Customer Reviews

Retreat from Leningrad: Army Group North 1944/1945 (Schiffer Military History Book)

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"Retreat from Leningrad" is an excellent compilation of recollections from German Army staffers associated with Army Group North during the latter stages of the Eastern Front defensive operations. The footnotes and editor's comments provide useful springboards for additional research for readers interested in more information. The only things that mar this book include sometimes wooden translations from the original German into the book's English text, no photographs, and crude, computer generated maps. Overall, it is still worth buying for anyone who wants details not found elsewhere on this part of the Russian/German epic struggle in WWII.

Retreat from Leningrad focuses on Army Group North's operations post 1943. Most books geared towards the activities of Army Group North deal with the siege of Leningrad and not the savage battles in Army Group North's withdrawl. This book focuses on these battles. The majority of information obtained comes from staffers and Officers assigned to the Army Group. The book is filled with general information on every battle in this Army Groups sector 44-45. It provides the eastern front "nut" with new information and opens some fertile territory for additional research. Recomended for any armchair general with a strong intrest in the eastern front.

If you are a military historian or a student of military tactics this may be the book for you. If you are, as I am, interested in the trials and tribulations of the average German or Russian soldier forget it. Nothing but page after page of tactical material with sparse maps and no photos. Right from the beginning author tends to denigrate the Russian effort and laud the German defense. Good for bedtime reading if you suffer from insomnia. I grugingly gave it three stars because of the effort made by the author to accurately portray the military tactis of the rettreat

Steven Newton is listed as the author of this work. It would be better to list him as translator, editor or compiler, as the book, with the exception of the introduction and the final chapter, are all written by German officers who served in the major formations of Army Group North at high staff levels. Aside form footnoting the work with references from works completed after the writing of the manuscript by the German officers in the 1946-1950 time frame (that is works from the 60's to the 90's) there is not much added by Newton. However, the book is a good account of AGN's battles and retreats from the Leningrad Front. After all, it is written by the men who were there. That said, the book has two major flaws which Newton must be held accountable for: very poor maps and very poor spelling.

First the maps. If Newton had wanted to add something to the studies written by the German officers whose narratives form the bulk and backbone of the book the most useful thing would have been better maps. You will read about town "a" and town "b" where a line of defense was being drawn and you will not find them on any map in the book. It would not have taken much effort to come up with some adequate maps to go along with the German's narratives. As it is, you will read about battles at many locations, with no chance of finding where they occurred given the maps in this book.

Second fault, poor editing or poor spelling, take your pick. Perhaps this is the fault of the publisher, but the author must assume responsibility for any errors in his book and there are just too many. Examples: "long" when it should be "along"; "on" when it should have been "one"; "freedon of movement" when it should have been "freedom of movement"; verb tense errors such as "compose of" instead of "composed of" - simply too many to be forgiven through out the book. Perhaps sloppy editing, maybe sloppy proof reading - but surely sloppy work. I can forgive one or two such errors, but when a book has 40 or 50 such errors, well that is just too many.

The predominate coverage is the Soviet Offensive of 1944 though the book begins by describing the action in 1943 when the Soviets went from a purely defensive stance to gaining the battle initiative. This initiative was gained in several ways. From the German perspective, Hitler bled AGN by transferring important panzer and infantry divisions from the north to the other two sectors. During 1943, the Leningrad and Volkhov Fronts continually chipped away at German dominance; their gains were modest but they inflicted heavy casualties on the 18th,16th Armies as well as the 3rd PzA. The Soviets also reinforced their fronts. For example the 2nd Shock Army was moved into Oranienbaum Pocket to assist the Leningrad Front and would play an important role in their breakout in Jan 1944. At the same time on the eastern edge of the sector along the Volkhov River, the Volkhov Front would attack across the river with special emphasis on Novgorod. Further south, the 2nd Baltic Front attacks 16th Army. The air war in this sector is not covered deeply.

Coverage would continue until October 44 when the Soviets pushed the Germans back in a phased retreat that would take the Germans back to the Panther line and several lines behind that to approximately the line where both sides will be at, by the end of the war. The author also shows how Hitler's fanatical attitude about not retreating cost the Army Group many lives. Hitler would wait to give his permission to fall back to the very last minute when the situation was so desperate and the Soviet offensive was at its maxium that falling back would cost the Germans much of its heavy equipment and ammo. If Kuchler had fallen back weeks earlier to the Panther line where the line was shorter with better defenses when the Soviet assault was just beginning, thousands of lives could have been saved as well as equipment. Reserves could also have been formed which would have allowed the Germans to react quicker to emergencies.

The author has an unusual format to this book and his "Kursk" book that came years later. Mr Newton establishes the foundation of his books by including essays written by German Officers with first hand knowledge of the campaign. After each chapter (the essay), Mr Newton will add conclusions and analysis where needed to complete each chapter. In this book, he has gathered essays from ten contributors. What I find amazing is that the author chooses ten independent works so precisely that the final product would appear as if it was written by one person, having coverage of the campaign without any unsightly gaps. With this method you have the benefit of insight and experience from someone who was actually in battle.

I'm a big fan of this book for the author does a good job of covering the tactical, operational and organizational aspects of this campaign. In addition to the tactical coverage of the key battles, the contributors show the organizational duties of running an army. In chapter two, a 13 point list was given showing what Kuchler and his staff had to complete to ensure his armies could successfully fall back to the Panther line. It was very interesting; there is much more to do than just fighting in running an army in battle. AGN had few reserves by 1944, and throughout the book, it was shown what had to be done in moving forces from one part of the line to another to plug penetrations or to counterattack. Mr Newton also shows the bigger picture than just AGN's sector. He discusses during mid 1944, the success of Operation Bagration had on AGC and on how the two Army Groups became separated when AGC had to fall back and how it made it easier for the Baltic Fronts to attack the southern flank of AGN. Though the Soviets weren't discussed as much as the Germans, their tactical attacks as well as their strategic objectives in this winter offensive were clearly given.

Most chapters included a simple map. The black and white maps were pretty good and helped the reader follow the action. A decent legend for each map would have been helpful. There were no photos or Index but an Appendix showing a detailed German Order of Battle was included as well as a helpful Bibliography.
This book covers deeper into the campaign than some other popular books, going to almost the end of 1944, instead of stopping when the Germans arrived at the Panther line and Leningrad was liberated. It also covers not only the tactical but also the organizational and operational as well. Its a good book, despite the misspellings, and anybody with a serious interest on the demise of AGN should consider this book. Its highly recommended.