Customer Reviews

Fortress Third Reich: German Fortifications and Defense Systems in World War II

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book covers a vast topic in a short space and does not bore the reader with tons of useless information on how much ribar and concrete was used or other technical engineering data. Everything from the various types of bunkers in the first fortifications built after World War I to the giant submarine pens and air raid shelters are covered. There is even information on the minefield barrier in the Gulf of Finland and obscure German defensive lines in Europe as well as World War I era defense brought back into service. Certainly there are books that give greater detail on the Atlantic Wall and other indvidual fortifications, but this one is loaded with enough information to give a great overview. Main shortcoming is that the photos are not of the highest quality and some of the wonderful drawings appear to have errors in labeling, but there is no problem in interpreting them properly. Excellent work and well worth the price!!!!

This book covers alot of ground both figuratively and literally. It provides an excellent survey of German fortifcations, both WWII and some of their antecedents, from west to east, north to south, and in the water. As others have noted, this book is easy to read and is organized in an accessible manner. Also, as others have noted, some editing goofs and mistaken picture atributions do mar the book (I should know - some of those relate to my pictures in the book!). The quality/resolution of some the pictures is fuzzy, but the quality of Robert Jurga's line drawings is great as always (though they too suffer from some attribution and editing errors). What really makes this book worth putting in your library is its scope of topic coverage. I don't know of anything else that gives as good a survey as this book does.

I have found this companion book in the FORTRESS series of these authors to be another finely done survey. Unlike, the last book in the series, this one is well illustrted and covers German defenses from the Arctic regions to North Africa and from the Eastern Front to the Atlantic Wall. Lots of ground is covered and plenty of references in the biblo can be found for further research. One criticism is the the photo reproductions are not well done, but unlike the last book, there are at least photos in this one.

This is a wonderful survey of German fortifications and defenses during World War II. The book covers the better known German Fortifications such as the Eastwall, Westwall and Atlanticwall. More importantly, it also describes many lesser known German fortifications such as the many fortified lines built or planned on the Eastern Front, in Italy and some really obscure fortified lines like the Ingrid Line in Crotia and Slovenia. Also covered are the tunnels and bunkers built to shelter Hitler's command train in Poland, German Air Raid Shelters, U-Boat and S-Boat Pens, Flak Towers and much, much more! Much of this information has not appeared previously in the English language before the publication of this book.
Sidebars describe fortification related topics like German radar and landmines.
There are many photos and excellent drawings and maps(although a few of the photos are dark and there are some photo caption errors and labeling problems with some drawings).
I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in German Fortifications in WWII.

I enjoyed this book. There is a lot of information in it, presented in a well-written and accessible manner. I am not aware of a similar resource in English, and I am happy to have added it to my library.

Unfortunately, the book suffers from proof-reading errors which detract from its readability and authority. Some examples: the map of the port of St.-Nazaire on p. 188 clearly confuses the submarine pens and the railway station, and mixes up the shipyard and the docks. There are a number of diagrams which label parts of bunkers or geographical features with numbers which do not appear on the legend to the diagram. On p. 299, reference is made to an underground factory consisting of two main tunnels "over 1.5 meters in length". Was this supposed to be 1.5 kilometers, 150 meters or some other figure? Unfortunately, the reader has no way of knowing. Obvious errors such as this make the reader wonder whether or not there are other, less obvious, errors.

The book is organized roughly chronologically, which may be a reasonable choice given the changes made in fortifications during the war. However, the authors spend too much time informing the reader of the progress of the war generally, whether or not the information is pertinent to fortification issues. I suspect that the readership of this book is primarily going to be people who already have a solid grasp of the chronology of World War II, and these overviews are unnecessary.

Overall, however, I thought this book was a worthwhile purchase. There is considerable information in it I have not found anywhere else. The diagrams and maps are generally very good, and the text is well-written and well-organized.

After reading Wilt's book, I was disappointed since it lacked the detailed description of German fortifications. This book provides more information on the Atlantic Wall in regards to technical detail, but it is still only a general history and description. On the other side of the coin, it covers many German fortifications that I was unaware of and is reasonable well illustrated. I am not sure I would call it an introductory work since it goes a bit further, but like the authors' American book it covers so much it can only be considered an introduction, but an excellent starting point.

I enjoyed this book. There is a lot of information in it, presented in a well-written and accessible manner. I am not aware of a similar resource in English, and I am happy to have added it to my library.

