisla Rivers and coverage will be provided here as the Russian move in on the capital from the north, south and east. There is also superficial coverage of the Warsaw Uprising and Stalin's deliberate slowdown until the Poles were vanquished inside the capital.
Overall the tactical coverage was good but I would have liked to have seen further embellishment of the battles for Brest and Siedlce. In addition to the interesting but perhaps dry narrative for some, there was a series of six excellent colored maps, that included the key towns, rivers, troop dispositions and the general progress of the Russian forces moving toward Warsaw. These maps are clearly adequate for the reader to follow the action but I would've liked to have seen additional small scaled maps of the individual assaults and captures of Brest, Siedlce and the outskirts as well as inside Praga. The maps were at the back of the book but it would have been more convenient for the reader to see the corresponding map alongside the narrative.
The author clearly shows that at this stage of the war, the Germans were clearly fighting a determined but losing battle against the far superior Russian forces. Its also shown that it was Model's competent leadership that slowed the Russian advance. The tank battle for Praga shows the outnumbered panzers destroying more Russian tanks than losing but couldn't hold back the flood of Russian forces.

There is one other suggestion that would have improved this book and that would have been the inclusion of a Chronology. The campaign lasted from July to October and there were numerous cities, divisions and dates cited and it would have been easier for the reader to study a chronology of key events in summary form before reading the story.
In addition to the maps there is an extensive and useful Appendix. In it, a detailed Order of Battle for the 1st BRF and the German 9th Army which also had the 4th SS PzC attached, is provided. Additionally there are 25 pages of photos and profiles of German and Russian tanks and fighting vehicles. To bolster this visual presentation, the author also provides 59 pages of detailed illustrations of more tanks and equipment. The combined two sections was quite helpful. A glossary, a Rank listing and Bibliography complete the book.

There is also 174 great photos. Some are two pages wide and a couple are grainy but still viewable. There are a few portraits but most of the photos are of tanks, equipment and battle scenes.
Despite not having first hand experiences, the overall package is quite good and for anybody interested in the early phase of the capture of the important capital of Warsaw or just like reading tactical coverage this book is ideal and is highly recommended.

5stars - "Good tactical coverage of the first phase to capture Warsaw" (Dave Schranck)

Here is an interesting book from Swedish publisher Leandoer & Ekholm, who are new on the English language book market with their latest offering on the fierce tank battles outside Warsaw during July - September 1944.

It has always been the perception in the West that Stalin halted his forces outside the Polish capital of Warsaw, so that the Germans would be able to crush the heroic uprising of the Polish citizens of this city.
Stalin did not want the Pro British Polish Government to gain control of the city but it was also the Germans who conducted a fierce counterattack against the Russians in the eastern Districts of the city on the River Vistula, at Praga, which resulted in one of the most bitterly contested battles of the war.

The main German defence forces were the crack units of the IV SS Panzer Corps namely the 5th SS Panzer divsion Wiking, and the 3rd SS Panzer divison Totenkopf which were the backbone to the defence.
Another elite unit namely the Herman Goring Panzer divison which was transfered in from Italy, and assisted by various army units, the German counterattacks at a great cost in casualties ,eventually caused the Russian 1st Belorussian front to grind to a halt, but too late to really assist the Poles.

The book although 272 pages long, covers the battle in the first 159 pages, (with lots of photos in there as well)the rest is taken up with thumbnail sketches of the types of AFV involved in the battle from both sides. It also has a nice map section in colour but grouped at the back of the book so you have to keep flicking back and forth.
The last 50 pages or so are a nice colour section of armour and vehicle profiles of the various tanks, assault guns and trucks etc that took part in the battle and show the camouflage paterns which is a nice touch.

However one of the books biggest assets are the large amount of photos taken during the action which are excellent, some being full page showing both a Russian and German perspective. Some of the photos are a little grainy and hard to see but by and large the selection was good.

The book is easy to follow, maybe a little too brief, and there are very few personal accounts of the battle.The book reads like a text book but is still very interesting.

