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

Fully agree with you on tose books. Im currently reading Isalnd of Fire and anything else Jason Mark does-im going to make them high on my Prority list of books to get.

 

Hi L/ that's a decision and investment that you will NOT regret. Im currently enjoying Island of Fire and im on I think page 150-and though it is not a slow book from the get go-it's still heating up as I go on--just like in Penalty Strike. I'm on the part where the German Pioneer Battalions finally reached the Volga and are pshing through two Russian Rifle Regiments. Learning firsthand accounts of fighting at Stalingrad have never failed to amaze me with the hardships (for lack of better words) that those men on both sides endured.

 

Make sure you get his latest release ANGRIFF before it too sells out - you won't be disappointed. It may be a photographic record of Stalingrad but it is unlike other photo histories - each photograph is placed within the context of the advance with detailed narratives. It is on a par with Jason Mark's other two books.

 

Thanks for the reminder about that book, i'd forgotten about it. I think he even mentioned it to me too.

 

Thanks for the reminder about that book, i'd forgotten about it. I think he even mentioned it to me too.

 

Great guy, i'm keeping close contact with him, via mail, and already ordered a couple of books from him, i guess i'm going to start ordering those hard to find book from Landmark, great service.

I'm also looking for something diferent on the Kursk battle, a book without all the statistics of how many tanks and guns each side had, and the general's birdseye-view of the battle (I already have Glantz's book on Kursk), and more about the soldiers and units experience on the field, what they went through, is there anything? In english (my german is hopeless)

 

I'm currently reading Zitadelle - The German Offensive Against The Kursk Salient 4-17 July 1943 by Mark Healy (ISBN: 978-1-86227-336-8) and I am finding it a very good read. Although I have a couple of books on the battle it has been a few years since I read one so I won't compare them from memory with this book, but I would recommend it.

 

This is one on my priority list. Keep me/us upated on the book if you don't mind? My next book purchase is going to be the Patzwall/Scherzer book listing all or most DKiG recipients. This book will be akin to the Fellgiebel RKT Recipients listings.

 

Lloyd Clark is working on a Kursk book as we speak - Authors, History. I'm amazed there's not been a book on Kursk because the material is certainly out there. It's funny. It's a battle I've always baulked from tackling simply because of the sheer scale of it. That said, I'm currently co-translating Ritterkreuz winner Georg Bose's memoirs of the battle which are a very good read.

 

I have recently finished the latest book on Operation Bragation (Stalin's Revenge) and for me this book isn't worth the money. Like I mentioned in a previous post in this thread the book only consists of 128 pages of narrative but having read it I would say that only around 50-60 pages of that deal with the battle and that also includes the Lvov-Sandomierz Offensive. It brushes over the Soviet deception plans, if it mentions them at all. I realise that any book on such a theme provides a level of background build up so that the actions can be seen in context but with a book of only 128 pages (I am not including the extra 50 pages of Appendix 1-9) I think it was too much for the first 52 pages to contain this background narrative.
I hate to criticise it as the English language is crying out for a good book on Operation Bagration (in my opinion) and not being an author/researcher I don't know the level of what is out there to help compile such a book, but for me the older book Hitler's Greatest Defeat by Paul Adair (ISBN:1-85409-232-4) is far better. I would say that Stalin's Revenge is aimed at someone who only has a passing interest in the matter, it is not for the serious readers of WW2 history.

 

The Zitadelle book is a very good book so far and one that reads easily. I am on Page 142 (of 371 pages, not including Appendix 1-5) and while the actual offensive doesn't begin until page 198 so far it has just the right balance of background narrative - tank production, delays, the state of the two opposing armies, intelligence build up, how each sides command saw the coming battle, tactics, terrain, weather etc. Plenty of photos throughout and also a center section of colour plates. Appendix 1 & 2 have a comprehensive Order Of Battle for the German & Soviet Forces involved in Zitadelle. So far, so good and a thumbs up from me.

 

If you can ever find a copy, there's this:

Amazon.com: Battle for White Russia: The Destruction of Army Group Centre, June 1944: Gerd Niepold: Books

As Andreas' review says, it's military rather than human history, but it is well worth reading and gives a day-by-day breakdown of the battle. The frustrating thing is you can pick up the German original for about £20-£25.

The human side of the battle can probably be best found in Carell's Scorched Earth. I've not ruled out a Bagration book myself one day, although there's a hell of a lot of source material to grab first.

 

I have to admit that I am not a fan of Carell's work. It may be just me but he seems to come over as just a bit too pro-German for my liking, which considering his background is probably not surprising.

