SS Steel Storm : Waffen-SS Panzer Battles on the Eastern Front 1943-1945 [Hardcover]

Tim Ripley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 5, 2000

A detailed account of Waffen-SS battles, from the recapture of Kharkov in early 1943, to the last desperate attempt to hold the Red Army from Berlin in 1945 - a string of battles that are arguably the finest defensive actions of modern warfare. Highlights include: how SS commanders became masters of tank warfare; the use of offensive tactics during defensive battles; the development of German tank and armoured fighting vehicle technology; and the methods that enabled troops to survive ferocious Soviet artillery bombardments. Well done!

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Tim Ripley is a full time author and photojournalist who has covered NATO and United Nations operations in many of the world's trouble-spots, including Croatia, Bosnia, Kosovo, and Iraq.  He is also a keen student of military history and has written numerous books on hardware, tactics, and campaigns, including Bayonet Battle, Operation Deliberate Force, Jane's Pocket Guide to Modern Military Helicopters, and Land Power: the Coalition and the Iraqi Armies.  He currently lives in the north of England.

--This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Zenith Press (November 5, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 076030937X
• ISBN-13: 978-0760309377
• Product Dimensions: 10.5 x 7.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,110,338 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent photo history, February 26, 2001

By 

Paul H. (Michigan) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: SS Steel Storm : Waffen-SS Panzer Battles on the Eastern Front 1943-1945 (Hardcover)

This book presents many excellent photos of the Waffen-SS on the Eastern Front. The politics of the SS are generally handled lightly but they are not ignored, especially after the SS retakes a couple of cities and suppresses Partisan groups.

This book does an excellent job of detailing the where and how and starts by claiming that the SS were not given preferential treatment for equipment to achieve the combat performance that they obtained. At two different points, it then states that certain high ranking Nazi's saw to the refitting of their particular pet groups (esp. the Totenkoph division).

The tactical details are a little light, the maps do present a general "who was where" feel to the battles, but the map details are few. The accounts of Kursk could be given more space in my opinion.

HOWEVER, this book does an excellent job of explaining the authors opinion of why the Waffen SS units were elite fighting groups and the disproportionate effect they had on the monstrous battles that raged. Some of the details are hard to believe if it weren't for the fact that we know how numerous the Russian casualties were. Truly, the Nazi war machine was crushed by waves of human flesh and poorly trained tankers in the vast sea of the Russian Steppe!

Two details that amazed me were how much Waffen-SS tactical plans sounded like current doctrine for much of the armored community and how much Hitler's micromanaging and countermanding his generals aided the collapse of the Reich he had assembled. The effect was staggering, especially at Kursk, arguably the pinnacle battle of the ETO!

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars No-nonsense clinical account of the Waffen-SS in Russia., April 26, 2002

By 

Denys Mkhize (Durban, South Africa.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: SS Steel Storm : Waffen-SS Panzer Battles on the Eastern Front 1943-1945 (Hardcover)

Written by the world-renowned correspondent and journalist, Tim Ripley, "SS Steel Storm" is a strictly no-nonsense, chronological account of the major battles of Himmler's dreaded Waffen-SS Panzer Divisions on the Eastern Front from 1943 - 1945, beginning with von Manstein's counter-offensive at Kharkov.
Albeit an interesting and factual documentary that dispells many of the myths surrounding the major Eastern Front battles (for example, the misconception that the titanic clash of armour at Phrokorovka during the Battle of Kursk involved a one-off, set-piece, slugfest between thousands of German and Soviet tanks is set straight in the chapter on the battle),I found Mr. Ripley's treatment of his subject a tad on the dry side. For the avid military enthusiast who relishes a rivetting fast read, this IS NOT your cup of tea! True, the text is laden with facts, figures and useful appendices, as well as being awash with scores of maps and b/w photographs, but it unfortunately reads more like a high-school history textbook than a dramatic treatment of one of history's most gifted fighting formations. The total absence of eye-witness testimonials is exactly what lets down an otherwise informative book. That "you are there" aspect so important for the student of this theatre of WW2 has been gnored for reasons unknown.
If you are a newcomer to the Eastern Front, you may want to buy this book for the wonderful facts and figures it provides so generously - and if you can afford its not-so-generous cost. The expert may want to give it a miss.

22 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Clear Writing And Great Illustrations, February 27, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: SS Steel Storm : Waffen-SS Panzer Battles on the Eastern Front 1943-1945 (Hardcover)

SS Steel Storm combines clear writing with interesting and relevant photographs of East Front armor and infantry. This is not a "picture book" that just happens to have some writing in-between photos: Tim Ripley writes lucid prose that is both informative and engaging. Having seen too many East Front military books that are just excuses to publish some tank/infantry pictures, I appreciated Ripley's skill with the written word and agreed with much of his interpretation of the Waffen SS's role on the East Front including the observation that the Nazi reign of terror (my words) might have ended sooner had not the Waffen SS fought at Kharhov and Zhitomir.