This is one of the few books in detail that cover this battle and I look forward to their next offering on the fighting in Warsaw.

4stars - "Little Known battle dooms Warsaw Uprising" (Iva Buch)

In Deadly Combat: A German Soldier's Memoir of the Eastern Front (Modern War Studies (Paper)) / SalesRank : 43757

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In Deadly Combat: A German Soldier's Memoir of the Eastern Front (Modern War Studies (Paper))
Translator:Derek S. Zumbro Introduction:Dennis Showalter

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Paperback [ University Press of Kansas ] [ Release : 2001 / 09 ]
ISBN : 9780700611225 / ASIN(ISBN-10) : 0700611223
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Average Customer Review :

4.5stars [ See more reviews ]

In Deadly Combat by Gottlob Herbert Biddermann is a book written to annotate the activities of the 132 Infantry Division of the Wehrmacht during WWII. This book gets straight into the action during the German invasion of Russia. The 132 Inf Div makes its way south down to the Crimea and Bidermann is in control of a PAK 37mm anti-tank gun along with his crew mates. The battles are fiercely contested and the Russians are forever throwing more men and materiel into action. The siege of Sevastapol is finally concluded and for their good efforts they are transferred to the Lenningrad front as successful siege artists. This book does not concentrate on the gore of battle although leaves the reader in no doubt as to the brutality of war. The friends and military relationships along the way play an important part in this narrative. The changing ideological condition of the soldiers is never far from the regimented surface as the German Army is slowly beaten back to the Reich itself. I suppose the Forgotten Soldier is the rule against which all this kind of literature is measured and I found this book just as enthralling. It is a fast paced narrative engaging in the various aspects of a life of hardship on the Eastern Front. Unlike many of his comrades Bidermann was wounded many times but amazingly not killed. The book has some great photographs of the guys in grey/green and some interesting tables and a glossary at the back. This is a great addition to anyone's collection of WWII military history books.

5stars - "A long time at the Eastern Front" (B. Eibisch)
Not much new to add, as this book has been highly reviewed and commented on before by many others, but I really enjoyed this book ~ it's very insightful on the daily life & death struggles of an ordinary soldier on the Eastern Front. The story comes across as very genuine and is well told. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the Eastern Front during World War II.

Not much new to add, as this book has been highly reviewed and commented on before by many others, but I really enjoyed this book ~ it's very insightful on the daily life & death struggles of an ordinary soldier on the Eastern Front. The story comes across as very genuine and is well told. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the Eastern Front during World War II.

5stars - "Great Book" (Joseph Blubaugh)
In Deadly Combat details the grueling conditions the soldier's who fought on the Eastern front underwent. The writer of this memoir Gottlob Bidermann has a keen understanding of the written word and provides his account in a poetic like fashion. This eye opening book takes the reader on a journey to a war torn country with the men who were forced to endure what no human being should.

In Deadly Combat details the grueling conditions the soldier's who fought on the Eastern front underwent. The writer of this memoir Gottlob Bidermann has a keen understanding of the written word and provides his account in a poetic like fashion. This eye opening book takes the reader on a journey to a war torn country with the men who were forced to endure what no human being should.

5stars - "One Informative Read" (Christopher Mayorga)
This books offers the common man's view of the war from the perspective of an infantryman
You really get a sense of what it was like to be on the eastern front for many years fighting the Russians
The only thing missing was a prolog about the man's life after the war in Germany

This books offers the common man's view of the war from the perspective of an infantryman
You really get a sense of what it was like to be on the eastern front for many years fighting the Russians
The only thing missing was a prolog about the man's life after the war in Germany

4stars - "A German grunt's view of WWII" (William W. Gaffin)

Bidermann's memoirs begin and end an engaging account of what happened to a soldier during one of the most grueling parts of the second World War. It's the middle bit where the soldier seems to turn from personal accounts and delves into different territory.

The book becomes somewhat of a retelling of the situation on the whole front rather than his own personal experiences. In this area of the book, the author sometimes takes an artistic turn with his prose, which is in stark contrast to the matter of fact nature of the first and last sections of the book.

