To those interested, Michael Jones new book "The Retreat" is already available

So am i C., so am i.

I'm after that book since March/April.

Hi L/ thanks for the heads up about that other book listed above. I WANT that one too ;-)) Im currently looking around for that other book.

I also heard something from one of my book dealers that they got wind of some Author (hopefully Jason Mark) that is allegedly going to do a book about the Rolik Group, which Mark gives loads of info on in: Island of Fire. That would make for a great day by day read-and a great movie too-as long as hollywierd doesn't get ite paws on the rights to that story. This would be right yp there with a movie done about Sergeant Pavlov & "his" house. I'd love to see a great book and movie about that fight a well.

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Lost are only those, who abandon themselves) Hans-Ulrich Rudel.

It is. I have my copy, signed by the author. It's very good. And very gory.

Show off!!!

How much is Mike Jones's book?

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Lost are only those, who abandon themselves) Hans-Ulrich Rudel.

I'll probably order mine from this site:

The Retreat: Hitler's First Defeat (Hardback) By (author) Michael Jones ISBN 13: 9780719569524 at The Book Depository

Postage is free, delivery is fast, and according to the site the hardcover is priced at:
€ 14.52
£ 13.12
or
$ 21.41

Book Depository are excellent. I just bought the new Tigerabteilung 503 book off them. They only charged £2.75 for postage. The book is the size of a house... q.v. Thema anzeigen - Die "Bibel" der schweren Panzerabteilung 503. - Panzer-Archiv

And, yes, my friend Jan-Hendrik does have a complete set of Vopersal. I am very jealous :-)

Thank you L/ Definately affordable. I was afraid it was going to be one of those $100++ titles ;-))

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Lost are only those, who abandon themselves) Hans-Ulrich Rudel.

It's a great feeling to arrive from work, and find on my desk a brand new copy of Doug Nash's Hell's Gate
No word from Decision in the Ukrayne though....

Look at what i just found!!



It's supposed to be released in Jun/Jul 2010.

"At dawn on 10 July 1941, massed tanks and motorized infantry of German Army Group Center's Second and Third Panzer Groups crossed the Dnepr and Western Dvina Rivers, beginning what Adolf Hitler, the Fuhrer of Germany's Third Reich, and most German officers and soldiers believed would be a triumphal march on Moscow, the capital of the Soviet Union. Less than three weeks before, on 22 June Hitler had unleashed his Wehrmacht's massive invasion of the Soviet Union code-named Operation Barbarossa, which sought to defeat the Soviet Union's Red Army, conquer the country, and unseat its Communist ruler, Josef Stalin. Between 22 June and 10 July, the Wehrmacht advanced up to 500 kilometers into Soviet territory, killed or captured up to one million Red Army soldiers, and reached the western banks of the Western Dvina and Dnepr Rivers, by doing so satisfying the premier assumption of Plan Barbarossa that the Third Reich would emerge victorious if it could defeat and destroy the bulk of the Red Army before it withdrew to safely behind those two rivers. With the Red Army now shattered, Hitler and most Germans expected total victory in a matter of weeks. The ensuing battles in the Smolensk region frustrated German hopes for quick victory. Once across the Dvina and Dnepr Rivers, a surprised Wehrmacht encountered five fresh Soviet armies. Despite destroying two of these armies outright, severely damaging two others, and encircling the remnants of three of these armies in the Smolensk region, quick victory eluded the Germans. Instead, Soviet forces encircled in Mogilev and Smolensk stubbornly refused to surrender, and while they fought on, during July, August, and into early September, first five and then a total of seven newly-mobilized Soviet armies struck back viciously at the advancing Germans, conducting multiple counterattacks and counterstrokes, capped by two major counteroffensives that sapped German strength and will. Despite immense losses in men and materiel, these desperate Soviet actions derailed Operation Barbarossa. Smarting from countless wounds inflicted on his vaunted Wehrmacht, even before the fighting ended in the Smolensk region, Hitler postponed his march on Moscow and instead turned his forces southward to engage 'softer targets' in the Kiev region. The 'derailment' of the Wehrmacht at Smolensk ultimately became the crucial turning point in Operation Barbarossa. This study exploits a wealth of Soviet and German archival materials, including the combat orders and operational of the German OKW, OKH, army groups, and armies and of the Soviet Stavka, General Staff, Western Direction Command, Western and Central Front's, and their subordinate armies, to present a detailed mosaic and definitive account of what took place, why, and how during the prolonged and complex battles in the Smolensk region from 11 July through early September 1941. Its structure is designed specifically to appeal to both general readers and specialists, by including a detailed chronological narrative of the course of operations, accompanied by an extensive collection of specific orders and reports translated verbatim from German and Russian, which were prepared and issued by German and Soviet headquarters and forces that planned and conducted the operations. Finally, the study includes and extensive collection of archival or archival based maps detailing every stage of the battle."

To those wanting to pre-order it here's the amazon.uk link:

Barbarossa Derailed: The Battles for Smolensk, July-August 1941: Amazon.co.uk: David M. Glantz: Books

Hi L/ Excellent!! I want a copy. Thanks for the link as well as the above info on it ;-))

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Lost are only those, who abandon themselves) Hans-Ulrich Rudel.

Found this future release on amazon.uk:

Festung Posen: Bastion an Der Wache: Journals from a Fortress: Amazon.co.uk: Fredrik Nilsson: Books

To the experts on the Endkampf... is it anything to look forward to?

