- Its primary function? Guide ceremonial guards in parades. Later its more fanciful epithet,or official appellation, was the “Grossdeutschland” Division, suggesting it was to be “GreaterGermany’s” No. 1 police force capable of renown fighting. In short, a military combat force oncall for any kind of violence the state needed. Reinforced to divisional strength on the EasternFront for the invasion of Poland, it later fought fiercely in Rzhev and Kharkov, establishing thereputation for ferocity it craved.With the history of that unique, proud, deadly fighting force realized and understood, hopover to the freezing cold Baltic and Black Seas for an even more stimulating drama ofintroduction to the rarely seen and highly valued Russian cruisers launched for the Soviet navybetween 1917 and 1945. Two such reading experiences, suddenly all at once, could only havebeen masterminded by Osprey, the legendary and leading military publisher of the WesternWorld. “Cruisers”, published in the Osprey NEW VANGUARD, #326, SERIES, zeroes in on thedesign, development, operation and history of shipbuilding machinery through a warringcountry’s ages, in this book, Russia’s, while “Grossdeutschland” finds itself in the Osprey’sELITE, #255, series. Either way, each belongs, for $20 apiece, in your growing World War IIlibrary. The full color artwork, unrivalled detail, and rarely viewed archival photographs of eachbegs you spend for your library on World War subjects hardly known, and therefore lessresearched. Best, fellow buff, to check all this out for yourself. Fingers up and ready? Gentlysmack and slap the keys of old faithful to www.ospreypublishing.com. WARNING! One glance atwhat flashes up means a revision of your book purchasing budget for the rest of 2024. Butconsider what you’ll have to read and reread in the decades of the rest of your life!IN 1939, ‘4O, AND ‘41, WHEN HITLER BLITZKRIEGED HIS WAY WEST, THEN, AT THE CHANNEL,STUPIDLY SWIVLED TO CRUSH HIS WAY TOWARD MOSCOW, THE BEST COMBAT TEAM THEWORLD HAD YET KNOWN, “Panzergrenadier-Division ‘GROSSDEUTSCHLAND’ (GD)”, ‘greaterGermany’, VOMITED LIGHTNING ON EUROPE’S PEOPLE, NATION AFTER NATION. IN THE BALTICAND BLACK SEAS, STALIN WAS DETERMINED TO RESPOND TO THE FUHRER’S DECLARATION,“GERMANY’S MAGNETIC MINES, AIR ATTACKS, AND ATLANTIC ‘WOLF PACKS’ WILL RULE ALLTHEWAVES AROUND EUROPE”. WITH A FLEET OF NEW-CLASS SOVIET CRUSIERS AND DESTROYERS –THE CRUISERS LEADING THE SAILING CHARGES, ALL HITLER GOT WAS A SELF-INFLICTED A HOLEIN HIS UPPER MOUTH.“THE ‘GROSSDEUTSCHLAND’ DIVISION in WORLD WAR II – – The German Army’s PremierUnit”, by James F. Slaughter, Illustrated by Ramiro Bujeiro. OSPREY PUBLISHING/BloomsburyPublishing Plc: 2024, Elite 255, 64 pages, 7 ¼” x 9 7/8”, softcover, $21. Visit,www.ospreypublishing.com.“SOVIET CRUISERS – – From the October Revolution to World War II”, by Alexander Hill,Illustrated by Paul Wright. OSPREY PUBLISHING/Bloomsbury Publishing Plc: 2024, New
Vanguard 326, 48 pages, 7 ¼” x 9 7/8”, softcover, $20. Visit, www.ospreypublishingcom.
Reviewer and recommended by Don DeNeviRemember, reader, “The ‘Grossdeutschland’ Division in World War II”, is all of 64 pages,hence, the inexpensive cost of $21. But the Table of Contents defines its fact-loaded chapterswith enough military minutiae to entice buying additional memoirs, biographies,autobiographies, letters, and official documents, in short, any available source to feed theyearning-for-even more facts and knowledge to quietly nibble on. After all, appetite growsupon what it feeds, especially from the truth of war history of any incident, occasion, andsubject.Here, author James Slaughter begins, as he should, with the origin of the GrossdeutschlandDivision, followed by Hitler’s decisions, preparations, and launching the invasion of Poland, thebeginning of WWII. Then, chapter by chapter, six of them, his cogent narration leads us throughthe division’s major operations. Artefacts, personalities, strategies, and techniques are the focalpoints of each chapter.The aforesaid introduction also applies to the second Osprey series, the Elite 326.Researched in the main from Russian-language sources, “Soviet Cruisers 1917-45” dissects theevolution of the cruiser fleet, then highlights the considerable actions the ships engaged in,particularly in support of the Red Army. The superlative, easy-to-follow narrative descriptionsare divided into five parts, plus an excellent Select Bibliography and Index. In between theIntroduction and Conclusion are “Cruisers Laid Down During the Tsarist Period”, “Cruisers LaidDown and Completed 1917-45”, and “Post-War Gun Cruisers”. The artwork in all and every oneof the Osprey series is excellent, no question. In “Soviet Cruisers in 1917-45”, the drawings andpainted representations of the various Cruiser classes are especially exceptional, the best thisreviewer has seen yet from obviously the better artists the company commissioned. Take amoment, enthusiast, to reflect on how darn lucky us readers are with Osprey, alive and well, in
our world.