 

Anything to do with Stalingrad, Kursk and RKTs--is in my scopes of interest. Definately keep us-ME-informed about Bose's Memoirs-as well as on any other soon to be released E/Front books you hear about.

Thanks for this and hopefullly I can rep-ya 27 points.

 

So apart for chapters on more generic books on the Eastern Front, like Erikson's and Carell, we only have Paul Adair's books which is still too short, this Anthony-Tucker effort, which apparently is also too short and not enough detail into it (by the way hucks, thanks for the heads-up on it, it was on my to-buy next list, simply because it was about Bagration, now it's not anymore), then we have East Front Drama 1944 which according to halder doesn't have enough drama, and ospreys Bagration 1944.
And that £200 + Niepold book.
We desperately need a good Bagration book in english....
Never ceases to amaze me that such an important and pivotial event doesn't get all the attention and study it deserves.
We really need and author like the one that wrote the "Germans in Normandy" book, Richard Hargreaves i think, to write a good account of Bagration ... or Michael Jones.

On a side note, the Liebstandarte vol 3 has arrived today, and i have to say i'm really impressed with it, even considering buying vol. 4/1 this month still. Heavy little bugger too

 

Well, apart from the years of research, the need to possess at least one foreign language, months of translation, note taking, weaving together a 120,000+ word narrative, a few trips to Germany, building up a library worth more than £20,000, it's a piece of cake.

Perhaps one reason Bagration has been poorly served is the sheer scale of it and the speed. There was time, even in battles such as Stalingrad, to write letters and diaries, but Bagration reminds me of the encirclements in the first months of the war; think how few first-hand accounts we have from those battles from the Russian side because most either died on the battlefield or in the prison camps. It possibly explains why the divisional histories are such a mixed bag on the summer of 1944.

 

Great!! i knew it was nothing, i'll be waiting for it then.

Well, you're right, but if there was no time for personal journals and unit histories, at least a good, dry and detailed old-fashioned historical account of the operation would be good.

By the way Jean Restayn's Battle of Kharkov, winter 1942-43 is anything to go by?? I've read Glantz's "Anatomy of a Military Disaster" and i'd really like something less dry on the first battles of Kharkov.

 

Kursk: The Air Battle July 1943 by Christer Bergström.
This title and respective series was already mentioned in this thread, but i don't think anybody gave it a more detailed look.
Since i got it here in front of me, why not!?
First of all, i'm one of many who would love to have Black Cross/Red Star books, if it didn't cost such ridiculous amounts of money, i greeted this series with anticipation.
I bought Kursk first because its a phase of the Eastern Front that i'm very fond of (Kharkov 42 - Bagration 44), and boy what a surprise. This book is awesome, it's big, quality paper, color maps (the first one is a map of the region with all the Luftwaffe and Soviet bases in the Kursk sector).
It goes strait into the operation post-Stalingrad, and you get a new perspective of the Eastern Front operation, told with its main focus on the Air, and Ground operations, after that it goes into the air preparation for the battle and into the battle itself.
The next 8 chapters are an almost day-to-day account of the battle itself, with some first person account, although not as many as in Black Cross/Red Star.
Very balanced between fighter operations, bomber operations and ground attack, in my opinion all this perfectly melted together to give it a very smooth and enjoyable reading experience.
The last chapter is the usual balance & conclusion.
Another positive aspect of the book are the very informative text boxes through out the book developing aspect of the main text, including something i didn't knew, the Kursk Magnetic Anomaly, because the region is so rich in ore (the largest deposits in the soviet union) makes any orientation by the use of magnetic compass very dificult.
Another highlight is on page 44 with a diagram of the Ilyushin tactics against Panzers, the "Circle of Death", you really have to see it.
And of course, herr Rudel is there also .

I don't know if this series of books is meant in anyway to replace the highly inflated (price wise) Black Cross/Red Star, but one thing is certain, now i'll have to buy the other 3 books...

Since i'm still waiting for "The Bloody Triangle" hopefully this week it will arrive, as soon as i have it i'll give it a run down.

 

Hi halder remember the question about the battles in Czechoslovaquia last month? I finaly tracked the book:
Warsaw: Battle for Praga July - September 1944 v. 2 (Operations / East Front): Norbert Bacyk: Amazon.co.uk: Books

now i'll try and find where to buy it, apart from the publisher

 

L -

since you mentioned the air-Kursk volume and no it does not replace any of the Black Cross work(s) by Bergstorm you might want to check out Martin Peggs bifg format book on the Hs 129 and it's missions as 9/10ths were on the Ost front. Published by Classic Pubs it may be OOP now