I've read better accounts, but this one is still worth the read.

3stars - "A decent narrative, at times long winded." (Kelly Davis)

Battleground Prussia: The Assault on Germany's Eastern Front 1944-45 (General Military) / SalesRank : 102066

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Battleground Prussia: The Assault on Germany's Eastern Front 1944-45 (General Military)
Author : Prit Buttar

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Hardcover [ Osprey Publishing ] [ Release : 2010 / 09 / 21 ]
ISBN : 9781849081900 / ASIN(ISBN-10) : 1849081905
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War of Annihilation: Combat and Genocide on the Eastern Front, 1941 (Total War: New Perspectives on World War II) / SalesRank : 168816

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War of Annihilation: Combat and Genocide on the Eastern Front, 1941 (Total War: New Perspectives on World War II)
Author : Geoffrey P. Megargee

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Paperback [ Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. ] [ Release : 2007 / 10 / 16 ]
ISBN : 9780742544826 / ASIN(ISBN-10) : 0742544826
[ ListPrice : $22.95 ] [ Used Price:$11.45 ]

Average Customer Review :

4.0stars [ See more reviews ]

Somehow we continue to imagine that the Second World War was fought between the Americans and the Brits on one side and the Germans and Japanese on the other. When you read a book like War of Annihilation it becomes clear that the real Second World War was fought between Germany and the Soviet Union. The Allies won the war because the Soviet Union sacrificed so much. The Soviet Union and the United States each had about 150 million people in 1939. By 1945, the Soviet Union had lost about one sixth of its population, about 25 million people; the United States lost less than one half million. The rate at which the Soviets suffered losses was about fifty times the rate of United States losses.
Geoffrey Megargee does an excellent job here of helping us understand the cultural, military and political forces which led to this level of destruction. It's a great book, very well written, and beautifully organized. Also, for someone like myself who is not a military scholar, this book never gets bogged down. It's relatively short, the narrative moves forward at a smart pace, the policies and decisions of the Germans are laid out precisely, and the horrifying consequences to millions of people are made chillingly clear.
What happened to the Soviet Union in 1941 is at the heart of the history of the Twentieth Century.

5stars - "The real Second World War" (Peter Geraghty)

The author provides an excellent overview of the origin of Hitler's decision to invade the Soviet Union, which involved a toxic mixture of Hitler's ideology of ethnic racism and acquiring 'living space', the momentum provided by the success of the prior campaigns, Hitler's grand strategy of becoming a self sufficient continental power (thereby forcing Great Britain and the USA to terms), and a gross underestimation of the Soviet Union. Especially valuable is the analysis of the intelligence and logistical reasons for the failure of Barbarossa; emphasis on the tactical proficiency of the Wehrmacht and Cold War antipathy towards the Soviet Union has appeared to diminish interest in this failure until recently. For readers in the USA, where logistical problems for its armed forces are virtually unheard of, the limitations imposed on the Wehrmacht are likely to be a revelation. My only reservation is that the tone of the discussion of moral issues tends to be somewhat out of the context of the events the book describes. While Nazi crimes in Barbarossa were immoral, horrendous, and criminal, they seem of a piece with those of Stalin's communist regime, which in the decade before the invasion reportedly killed up to 9 million people, including by starvation. Interstate Industrial War (as described by Rupert Smith) or total war by WWII had evolved to the point where the entire structure of the nation was required to support the military forces, which allowed the targeting of civilian populations to be rationalized. This is evident in Barbarossa, but also in a more impersonal sense in operations like 'area bombing' and 'fire bombing'.

4stars - "The End Product of the Evolution of Total War" (WAL)

This is the first book on the Russo-German war I have encountered that specifically synthesizes a serious if broad operational history of "Barbarossa" in 1941 and the perpetration of genocide that was one of its major goals. As the author points out, the history of the "Eastern Front" and the history of the Holocaust are usually treated as separate subjects, with military historians often ignoring the racial and ideological components of the war, and Holocaust historians being weak on sound analysis of the fighting. Megargee, who, by his own admission, is not introducing any new theses or scholarship, concisely integrates these two topics.

