Customer Reviews

Army Group North: The Wehrmacht in Russia 1941-1945

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Over all, this is a good book if one wants to gain an understanding of the movements of the various units of the Wehrmacht in the northern sector of the Russian Front. One thing that is largely lacking from the book--and which happens to be an interest of mine--is the activities that were going on behind the front lines. The book is also without notations and an index, both most useful things for those who want to do some further research into something that is discussed in the book.

This review applies to the series (Army Group North, Center, South)

These books are good in their own way, but are not for everyone.

First, the scope of the book is large, but it describes happenings on the length of the sector of the front through the division and battalion level. This is quite interesting as you feel you are following individual units in movement.

For those who are unfamiliar with the broader narrative of the battles of the eastern front in which the detail of this book takes place, you might want to read a more holistic book, like David Glantz's When Titans Clashed, which is probably the Eastern Front bible.

The beauty of these books is in their status and divisional and battalion reports, which convey the daily carnage of the eastern front.

Army Group Center is a useful reference for the force it describes. I must note that due to wide line spacing it contains a bit less content than its 356 page length would indicate. However, it does comprehensively describe the operations of German armies, corps, divisions, and occasionally regiments and lower, throughout the war. Soviet fronts and armies are also covered, but not as thoroughly, and the political/strategic elements that influenced operations are included in a balanced fashion. There are several appendixes (untranslated from the German) which provide useful organizational data, but no index.

People will either love this book or hate it. Some will find it intriguing while others find it boring. The book is highly German-centric and some will like that and some won't. Mr Haupt presents the movements and engagements of AGC from beginning to the end of the war. While its not the most comprehensive secondary source I've found of AGC, it does have tactical coverage not found in other books and when you add the info in those other books (Erickson, Glantz, Hinze as well as Mr Haupt's companion books and others) to this book, you can have a fairly comprehensive understanding of the war from the German perspective.

The author begins his book describing the battlefield that the German invaders will try to conquer. The second chapter describes the opening deployment and the rest of the book will discuss the rise and fall of the Army Group as it struggles toward Moscow then falls back to its homeland where it will desperately fight to retain Berlin. One aspect that you clearly see in the first few months of the war is that despite the impressive victories at Minsk, Smolenisk, Bryansk, Vyazma and elsewhere, the Germans were paying too high of a relative price for those victories in men and equipment. Even by the end of August 1941, you could see that the Germans could not withstand a lengthy war of attrition.
There are a number of useful maps and excellent photos to help the reader follow the narrative. The maps are in German and in some instances present a language problem when trying to decipher towns. There is also an extensive Appendix that includes Order of Battle and other useful stuff that adds to the book. There is no Index which is disappointing. Even more disappointing there is no Notes section to study or verify author's comments. Wherever possible when the need arises, I will try to confirm facts or figures with books by David Glantz or John Erickson.
In each encounter, the author tries to present all the participants, usually at regiment or higher level, for the German side (but is less thorough for the Russian side) and other pertinent facts. Regarding the Order of Battle, it was rarely static. Hitler would move divisions into and out of AGC fairly often. The author would keep you updated to the major changes throughout the book. Also, some authors may say a battle was fought near Smolensk but it was really at nearby Yartsevo, Mr Haupt will say Yartsevo.

Though I enjoyed this book for its tactical detail, its not my main source. I still prefer David Glantz but if your interests are in the tactical arena and you're a collector then you should still consider adding it to your collection. If you enjoy reading Anthony Beevor, Anthony Read, Eric Hammel or Stephen Ambrose then perhaps you won't like this volume.

"AG North" follows the same pattern as "AG Center" and "AG South" from the same author. It's a good overview of the German military operations in the "northern" part of the front from 22 June 1941 to May 1945. In any case, don't expect to found the complete history of the Heeresgruppe Nord ! Finnish front is, logically, absent.
One important difference with "AG South" is that "AG North" isn't firstly a mere compilation of divisional histories or others authors books.
"AG North" also address topics as the Final Solution - but only of a quick overview of the Einsatzgruppen mass shooting -, Baltic states occupation and partisan warfare.
Logically, the book focuses on military operations, even giving some data about the "other side of the hill", a good point for a German book of 1966 ! A chapter covers sea operations.
Even if "AG North" is a classical "Eastern-front-through-german-eyes" book, silent about the criminal behaviour of the German army, it could find a place in a WW2 library.

H.H.

El autor formo parte del Ejercito aleman en la Campaña de Rusia, ello lo hace un testigo de primera mano en la accion. El libro hace una excelente descripcion de las unidades involucradas en el Grupo de Ejercitos Norte, destinado a la captura de Leningrado; acompañado con diagramas y fotografias, es una obra de consulta obligada para todos aquellos estudiosos y entusiastas del estudio de la Historia de la Segunda Guerra Mundial; por la manera como esta escrito se lee como una novela de acccion. Se recomienda su lectura