Review by Martin Koenigsberg
Just Finished my 1st Book Review of the Year!!
The German Plan was to grab initiative back after Stalingrad by mounting an offensive with their new Superweapons with a narrow focus. Their new Tiger and Panther Tanks and their new Ferdinand assault Guns would return overwhelming power to the Panzer and Panzer Grenadier mobile formations- and they would pinch off the salient around Kursk- popping a pimple in their front- freeing a whole army group for more operations. But German factories did not put out such complex machines- and the aircraft wanted for the offensive in the sort of number that American, British and Russian factories did. Getting enough tanks and men together took longer – debugging the new gear took longer still. Geoffrey Jukes , a Soviet Expert and historian gives us a concise history of the campaign- explaining how the Soviets knew it was coming- and where it was coming- and prepared accordingly. Defensive line after defensive line, all bristling with Anti Tank guns -and mines- and cleared fields of fire for Russian Assault Guns and Tanks. And if the German were making two assaults from both north and south- Would they be potentially open to a counterattack on their own flanks….?
Of course- the salient was really a great way to hold the German Armies’ attention, and the Russians had been busy themselves-Jukes show graphically with lines drawings of gear , maps and great diagrams- in the style of these Ballantine’s Illustrated History of WWII series- that the Russians had amassed an even larger force. Using their superior intelligence-their own NKVD sources- and what Ultra the Anglo-Americans would share- the Soviet Stavka knew all other offensives were feints – and could use this opportunity to really push the Germans out of their beloved Rodina. There were more Soviet “Fronts” than German “Army Groups”- approximately equivalent formations- and the German were suddenly being bundled out of Russia and The Ukraine wholesale. I have read several other books on this topic and this one really clarifies how the Russians were able to use all the lessons the Germans had taught them at such high cost- to beat the German at their own game- armoured and mobile columns slicing through the German lines and encircling whole divisions and corps- endangering whole other parts of the front like the Crimea and Romania. Kursk was not just the last initiative of the Panzerwaffe- it really was the beginning of the end for Germany on the Eastern Front- losses of men and equipment on a titanic scale – losses that could never be made up again. All the concepts that would be used in the Bagration Campaign of summer’44, were first used in the Kursk campaign- and the Generals that mastered those techniques here were the ones that followed Zhukov into the pantheon. A great quick read on a pivotal point of WWII.
With simplified adult themes and little graphic violent description, this is a great little history for a Junior reader over about 10/11- with an interest in Russian or Ukrainian History. For the Gamer/Modeler/Military Enthusiast, these books are great. The Gamer gets a ton of campaign/scenario ideas- and a single short volume to hand to a Warhammer guy who gets the FOW/CoC/Battlegroup/BloodRedSkies bug and wants to understand the Great Patriotic War- but not get too bogged down in prose. The Modeler gets a lot of diorama/build ideas- from the text and the plethora of b/w pics that pepper the book. The Military Enthusiast gets a pivotal battle/campaign of WWII well explained- and a good bibliography to start with- although the 1968 Publication date means there are post-Soviet revelations on this battle that are not covered. Still- it’s a great start to understanding this battle / campaign in particular and Soviet warfare in general. Well worth the read.
