Being there . . . . on July 10, 1943, not so much for the Soviet tank attacks on the southern andnorthern faces of the enormous Russian salient west of Kursk in the Ukraine during the greatesttank battle in history, but more importantly, NAY, critically significant, air battles between July 5and 23. All World War II buffs, enthusiasts, aficionados know that earlier that year Sovietsuccesses and German counterattacks had created a huge bulge protruding into German heldterritory. Hitler, relying on all his strategic intuition and wisdom, determined regardless of costin soldiers and weapons, i.e., tanks, he was going to lop off that ugly salient from the mainEastern Front line. The protrusion was an unexpected gift from Uncle Joe – – a possiblesystematic victory from the smashing annihilation of Stalin’s massive tank armies crowded intothe bulge. To the Fuhrer, it was payback time for the Soviet miracle over his Wehrmacht atStalingrad months before. For the pending German victory, his generals assembled 70% of theirtanks and 65% of their aircraft from the entire Eastern Front, from the Baltic to the TurkishBosporus Straits. The German forces numbered 900,000 troops, 2,700 tanks and assault guns,and 1,800 aircraft. When the colossal inferno was erupting, the world stopped spinning. To thisday, there are no established accurate counts of either German or Russian losses. What wascertain, however, was that Stalin’s pilots in all sorts of aircraft shifted the military balancetoward the road to Berlin in favor of the USSR, crushing Nazi Germany’s last chance to win thewar.FOR DECADES MILITARY HISTORIANS HAVE BEEN ARGUING THAT RUSSIA’S DEFENSE OFSTALINGRAD WAS THE TURNING POINT OF WWII IN EUROPE. LATELY, THE BRIGHTER ONESHAVE REVISED THEIR THINKING THAT IT WAS THE BITTER TWO-WEEK BATTLE FOR KURSK INJULY OF 1943 WHEN 6,200 PANZERS AND SOVIET T – 34s INTERMINGLED TO BLAST EACHOTHER INTO SMITHEREENS THAT ULTIMATELY CAUSED THE GERMAN RETREAT. NOW,CASEMATE PUBLISHERS, ONE OF THE WORLD’S THREE BEST MILITARY PUBLISHERS, IN MYOPINION, HAS BEGUN DISTRIBUTING THE ULTIMATE REFERENCE ON HOW STALIN’S RED AIRFORCE, THE MASTER OF THE SKIES OVER THE VAST NETWORK OF 7,500 MILES OF KURSKTRENCHES, 10,000 COMMAND AND OBSERVATION POSTS, AND 47,500 ARTILLERY ANDMORTAR POSITIONS, BLEW THE GERMANS PAST HELL INTO THE OBLIVION STATE OF BEINGFORGOTTEN . . .Reviewed and highly, highly recommended as a Christmas gift for both you and your buff.by Don DeNevi“ACES AT KURSK. – – The Battle for Aerial Supremacy on the Eastern Front 1943”, by ChristopherA. Lawrence of the Dupuy Institute. Air World, an imprint of Pen & Sword Books Ltd, Yorkshire –Philadelphia: 2024, 399 pages, 6 ½”x 9 ½”, hardcover, normally illustrated with rare, hithertounpublished portraits, virtually inundated with maps, graphs, charts, tables, statistics andsummations, biographies of both German and Russian commanders, clean, clear notes, andundoubtedly the best bibliography ever assembled on the Battle of Kursk subject, 13 pagesthick. The final page, 399, is filled to the brim with scholarly biographical information about theauthor, Christopher A. Lawrence, who lives in northern Virginia with wife and son. His brilliant
Prologue is to die for.
“I feel as if I am pushing open the door to a dark room never seen before, without knowingwhat lies behind that door”, Adolf Hitler commented to Josef Goebbels and Hermann Goring onthe morning of June 21, 1941, when Germany invaded Russia via his risky “OperationBarbarossa”.“Thus, it has been exploded, the legend that the German summer offensives are alwayssuccessful and that the Soviet forces are always compelled to retreat”, Joe Stalin, July 24, 1943.“ACES AT KURSK” – – what a superb, surprise gift for Christmas! A read like no other from theEastern Front. Why? First, note the seemingly thousands of friends and scholars Chrisacknowledges he consulted on just the air campaign alone! Enough to fill a football stadium.Then, note the photos of the German and Russian military stars – – ordinary men like our ownwho had been called to duty, almost none relishing death. The book is not just an aviationstory. In this reviewer’s opinion, it is the most investigated, thought-provoking compendium,treatise ever assembled about who owned the air over the bloody battlefields, i.e., who reallywas responsible for turning the tide of the invader juggernaut on the Eastern Front. Thanks,Christopher Lawrence, for your splendid knowledge and erudition, with a special nod of kudosfor Air World, Pen & Sword books, and, of course, Casemate. Chris, you really don’t need anyspecial glory for your natural resoluteness in research and scholarship and gift for narration.
You know who you are. For us, just announce when your next project will be in our hands.