Readers familiar with the subjects under discussion will probably find nothing earth-shattering here, although as a general refresher to inspire further research it's well-worth the modest investment of time, but those who are well-versed in the strictly operational side of the Russo-German conflict but not the Holocaust and Nazi colonialism, or vice-versa, might find this an excellent starting point to a broader understanding of the war, and of how and why it was fought.

My only reservation would be that this new approach to such an important subject perhaps demands a more massive and densely-documented book, or books, but as far as it goes, it's a valuable contribution.

4stars - "A fine introduction to an integrated approach to the Eastern Front" (default)

Megargee's book is a useful contribution to the growing volume of writing that is now (over half a century after the end of the Second World War)becoming available to the English-reading public about what the war was about. It counters the Cold War stories that monopolised writing by "military historians", by generals of the Nazi army and the de-politicised genre of "cowboy and Indians", also largely written by Nazi solders, that were/are popular as derring-do stuff.

This volume helps explain to a new generation (and to an older one that has forgotten much)why the Nuremburg Trials correctly condemned the Nazi Army itself for being a sine qua non, a willing participant, and intrinsic to the programme of Nazi conquest. Without the German Army (and it did not need purging to make it work for Fascism) there would not have been the barbarous war. That was not the work of a minority of bad SS people, a relatively small number of convinced Nazis which, somehow, controlled an unwilling and gentlemanly military machine. It also illustrates that the war was initiated by the Fascist government of Germany in the pursuit of plunder and the destruction of "Bolshevism."

Everything else was secondary to that, including the mass murder of European Jewry, the Rom and Sinta peoples and, by the way, the largest contingent of those on the Nazi list of "subhumans", the Slavs of Poland and the then Soviet Union, as racial perveyors of the virus of Bolshevism.

The author tells a little, also, of the economic requirements of the big employers like Krupp, that the brutal Nazi policies served. Placing the Nazi war aims and conduct before a new set of readers might counter the sort of stuff that is still being peddled, and is popular, such as the works by Anthony Beevor, Richard Overy and John Erickson, who would still have us see the Fascist war on the "East" as part of some unexplained "titanic" struggle that took place between two powerful machines. The only thing they leave out is what the war was about, and Geoffrey Megargee tells us a lot about that.

Good on the publishers - a book that makes a good present to a friend.

Michael Costello

5stars - "War of annihilation?" (M. Costello)

The author, a young "scholar" at the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, indicts the German Army on the Eastern Front in total as criminal for its actions against the Jews and its lack of action to prevent their elimination by other organizations.

Much of the author's presentation is invalid being based on half-truths, misstatements, and distortion of facts. He overlooks the fact that Hitler was able to use the term "Jewish-Bolshevik" with some accuracy in Germany due to the over-representation of Jews in the Bolshevik leadership and the spearheading of Communist activity in Germany by German Jews.

The research is poor, and I grew tired of noting "no!" and "no such evidence!" in the margin while reading. The author treats von Manstein very unfairly, to note one of many. He dismisses Goerlitz's work, "The German General Staff" as containing "a great deal of misleading material" and stating "but its author was himself a General Staff Officer". One is tempted to reply that Megargee is not to be trusted because he works for the US Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Megargee also states: "Beware of the German memoir literature! Books by the likes of Guderian and von Manstein are still selling briskly in English and German, but much of what they contain is not to be trusted...." Having read those works and compared the operations described within with other primary sources, I cannot agree with Megargee's statement. Von Manstein specifically mentions his victories at Kerch and Sevastopol as true battles of annihilation in which 260,000 prisoners were taken. "Annihilation" does not always mean killing or murder. The author must surely know that the evidence against von Manstein was extremely contradictory, and that no less a person than Winston Churchill contributed to Manstein's defense (although political motives undoubtedly played a part.)

