Customer Reviews

The Second World War (5) The Eastern Front 1941-1945

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Since short overviews of the Russo-German front in WWII are hard to come by, I would recommend the book just on the basis of slotting into that gap. The author makes use of archival information released since the fall of the Soviet Union, so is more up to date than many books on the Russian front. Many casualty figures gleaned from this new information are presented--though the author dwells on them perhaps a little too much for my taste. The maps in the book are essentially adequate, but I would have liked a specific map of the front in June 44, since frequent mention is made in the text of the "balcony" salient held by Army Group Center at the time--without a specific map it is hard to visualize what is meant by the "balcony", though of course those familiar with the war will know. The Stalingrad campaign is actually the portion of the war covered at most length, even moreso than the initial invasion. There are many photos, some in color. One color photo shows some German soldiers on the open steppe with a blue sky in the background--looking at it, I almost felt I was there myself in 1941 plunging into the unknown depths of Russia. My bottom line is, though probably not the best short introductory book possible on the subject, this book is certainly worth the price tag.