I spent most of today doing this not only for me but for other fans of the Eastern Front.

Just this afternoon, I finally recieved two of five books in. Island of Fire and Penalty Strike. When I finish each, i'll give you guys an idea on how they turned out.

 

The past few days i've been reading slowly-and on purpose) Alexander Pyl'Cyns book: Penalty Strike. This book being translated by a European-really comes off greatly and is a style that Americans and Brits and such, can't copy.

Anyway, the book starts out telling a bit about his relatives and his own childhood memories. Once you get to when he first joined the Military going through an Academy and being posted to his first unit. I have not read past that stage yet-but the Great Patriotic War has already been raging for several months and not that the book has had any slow spots - it is still gaining steam and I can tell that this book will be one of my all-time favorites.

For the "feel" of what it was like from the Russian point of view---this one is destined to become my absolute favorte. So--would I highly recommend this book--hell yes!

PS, as he now livs in St. Petersburg, Russia. I think im going to see if a friend of mine can find out where he lives. BTW, my friend lives there as well-running an import-export business-so she may have good contacts for such thingd.

 

Is there any book about the german retreat and battles in Czechoslovaquia and Austria in 1945?
I've looked, but couldn't find any.
It was probably as intense and interesting as the battles in Hungary.

 

Not much in English. There's the divisional histories of 1 and 12 SS Pz Divisions, and Georg Maier's Drama Between Budapest and Vienna. It is an extremely detailed account and very nicely produced, but it's not an easy read.

Amazon.com: Drama Between Budapest and Vienna, The Final Fighting of the 6. Panzer-Armee: Georg Maier: Books

There's quite a lot in German, however.

 

any of the former W-SS Munin Verlag titles printed, now for some translated by the Canadian firm JJF. Das Reich volumes come to mind

 

I saw two a couple of weeks ago, one of them was about the fighting around and in Prague, but i just can't seem to remember the title. It was one of those obscure edition of some obscure series of an unknown publisher, east european probably, but in english. That series is recent and it only has two books yet.

 

This book - Stalin's Revenge: Operation Bagration and the Annihilation of Army Group Centre by Anthony Tucker-Jones, was released on the 19th, it got my attention because books about Bagration are few and far between, so one pays attention everytime one sees the light of day.
Does anyone know anything about this one or its author???

 

I have just bought this book but as I am only a few pages in to it I can't offer an opinion yet, but it does surprise me that for such a massive operation, both in the sense of a battle and also it's place in WW2 history, the book only runs to 128 pages (171 pages if you include the Appendix 1-9). I think it is the same with the other English language book on this battle Hitler's Greatest Defeat. I think a book of 400+ pages would be the least that could do this battle true justice.

 

I agree with hucks216, it's very strange that every year we get books on Normandy with 400+ pages, but about the eastern D-Day when we're fortunate enough we get a 100+ - 200 page book, that basicaly has space to say "well the offensive started and the germans were pushed to the outskirst of Warsaw".
And if what Anthony Beevor say is really applied in the future and the soviet archives are closed again to foreigners, well a good oportunity was lost to write a decisive book on Bagration....
A pity really.

 

Oh Amen to that. I got so fed up with the Anglo-centric view of Normandy I had to write a book on the subject from the German viewpoint. And Normandy's a cakewalk compared with Bagration. There's not a great deal in German either, apart from Rolf Hinze's book about the stragglers reaching German lines again, and Gerd Niepold's indispensable but heavy-going study. Otherwise, fairly scant pickings.

 

By the way halder, that Rolf Hinze you mentioned is "To the Bitter End"?? Yesterday i almost order it, but i had some doubts about it so i ordered instead Tissier's "Zhukov at the Oder" and "The Bloody Triangle", but Hinze is still on my list, i just have to know a little more about it.
And on a side note with a little luck "Germans in Normandy" will arrive this week

 

Hi L-Raiser,

No the Hinze book is East Front Drama 1944. To the Bitter End covers the final fighting of 1944-1945. Hinze's work is rather hit and miss, some is very good, some is a real let down (e.g. 31 ID history). His best book is probably his history of 19th ID/Pz (possibly because he served in it), but it's never been translated (not least because it runs to 800 pages).

 

With a certain amount of dread and trepidation, of someone who already knows the answer, i'm going to ask the question: Are there any books written on the Demyansk Pocket??? The only account i'm aware of is from Sydnor's "Soldiers of Destruction", and it left me wanting more....
And since tomorrow i took the day off, i'll have time to really browse through "The Korsun Pocket", and tell a little bit more about it.

