Customer Reviews

The Battle of Kharkov, Winter 1942/1943

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book by Jean Restayn is one of the best pictorials of a battle on the Eastern Front in World War II that I have seen. Many pictures from this battle have been published previously (for some reason, the Germans chose to photograph this battle more than most others) but virtually all of the photos in this book are ones which I had not seen before. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the German armed forces during the Second World War.

This is a handsome volume with many very clear, full page photos of all kinds of German armor, particularly various models of the Panzer III and Panzer IV tanks, also Tigers and various allied armor used by the Russians that are not usually thought of in connection with the eastern front such as the British "Valentine" tank. There are also the sturmgeschutz III, armored cars, half tracks, and many other vehicles shown in close-up. The German troops are shown as enthusiastic and optimistic at this stage. All photos are black and white with good color drawings of the vehicles included. The paper is very high quality as well. This is a very enjoyable volume that shows it "like it really was".

Having read A few accounts of this particular battle of kharkov i purchased this book. An absolute stand-out in terms of a photo history of a particular group units in a particular battle.
It follows the action through small villages and the Russian countryside into the the street fight for kharkov itself.
The photos are some of the best i have ever seen. German armour, dress,(including more unorthadox dress obviously worn to prevent freezing to death) and photos of the russian countryside are all shown here as well as the streets of kharkov.Excellent photo quality and detailed captioning all make for a truly outstanding piece of work.Great for when you are reading an account of this period of the war,and using this book at the same time. The photos really give you a sense of what it must have been like and bring the it all to life.I never get bored of this book and consider it better even than soldiers of the waffen ss, which is no mean feat. If you buy this book and are disappointed.....change your therapist.

The book was almost 99% pictures which was to be expected and I liked the color illustrations, but my biggest gripe is the lack of written detail about the battle. Four pages just doesn't cut it and on the first page, the author mentions military units that just didn't exist at that time or played a part in the battle. He mentions the IVth Panzer Korps, which I believe he means the XLVIIIth Panzer Korps. The German 2nd Caucasus Army is mentioned, and no such unit existed unless he's talking about Army Group A. Its easy to make a book of pictures, but if your going to write about something, it would be nice if the person doing the writing knew what he was talking about.

Not what expected. For a pictorial, excellent. Expected for the price more substantive history rather than the three page summary, excellent though it was. A good supplement to a rigorous written treatment.