Customer Reviews

Ostfront: Hitler's War on Russia 1941-45 (General Military)

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

 

 

To this Ostfront fanatic Winchester's book represents the definitive study of the 1437 day German-Russo conflict. I particularly liked how he steered away from the tendency of prolonged military division detail of other works whilst through great statistics, never seen before photographs, good graphics and vivid maps his wonderful book brings home to the reader the incredible scope of this campaign and the full horror of its "total war" base. Considering the deep supply lines that the Germans had to maintain their successes in Russia were phenomenal as to was the patriotism of the Russian soldier and civilian whose tenacity turned the tide of the entire war. Indeed a most unlikely accomplishment if it had not been for the "Ostfront" For all students of WW2 this is an absolute must.

This text is an excellent overview of the war in the east. It really drives home the vastness and overwhelming scope of the eastern front...the front where WWII was won and lost. This book provides you with a platform for which to read further into the many areas of interest on the eastern front. I found myself intrigued with several relatively unknown areas of conflict such as Sevastapol and the bagration. Very interesting and highly recommended.

This is the clearest book I've read on WW2 ever. Period. Absolutely absent is the author ego and non-historical hype so prevalent in the field today. Absent also is the strange Cold War hangover which takes the credit for defeating Germany away from the Soviets and makes it seem WW2 was won on the shores of northern France. The facts which become clear to an impartial student of WW2 are presented perfectly in this work: the Soviets bore the brunt of the land war in WW2 and the main contribution of the Western Allies was their destruction of the Luftwaffe and their strategic bombing campaign. The overwhelming scale of the war on the Eastern Front and its horrible consequences are sketched out clearly with both words and pictures. This book was a pleasant surprise.

This book presents a 150-page overview of the campaign in Russia. This statement is certainly not meant to take away from the work. It is a good start to learning about the eastern front.

It is broken up into ten chapters which follow the progress of the war. The first two chapters introduce the two opponents, giving outlines and backgrounds to the Wehrmacht and the Red Army. Briefly, persons and key events from both sides leading up to the war are discussed.

One chapter is devoted to the first few months of the war. The deep drives, and battles of encirclement leading to the outskirts of Moscow are explained. Also discussed are the treatment of prisoners, the "Jewish Problem," and other atrocities, on both sides.

The next two chapters take the reader from the offensives in the Spring of 1942, through the end of that year, culminating in the destruction of Sixth Army in Stalingrad. Even though there is not much detail, the author is still able to give a good feel for what was going on, on both sides of the lines.

Chapter Six presents a comparison of the forces. More than just the numbers of men, this section also discusses production rates of armor, aircraft, and supplies. Weapons development is touched on briefly, for both sides. Lend-lease is covered, supported by a small section comparing the use of horses for mobility as opposed to the truck fleet the Soviets had. Partisans and local troops recruited by the Germans are also discussed.

The last four chapters follow the Russians into Berlin. This process starts with the battle of Kursk and the retreat to the Dnepr River. From there, the narrative shifts between each of the fronts, as the Russians continue to push the Germans back, culminating in the taking of the famous photograph atop the Reichstag.

Since this book is published by Osprey, there are 70 color illustrations culled from other publications. These encompass uniforms, vehicles, camouflage patterns and aircraft from all the major participants, even the Polish Home Army in Warsaw. There are about 180 photographs, and 10 maps that all combine to lavishly illustrate this book.

This would be a good book for someone that is not overly familiar with the Russian front. While not getting bogged down in minutiae, it does provide a good deal of information.

This book is a well arranged view over war in the east 1941-45, a recommended reading for those who are interested in the subject, but I could find some mistakes , for example, Gen. Walther von Seydlitz-Kurzbach was not the commander in the Demyansk pocket,who led the breakout, he was the commander of the relief force.

If you're a new or casual reader of the Russo-German War this book would make a good start to your study for it has a nice balance of great photos (183), decent maps (10) and a concise and easy to follow overview of the war. This overview will give you the basics, a solid foundation to build on if desired but the coverage is too brief that excludes key secondary events that would be important in a good understanding of the conflict. The author is knowledgeable and would know this fact; my guess is he was constrained to this page count by the publisher. If I'm right, the author has done a real nice job. Another thirty pages of coverage and this book would be dynamite, a definite five star effort.

A quick sampling of coverage includes : prewar history, Russian preparations for war, Operations Barbarossa, Typhoon, the December counterattack, Kharkov, Stalingrad, Operation Little Saturn, Kursk, Korsun, Operation Bagration, Berlin plus several other smaller campaigns. The extra pages would give greater depth to the above engagements plus several that are missing could be included. Coverage also includes the importance of industrial production and the advantage Russia had over Germany in this area, partisan action, lend lease assistance Russia was receiving. In addition to these issues the author enjoys providing statistics: casualties, number of tanks and planes, production etc.

In addition to the narrative, ten full page color pages are provided. Seven of them had the same basic map that covers the entire front from Finland to Turkey and from east of Moscow to Berlin. Each map would have its own overlay reflecting the current topic. The maps were pretty good but I didn't like the full front display. Why show the entire thousand mile + front when you're talking about the Moscow defense or Kursk. You lose precision when displaying over a thousand miles of front.
Besides the 183 photos, artwork of tanks, planes, other vehicles and uniforms are displayed. It was a nice touch that added to the experience. The book closes with Notes, Bibliography and Index.

The minor criticism of the book is the overview. While its concise and accurate, its too skimpy. The events covered would be better if filled out more and there were several events that are missing. There should be more maps which include small area maps of just the chosen topic.
If you like this book, let me suggest supplementing it with Will Fowler's "The Atlas of Eastern Front Battles". It's a larger book with 26 small area maps, additional photos and artwork to study, profiles of key people and has better coverage of Leningrad, the Crimea and the Caucasus. These two books would work well together.

Ostfront is a very good introduction for those interested in the war on the Eastern Front. It contains detailed information on troop strength and equipment for the Germans and Russians. It also contains a wealth of photos in addition to color plates of uniforms and tanks/aircraft.

Highly recommended.