 

There are some titles about Demjansk-I can't think of them off-hand but I saw that Historicabooks.com, Aberdeenbookstore.com and Helion.co.uk had some listed there. As a matter of fact-I THINK there is a title or two mentioned about that battle somewhere in this thread. I don't have time to search tonight but will try to think about doing so tomorrow.

 

Thank you very much
I've been searching for books on the subject.


Any favorites?
or which I should read first?

 

"The Korsun Pocket : the Encirclement and Breakout of a German Army in the East, 1944" by Niklas Zetterling & Anders Frankson.
Like I promised C. Evans, here's a little overview of the book. I haven't read it all, but what struck me most was how well balanced it was between the tactical/strategic aspect and the human aspect, it doesn't rely too heavily on countless descriptions of troops movements and units and divisions, it just tells you very to the point the overview of the battlefield, after that it relies on the front and it's participants, many letters from people of both sides who were surrounded (both russians and germans) since this campaign as you'll realise as you read the book had more than one encirclement and breakout, it's a campaing in which both side were both offensive and defensive.
It takes more or less 50 pages to reach the beginning of the festivities , before that it gives a very clear analyses of what fighting on the eastern front was, and the major offensives, campaigns and battles that led to the Korsun/Cherkassy offensive.
The next 250 pages are about the figthing in and around Korsun/Cherkassy, going back and forth between germans and russians, but never loosing it's focus.
Although it could have more maps, i really enjoyed the ones presented, especially the movements maps with it's explanatory boxes inserted.
What doesn't have much are pictures, about a dozen of them, if that many.
I never read, nor even looked at Doug Nash's "Hell's Gates", at £ 150 + it seems i won't in the near future either (at that price it seens the book was written in the XVIII or XIX century or something), who read it says it's the definitive account of the Korsun/Cherkassy campaign, well reduce the price and then we'll see about it, but for me Zetterling's and Frankson's book is the definitive account... and for less than £ 20, uau!!!

Now if only something on Demiansk would come out.....

 

Hi Red, I stated looking around a bit today but didn't find at least the title I had seen listed over on the Aberdeen Bookstore site but that doesn't mean anything except that he sold out of his copies of the book. ANyway, if you can give me till tomorrow sometime-im going to be calling a few bookstores and will specifically ask for titles about that subject in particuler.

Hi L/ thanks much for the rundown on the Korsun Pocket--n=book. I can see it will be one I will get for sure.

Just left you as the 2nd recipient of my 27 rep points.

 

Carl here is something in Deutsch for the last war months covering the terror in Ost Preußia: good book

by Diekert and Großmann "Der Kampf Um Ostpreussen from Motorbuch Verlag, 12th printing 1998, 230 pages, photos and some good maps

other German titles of wars end in the Ost ~ all from Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart

Otto Lasch " So Fiel Königsberg"

Hans Schäufler " 1945 Panzer an der Weichsel " this is about the fall of Danzig and West-Preußen

Hans von Ahlfen " Der kampf um Schlesien "

Ahlfen/Niehoff " So Kämpfte Breslau "

E ~

 

Next i'll give a rundown on Victor Kamenir's "The Bloody Triangle: The Defeat of Soviet Armor in the Ukraine, June 1941" for those who'll be interested in it.... as soon as it arrives, which will be sometimes next week.
This one has left me pretty intrigued about it: "The Battle of Brody ranks as one of the key tank battles in World War II, yet is woefully unknown. For the first time, there is a detailed, well-researched history of this key tank battle around Kiev and the Dnieper River. The fiercest battle of Operation Barbarossa - including a four-day battle between the 1st Panzer Army, and the Soviet Mechanized Corps - this included 3,000 armored vehicles in both armies, plus air support from the Luftwaffe. For a week, the two sides fought each other continuously: the Soviets with tenacity, determination, and courage, the Germans with regimented disciple and tactics that proved superior. Full battle plans are given, along with forces strengths and biographies of key commanders, so the reader can follow combat history, and the author examines the decisive German victory, yet shows how these few days proved invaluable to the Soviet Union, when the Whermacht attack stalled at the gates of Moscow in the dead of winter, foreshadowing the end for the Germans. Showing this battle from both sides, this is a book bound to appeal to any tank enthusiast and military historian."
And they say this one was bigger than Kursk.... we'll shall see

 

Your right, Ive never heard of the Battle of Brody. Then again theres no doubt a fair amount of great info out there on the earlier battles of Russian-German conflict that has yet to reach mainstream history.