I would have been more sympathetic to the author had he revealed that the Soviets massacred whole villeges of peasants they felt to be unreliable during their retreat in 1941 and 1942, but the author is only interested in damning the Germans. That the war on the Eastern Front was brutal and merciless in the extreme is beyond doubt, but like everything, there were two sides. This work does not present anything new or of interest to the serious historian and is not worth the purchase.

1stars - "Poor history from carefully cherry-picked incidents with worse conclusions." (David M. Dougherty)

Red Sniper on the Eastern Front: The Memoirs of Joseph Pilyushin / SalesRank : 107485

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Red Sniper on the Eastern Front: The Memoirs of Joseph Pilyushin
Author : Joseph Pilyushin

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Hardcover [ Pen and Sword ] [ Release : 2010 / 04 ]
ISBN : 9781848841208 / ASIN(ISBN-10) : 1848841205
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Knight's Cross Panzers: The German 35th Tank Regiment in World War II (Stackpole Military History Series) / SalesRank : 52400

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Knight's Cross Panzers: The German 35th Tank Regiment in World War II (Stackpole Military History Series)
Author : Hans Schäufler

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Paperback [ Stackpole Books ] [ Release : 2010 / 04 / 01 ]
ISBN : 9780811705929 / ASIN(ISBN-10) : 0811705927
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Average Customer Review :

5.0stars [ See more reviews ]

The 4th PzD was formed in 1938 in Bavaria and was the most decorated panzer division in the Wehrmacht. It was in southern Poland in 1939, Belgium and France in 1940. It moved to the eastern front in 1941 and stayed there until the end. It often spearheaded the assaults and took heavy fire for that honor but it usually accomplished its objectives. The 35th PzR was a integral part of the division, helping to achieve those objectives. In the early months of the war, it forced the Bug, Berezina and Dniepr Rivers and later saw action at the Desna, Drut and Vistula Rivers. Cities included Roslavl, Kiev, Orel, Mzensk, Tula, Stalingrad, Kursk, Gomel, Warsaw, Kovel. East Prussia, East Pomerania and the Kurland Front must also be included.
The end for the remnants of 4th PzD came on May 9th when it surrendered to the Russians near the mouth of the Vistula River. The ending for the 35th PzR occurred on April 16th with the sinking of the Goya. Nearly 6000 people died that day; only seven from the regiment survived.

This book is an operational history of the regiment from a personal perspective. It was created with the help of personal, regimental and divisional diaries. After the war the survivors of the 35th and also from the division added to the story from personal experiences. Some of the contributors include Eberbach, von Sauken, Christern and the biggest contributor was Hans Schaufler who also did a superb job of editing all these individual essays and comments into a coherent engaging story. It may be operational history but its not in the category of a data laden book from David Glantz. It won't state the specific Soviet units it faced. It won't give you the big picture, what was happening on the front. It will give you first hand experience of what it was like for the regiment in taking or defending hundreds of towns or rivers crossed, bridges captured, bridgeheads established etc.

The book includes 16 black and white maps of the key engagements like Orel, Tula, Kursk, near Bryansk. Many of them appear to be original war maps. They have lost some of their crispness in being copied to the book but they're still pretty good. There are also 57 photos of the men and their equipment in the field. They were all good. There is also an outstanding Appendix that supplies tables of useful information. It includes: Medal Recipients, Profiles on some of the contributors, the Establishment details of the 35th PzR, Listing of junior officers and senior Commanders, Reorganization details, a detailed Chronology of engagements and a Rank Comparison. I found this all interesting and should be helpful to anybody doing research on the regiment.
This review just scratches the surface of this book, there is much more to read.
I found this story captivating and well written. I plan on coordinating these personal experiences with the more technical books by Glantz, Nevenkin and others to get a more rounded experience. Anybody who wants to know more about a stellar panzer unit and its people or read about panzer tactics that were employed should enjoy this book. Its highly recommended.

5stars - "An engaging tribute to the 35th PzR" (Dave Schranck)

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