Unfortunately, the book suffers from proof-reading errors which detract from its readability and authority. Some examples: the map of the port of St.-Nazaire on p. 188 clearly confuses the submarine pens and the railway station, and mixes up the shipyard and the docks. There are a number of diagrams which label parts of bunkers or geographical features with numbers which do not appear on the legend to the diagram. On p. 299, reference is made to an underground factory consisting of two main tunnels "over 1.5 meters in length". Was this supposed to be 1.5 kilometers, 150 meters or some other figure? Unfortunately, the reader has no way of knowing. Obvious errors such as this make the reader wonder whether or not there are other, less obvious, errors.

The book is organized roughly chronologically, which may be a reasonable choice given the changes made in fortifications during the war. However, the authors spend too much time informing the reader of the progress of the war generally, whether or not the information is pertinent to fortification issues. I suspect that the readership of this book is primarily going to be people who already have a solid grasp of the chronology of World War II, and these overviews are unnecessary.

Overall, however, I thought this book was a worthwhile purchase. There is considerable information in it I have not found anywhere else. The diagrams and maps are generally very good, and the text is well-written and well-organized.

_Fortress Third Reich: German Fortification and Defense Systems in World War II_ is a comprehensive examination of Germany's fortifications of that era in Europe. In the mere 369 pages of _Fortress Third Reich_, the authors present a comprehensive history of World War II German fortifications. The book's six chapters are arranged chronologically beginning with Chapter 1 which covers the fortifications of the Second Reich - the German Imperial Empire from 1871 to 1918. This first chapter places later fortifications in a historical context by demonstrating that permanent fortifications were a staple of German military strategy at least as far back as the late 19th Century.

Chapter 2 deals with the remnants and ruins of the Second Reich left over after World War I and the Treaty of Versailles, as well as the efforts of the German armed forces to maintain their military capabilities in spite of the treaty's harsh terms. In Chapter 3, the authors discuss the expansion of Germany's armed forces and military defenses during the early period of the Third Reich prior to the outbreak of World War II. The final chapters examine World War II in three logically divided timeframes - the initial victory from 1939 to 1942, the retreat and retrenchment from 1942 to 1944, and finally the desperation and defeat from 1944 to 1945. As might be expected, during the period from 1939 to 1942 victory created an environment in which fortifications were not the priority, since the key to success lay with mechanized combined arms warfare.

Beginning with the declaration of war against the United States, Germany experienced major defeats (especially the loss of North Africa and the deteriorating situation in the Soviet Union) during the 1942 to 1944 timeframe. For obvious reasons, defense fortifications took on a new significance during this period of the war. The German armed forces suffered appalling losses and the German nation did not have the manpower to defend against the combined strength of the Soviet Union, United Kingdom, and the United States. Nevertheless, many of the fortifications created during this period were not necessarily well planned or organized. Ad hoc and improvised fortifications, particularly in Italy and the Eastern Front, were all too common when unexpected Allied progress thwarted or overran carefully prepared defensive positions. During the final phase of the war from 1944 to 1945, the German use of fortifications was marked by often desperate and unrealistic ideas. This is most particularly the case in regards to the single man defense positions created from prefabricated materials that were far better suited for suicidal Japanese soldiers in the Pacific than German soldiers in Europe.

While the authors do not provide a conclusion to the issue of the ultimate utility of Germany's fixed fortifications, it does not take much for the reader to reach one. Despite the vast sums and thousands of lives (many from among the occupied nations of Europe and, in particular, slave laborers) required to construct the vast and numerous defensive lines and fortifications throughout Europe - they failed miserably. Some might argue that this conclusion is unnecessarily harsh, but it seems hard to arrive at any other. Placing the work in broader context, one might even say that fixed fortifications have continually failed almost since the introduction of gunpowder. Certainly, however, this has been true since the invention of rapid-fire artillery and suitably industrialized nations to feed the massive appetite of the modern war machine.

_Fortress Third Reich_ includes 88 technical drawings, 17 detailed maps, and more than 100 photographs (many never before published), which provide much needed visual examples of the numerous fortifications discussed in the text. While more detailed histories of some of the individual fortifications covered in this volume (such as submarine pens, the Atlantic Wall, or the various defensive lines of the Italian peninsula) may exist, no other single volume provides as comprehensive a history of all of the German defenses during World War II. This book is recommended for those interested in either the history of fortifications or Germany during World War II.

alot of neat technical drawings and commentary on the design and structure of the fortifications.

I wonder if we'll get one eventually for WW2 Japanese island defenses.

A great, informative book showing clear details of various fortresses and their parts. Cross section drawings make this as interesting as a book on castles, which naturally are more "romantic" but actually served more or less the same function in a different age.

A great variety of Nazi defensive works are shown, divided by different time periods during the Second World War.

It would be quite interesting to see the author take one area that he covers and do a more site-specific book. His clarity in "Fortress Third Reich" would make a site-specific book by Kaufmann something to look forward to!