Being there . . . in the first book, with the German Army’s elite Berlin-based “fire brigade” unit
from as early as 1 September 1939 until the very, very bitter end in May of 1945 where it was
born near the Brandenburg Gate in the ceremonial Wachregiment-Berlin detachment in early
- 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 “Greater
Germany’s” No. 1 police force capable of renown fighting. In short, a military combat force on
call for any kind of violence the state needed. Reinforced to divisional strength on the Eastern
Front for the invasion of Poland, it later fought fiercely in Rzhev and Kharkov, establishing the
reputation for ferocity it craved.
With the history of that unique, proud, deadly fighting force realized and understood, hop
over to the freezing cold Baltic and Black Seas for an even more stimulating drama of
introduction to the rarely seen and highly valued Russian cruisers launched for the Soviet navy
between 1917 and 1945. Two such reading experiences, suddenly all at once, could only have
been masterminded by Osprey, the legendary and leading military publisher of the Western
World. “Cruisers”, published in the Osprey NEW VANGUARD, #326, SERIES, zeroes in on the
design, development, operation and history of shipbuilding machinery through a warring
country’s ages, in this book, Russia’s, while “Grossdeutschland” finds itself in the Osprey’s
ELITE, #255, series. Either way, each belongs, for $20 apiece, in your growing World War II
library. The full color artwork, unrivalled detail, and rarely viewed archival photographs of each
begs you spend for your library on World War subjects hardly known, and therefore less
researched. Best, fellow buff, to check all this out for yourself. Fingers up and ready? Gently
smack and slap the keys of old faithful to www.ospreypublishing.com. WARNING! One glance at
what flashes up means a revision of your book purchasing budget for the rest of 2024. But
consider 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 THE
WORLD HAD YET KNOWN, “Panzergrenadier-Division ‘GROSSDEUTSCHLAND’ (GD)”, ‘greater
Germany’, VOMITED LIGHTNING ON EUROPE’S PEOPLE, NATION AFTER NATION. IN THE BALTIC
AND BLACK SEAS, STALIN WAS DETERMINED TO RESPOND TO THE FUHRER’S DECLARATION,
“GERMANY’S MAGNETIC MINES, AIR ATTACKS, AND ATLANTIC ‘WOLF PACKS’ WILL RULE ALLTHE
WAVES 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 HOLE
IN HIS UPPER MOUTH.
“THE ‘GROSSDEUTSCHLAND’ DIVISION in WORLD WAR II – – The German Army’s Premier
Unit”, by James F. Slaughter, Illustrated by Ramiro Bujeiro. OSPREY PUBLISHING/Bloomsbury
Publishing 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 DeNevi
Remember, 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 chapters
with enough military minutiae to entice buying additional memoirs, biographies,
autobiographies, letters, and official documents, in short, any available source to feed the
yearning-for-even more facts and knowledge to quietly nibble on. After all, appetite grows
upon what it feeds, especially from the truth of war history of any incident, occasion, and
subject.
Here, author James Slaughter begins, as he should, with the origin of the Grossdeutschland
Division, followed by Hitler’s decisions, preparations, and launching the invasion of Poland, the
beginning of WWII. Then, chapter by chapter, six of them, his cogent narration leads us through
the division’s major operations. Artefacts, personalities, strategies, and techniques are the focal
points 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 the
evolution 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 descriptions
are divided into five parts, plus an excellent Select Bibliography and Index. In between the
Introduction and Conclusion are “Cruisers Laid Down During the Tsarist Period”, “Cruisers Laid
Down and Completed 1917-45”, and “Post-War Gun Cruisers”. The artwork in all and every one
of the Osprey series is excellent, no question. In “Soviet Cruisers in 1917-45”, the drawings and
painted representations of the various Cruiser classes are especially exceptional, the best this
reviewer has seen yet from obviously the better artists the company commissioned. Take a
moment, enthusiast, to reflect on how darn lucky us readers are with Osprey, alive and well, in
our world.