Bagration 1944: The Destruction Of Army Group Centre (Campaign) [Paperback]

Steven Zaloga (Author)

Book Description

Series: Campaign | Publication Date: January 15, 1996

Osprey's overview of the most calamitous defeat of the German armed forces in World War II (1939-1945). On 22 June 1944, three years to the day after Germany's 1941 invasion of the Soviet Union, the Red Army launched a massive offensive in Byelorussia. Codenamed 'Operation Bagration', this campaign climaxed five weeks later with the Red Army at the gates of Warsaw. The Wehrmacht's Army Group Centre was routed, a total of 17 Wehrmacht divisions were utterly destroyed, and over 50 other German divisions were shattered.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Highly visual guides to history's greatest conflicts, detailing the command strategies, tactics, and experiences of the opposing forces throughout each campaign, and concluding with a guide to the battlefields today.

About the Author

Steven J. Zaloga was born in 1952, received his BA in history from Union College, and his MA from Columbia University. He has published numerous books and articles dealing with modern military technology, especially armoured vehicle development. His main area of interest is military affairs in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe in the Second World War, and he has also written extensively on American armoured forces.

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Osprey Publishing (January 15, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1855324784
• ISBN-13: 978-1855324787
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 0.2 x 9.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #577,953 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Steven Zaloga is a senior analyst for Teal Group Corp., an aerospace consulting firm. His professional specialization is the commercial and technological aspects of the international trade in missiles, precision guided munitions, and unmanned aerial vehicles. He also serves as an adjunct staff member with the Institute for Defense Analyses, a federal think-tank.

Mr. Zaloga has published numerous books and articles on military technology and military history. His books have been translated into Japanese, German, Polish, Czech, Romanian, and Russian. He has been a special correspondent for "Jane's Intelligence Review" and is on the executive board of the "Journal of Slavic Military Studies". From 1987 through 1992, he was the writer/director for Video Ordnance Inc., preparing their TV series "Firepower" that aired on The Discovery Channel in the US.

Mr. Zaloga was born in 1952 and received his BA in history from Union College, Schenectady, NY. He received an MA in history from Columbia University specializing in modern East European history, and did graduate research and language study at Uniwersitet Jagiellonski in Krakow, Poland.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Soviet defeat of Nazi Germany- the beginning of the end., October 23, 2001

By 

Dilip Susruta Samarasinghe (Colombo, Sri Lanka) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Operation Bagration (Trade Editions) (Paperback)

A good study of the defeat of Germany in Belarus, which ultimately led to the end of the Third Reich. The book has a nice collection of photos and diagrams of the campaign. It includes studies of the main military leaders, both Soviet and German. What I found of particular interest was the coverage of Lend-Lease equipment used by the Red Army. This had been downplayed by both the Soviets and the West during the Cold War, but the book clearly shows that Sherman tanks, Studebaker trucks and other US equipment were liberally used by the Red Army and did play a part in the ultimate victory. Operation Bagration has often been overshadowed by the other significant German defeat of 1944, the failure to halt the Anglo-American landing in Normandy. A significant event such as Operation Bagration, obviously needs to be covered and to given its due importance.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars GOOD OVERVIEW, May 8, 2002

By 

Fred M. Blum - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bagration 1944: The Destruction Of Army Group Centre (Campaign) (Paperback)

Like most books in the Ospery series, Bagration 1944 : The Destruction of Army Group Centre, creates a good overview of the destruction of Army Group Centre. The weakness of the book is it trys to cover too much and becomes a long narrative of attacks and movements with little perspective. It would help if there were more maps but given the nature of Ospery that is more then can be expected.

The strength of the book is the discussion of how Hitler's iron fisted direction of the German defense most likely eliminated any small chance of stemming the Soviet advance.

All in all, it is a worthwile read if one wants to get an overview of the campaign. However, because it is so dense it is difficult to process all of the facts.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Everything a Osprey Campaign book should be, March 26, 2008

By 

Gisli Jokull Gislason "Jokull" (Iceland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bagration 1944: The Destruction Of Army Group Centre (Campaign) (Paperback)

This is an example of how good Osprey books can be and sets a standard of excellence. At the time of the Normandy landings far greater things were about to happen on the Eastern Front when a titanic clash commenced with the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Byelorussian and 1st Baltic Fronts of the Soviet Union attacked Army Group Centre and in just 2 months Army Group Centre had ceased to exist.

Just like with the Normandy landings the Soviet Armed forces had acted out a brilliant deception plan "Maskirovka" aimed at convincing the Germans that the attack would come against Army Group Ukraine. This was so successful that Army Group Centre was stripped of most of its tank, mobile and reserves to reinforce Army Group Ukraine. This was followed by a cascading series of offensives reminiscent of the German Success of Barbarossa, except now it was the Russians turn to show who was the master.

A conflict and campaign of a scale hard to imagine is presented here neatly in less than 96 pages providing the big picture in a very streamlined volume. 5 good maps and 3 good birds eye 3-D battle maps bring the text to life and all are very relevant. Zaloga has done a brilliant job of presenting this crucial Campaign of World War 2 and shows how good Osprey Campaign books can be at their best.

Now several other reviewers have pointed out that the book is too short to do the subject justice and considering that Osprey now has several books on the Normandy landings and 3 on Barbarossa this is in a sense true. But this book is an excellent source book on the much overlooked Eastern Front and is a genuine Campaign book and will give you a very clear picture of how Army Group Centre was destroyed.