Product Description

The second of two volumes, this is a chronological account of the campaigns on the Eastern Front, following the Soviet counter-offensive around Stalingrad to the final destruction of the Ostheer. Having carefully mustered their forces for a counter-offensive around Stalingrad, the commanders of the Red Army began the long process of besting the German Army and pushing it out of the Soviet Union. The last large-scale German offensive in the east, Kursk, broke the back of the revitalized Panzerwaffe and placed the Ostheer on the defensive for the remainder of the conflict. Unrelenting pressure pushed the Ostheer back to the Dniepr and beyond and paved the way for the overwhelming Soviet victories of 1944 and 1945. In the last 18 months of the war, the Red Army demonstrated a complete mastery of the application of force and the crushing victories in Belorussia, the Balkans and Poland destroyed the cohesion of the Ostheer and proved beyond any doubt that Germany was destined for total defeat. This day-by-day acount allows the reader to obtain an understanding of the scale of the conflict and assess the impact of distance and time upon operations or alternatively, to concentrate upon a specific battle as it unfolded. By detailing each combat sector, be it the hard fighting around Leningrad, the destruction of Army Group Centre in Belorussia or the battles of attrition at Kursk, the reader is able to study a chosen area of operations in isolation while also assessing its impact upon the wider campaign.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #64571 in Books
• Published on: 2004-04-12
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 296 pages

Customer Reviews

One for the bookshelf
Barbarossa to Berlin (and the sister copy covering the first part of the campaign) offers a chronological study of the campaigns in the East. It is divided into easily digestable parts covering the three main theatres of the campaign (North, Centre and South) and sometimes diverges into other aspects.

The books can appear to get bogged down in one theatre sometimes but this is mainly because this is where the main campaign efforts were positioned at the time. The book can be useful to highlight certain major battles which might influence you to purchase other books carrying more detail e.g. Slaughter at Halbe (Tony Le Tissier) or Moscow 1941 (Rodric Braithwaite)

Do not buy this and expect to find a detailed history of the Eastern front. It is not big enough. However it does give you enough information to enable you to understand the major campaigns.

*** Please note this is a copy of the review I wrote for the 1st volume but I thought it best to review the two as one item rather than individually ***