Well the publisher does produce some good books so it's promising. That said, getting the title right might be a good start. Posen sits on the Warthe...

Personally, if I wanted a book on Festung Posen, I would go for the volume produced by the veterans' group about 15 years ago:

http://www.librarything.com/work/6566908/book/38086769

Gents are you aware of these new titles to be released ?

RZM.com- Your online source for WWII books & more!

http://rzm.com/books/bd/bd006.cfm

certainly the last one would be more appropriate fo the militaria collector but indeed it must surely cover some of the recipients or have info-pics on Ost front activities for the awardee.

and of course this title fits perfectly ~ http://rzm.com/books/schiffer/sch3422.cfm

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L-Raiser

saw you posting past a couple of pages back, cannot say how sniper ace will read but the guy has at least 200 of his shots recorded confirmed. a Lithuanian born in Königsberg, Germany. his first name is actually not Bruno but Bronius .......

what is interesting the chap did not receive the RK or the DkG for his service while serving in the 68th Infantrie Division.

Attached Images

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L-Raiser, Erich, et al:

Interesting array of books on the Ostfront and the German army. Excellent. Many thanks.

Is it only coincidence that on the Amazon UK's webpage for Festung Posen: Bastion an der Wache: Journals from a Fortress (Hardcover) by Fredrik Nilsson, there also appears a best-seller entry at the bottom of the page for My **** Life So Far (Hardcover) by Frankie Boyle? I can see how one could link to the other. Who would ever have guessed that Frankie Boyle served at Posen?

K04

As for that one, i have it and cannot recommend it enough, very good, interesting and very informative book.

And after 8 months that elusive book "Decision in the Ukraine" by George Nipe Jr. has finally arrived.
After all the book DOES exists!!!!!!

For those interested or those who may be drawn into being interested in this great book.... here's a little about it.

Decision in the Ukraine (George M. Nipe, Jr.) Hard cover, small format (9"x6"), 390 pages, 75 photographs and 29 maps and orders of battle. For the first time in English, the full story of the crucial battles on the Mius River by the 6. Armee and the successful counterattack spearheaded by the II. SS-Panzer-Korps, consisting of "Das Reich" and "Totenkopf". Also covered in detail are the offensives after Kursk in July/August 1943. The author uses many primary sources and conveys the action in vivid detail.

This book tells the story of the German attempts in the summer of 1943 to try and force a favorable outcome on the Eastern Front. After von Manstein's brilliant counterstroke at Kharkov in March, 1943, the major summer offensive was Operation "Citadel." While the battle of Kursk is not the main focus of the book, it is covered, and destroys myths about it, particularly the battle at Prochorovka. Most notable are the myths about how many German tanks were destroyed and the destruction of the three Waffen-SS divisions of II. SS Panzerkorps, which the auther shows isn't true given the combat effectiveness of the Waffen-SS divisions later in the summer. Postwar literature accepted the Soviet account of the losses and the historians copied each other furthering the misinformation.

The author delves into the other interrelated battles on the Mius River and at Bogodukhov. One of Nipe's objectives is to study the combat operations of and correct misconceptios about the SS divisions "Das Reich" and "Totenkopf," both of which fought at all three battles studied in the book. An aspect not covered well in other books is well covered here, and that is Soviet deception to distract the Germans. The battle at the Mius River is the best example of this because when the Soviets gained a bridgehead over the river, it caused Hitler to cancel "Citadel" and rush the two SS divisions to counter the threat in that area. As usual Hitler tried to defend everything all at once, and in the end lost everything.

An extremely revealing book which clearly demonstrates:
- the tactical & mobile superiority of German armoured units in 1943.
- the role increasing played by these forces in the 'fire brigade' role rushing from one crisis point to another.
- Nipe uses fact to destroy the myth that Prokorovka was a draw with both sides suffering equal losses. The Soviet's strategic reserve 6th Guards Tank Army rushing headlong into battle suffered appalling losses which meant it was unlikely to have been able to continue it's assault on the day in which Hitler cancelled the offensive.
- Nipe's more detailed description of the defensive battles on the Mius shows that this was an effort by the Soviets to force the Germans to Cancel 'Citadel' & also shows that the SS 'Totenkopf' Division although was still a relatively inexperienced formation at that time suffering appalling losses from inappropriate commitment by wehrmacht commanders. Making up for this by it's fanatical bravery of it's officers & men.
- the Bogodukhov operation also shows German Armoured superiority in a situation where the soviets had an enormous amount of tanks & men. Here the Armoured forces of Army Group South were able to use their superior mobile forces to encircle, destroy & blunt two Soviet tank armies although not able to prevent the Soviet capture of Belgorod & Kharkov for the last time.

the draw back of this book when I picked it up right after it was published is the over-repetitiveness throughout. you will note that my friend.

In essence this is the English version so to speak of the Munin Verlag's Sylvester Stadlers "Die Offensive gegen Kursk 1943", II. SS-Pz Korps. 19 maps, 232 pages.

im my opinion this was the first book in any language that made it a point to try and get the German SS Panzer losses under true scrutiny and not the acceptance of the myth that the SS Panzers were annihilated on the battlefield. Nipe uses quite a bit of this work to generate the book you have just acquired, but sadly and again in my viewpoint Nipe could of done better work with the maps, some nice dual fold-outs would of been fantastic but due to the smallness of the overall size of the book this would of been non-acceptable.

glad you finally found the illusive copu

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