Customer Reviews

Operation Bagration (Trade Editions)

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

 

 

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.

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.

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.

This book was given five stars not because it was perfect but because its probably as good as you'll get in 91 usable pages minus pages allocated toward photos, maps and illustrations. The battle coverage on the Northern, Southern Shoulders as well as at Mogilev was thin and I'm sure was the victum of page limitations.

The first chapter, "Origins of Battle" gives a brief history of the eastern front in 1943 and the first part of 1944 to explain how the front line was formed by June of 1944. It explains the slow but inevitable push westward by the Russians at Kursk, Orel, Kharkov,Kiev, Korsun, Nevel and the Crimea.
In Opposing Commanders , the author gives bios on Hitler, Model and Busch on the German side and Stalin, Rokossovsky, Bagramyan, Chernyakovsky, Zakharov on the Russian side.
The chapter on Opposing Armies was good. It briefly describes the size and condition of the two enemies. It can quickly be seen the advantage the Russians have going into this battle. The Germans are at a greater disadvantage by the restrictions placed on them by Hitler and his lapdog, Busch. Model soon replaces him as CO of AGC. It also contains an Order of Battle which is very helpful.

Opposing Plans was the weakest chapter in the book. Due to poor intelligence, the Germans believed the main Russian offensive for 1944 would be in the South, in Northern Ukraine. The AGC sector was considered to be where the Russians would have disruptive offensives but nothing of major scale. On the Russian side, Mr Zaloga explains the many diversions, deceptions that were undertaken to fool the enemy. It was also explained the great effort made by the Russians to be prepared logistically and tactically for the launch. For the longest time the Germans were fooled; it was approaching June when recon squads discovered the heavy concentrations of Russian troops. The Russian air force was also diligent in downing or subverting the Luftwaffe from discovering the true scale of activity prior to the battle.

A preliminary launch of Operation Bagration happened on June 22, 1944 with a full scale launch the next day. The summary of battle action covering Vitebsk in the north, Orsha, Bobruisk on the front lines and Minsk and the Berezina River to the west in late June and July was good.The author works his way west to Lvov and the Vistula River in late August.
As mentioned above there is some battle coverage missing but its due to lack of pages.
There are five 2-D maps and three 3-D maps which were very good and helped placed the narrative. In the 2-D maps, the first and last concern the front line of the whole east front at the beginning and close of the campaign respectively.The second map is restricted to the battlefield of the campaign at the start. The third map is a timeline map culminating on July 10th. The fourth map is the battle for Lvov. The 3-D maps are of Orsha, Minsk and Magnuszew on the Vistula River.

There is an Aftermath and Chronology section that consumes five pages. There is a "Guide for further Reading" and an Index. I've always been critical of placing a "A Wargaming chapter in Osprey books and especially in this volume. Those five pages could have been spent much better giving greater detail to the campaign. The further reading list was pretty good but I would like to suggest two additional books to round out your experience after reading this book. Both books are by Walter Dunn. The first book is "Soviet Blitzkrieg" and is Mr Dunn's version of Operation Bagration. His companion book. "Hitler's Nemesis" describes in much greater detail the improvements in Russian war doctrine, logistics and deceptions that allowed the Russians to destroy AGC in two months time.
Mr Zaloga's book is a fine starter book which has great maps, photos, illustrations and a good overview and is recommended for new and casual students or collectors.

In the usual Campaign series format, highlights from the book are the topological maps in 3D and the uniforms and equipment sketches. (These drawings actually come from other Osprey series, such as WARRIORS, MEN AT ARMS, or ELITE.)

The historical treatment is not too deep (the book isn't that long!) but gives a nice overview of the whole campaign against the german army group.

You could also get KURSK 1943 if you want to read about yet another german defeat in the East.

An excelent book that splains every movement in the russian offensive and shows many maps with references.
excelent for beginners and historians.

Most historians of the Eastern Front detail the big battles that were the key turning points such as Stalingrad, Leningrad, and Kursk. Howver, most overlook Operation Bagration which occured at the same time as the Normandy landings. Bagration freed Belarus from the Nazi occupation and cost the Germans over 300,000 soldiers. This battle forced the Germans to retreat to the pre war borders of Poland and handed the Russians the opportunities to force the Germans onto the defensive. This book gives the reader an overview of the battle and its later effects. Since it is a summary short read, there is no in depth discussion but the overview is sufficient.
This is a good summary read for the military historian. The book is chock full of photos and technical details of the battle.

This is a good high level book of the campaign. And is very usefull to anyone who maybe using it as a gaming resource. Not totally detailed but gives good information on the OOB and other usefull items.

I found 2 places which are products of vivid imagination rather than historical facts. How can I then trust the accuracy of the rest of the book?