Customer Reviews

Waffen-SS KURSK 1943 Volume 6 (Archive Series)

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Waffen-SS Kursk 1943, Volume 6, by Remy Spezzano, is part of an astounding series devoted to photographs of the largest tank battle in history. The publisher has every right to be proud of this series: Using 28 rolls of recently discovered combat film, it has assembled a collection of unique, informative, and evocative images.

The book begins with a very brief summary of Operation Citadel, the German army's last major offensive against Russia, but the reader needs no knowledge of the battle. The pictures here are universal in what they convey, and the explanatory notes are compact and informative.

Many of the pictures are quite unlike the usual images one finds even in comprehensive pictorial books. Some of the photos, such as the SS NCO comforting a duckling, impart a sense of humanity to those who may not deserve it. A very highly recommended series.

I purchased all 6 books in the series, at the time of writing this I had received Vol 3 to 6, the photos are all in black and white none of which I had seen before quality is good with a basic caption under each photo and a more detail information regarding the photo and what stage of the battle is at the rear.

I purchased all 6 books in the series, at the time of writing this I had received Vol 4 and 5, the photos are all in black and white none of which I had seen before quality is good with a basic caption under each photo and a more detail information regarding the photo and what stage of the battle is at the rear.

These books are an excellent series. Some great in action photos and a great many of individual shots of Waffen SS soldiers and Soviet prisoners taken during the battle. These are not the usual heroic shots but of normal men and they are very haunting. To see SS men and Soviets as real soldiers and real men and not the stereotypical view we are used to seeing was as I said a very haunting experience. There are some who may find that very boring as they want photos of panzers racing across fields of burning tanks maybe disappointed. Still there are some great shots of armour, half tracks and artillery are included for those who are looking for a kit to build. If you're a serious historian who is looking for something a little deeper than shots of tanks then buys these books and look into the eyes of these men who fought the battle and are all now gone from the earth. Highly recommended.

I own the entire series and love these books. I was surprised to read a few negative reviews by people that expected photos of tanks locked in battle. As a former infantryman I can tell you that these photos capture the essence of what it is like to be a soldier. I highly recommend the series. To me it was worth every penny.

The series of photo journals known collectively as Waffen-SS KURSK 1943 is an excellent publishing venture rife with annoying problems, not the least of which is its percieved value to consumers. Each volume in the series is brief - but this one is shortest of all at only 73 photos on some 91 pages ( and one of these is unaccountably - and hopefully accidently - used twice, on both pages 41 and 47! ); if one were to amass all 6 at the list price it would be quite an investment, probably not worth it except to diehard SS fanatics. That's really too bad, because even to the casual student of WWII there is some really worthwhile material in these, especially as regards what might be termed the "Face of Battle" in a theater of operations that has gotten relatively little coverage here in the West.

Volume 5 follows what by now has become an annoyingly familliar format: soldiers march, tanks and other AFV's roll, and exhausted troopers eat, joke, and relax when possible. What's lacking here is what has been missing from these books all along: any sence of immediacy, urgency, or drama. Actually, that's less a criticism than an observation on how a "battle" of this magnitude unfolds across literally hundreds of square miles of relatively featureless terrain as in the Ukraine. Unfortunately there are no sweeping panoramas of tanks and men locked in thundering armored combat - just more of the same vignettes as in the previous volumes in this series. And of course, no doubt when the shells began to fly, the seasoned Waffen-SS Kriegsberichters took cover too, thereby missing some potential "photo ops"!

That's not to say there's nothing worthwhile in this slim volume; there are fascinating views of: captured T-34's being utilized; SS artillery in action while an oblivious trooper eats lunch in the foreground; literally acres of AFV's waiting to advance; men inspecting a downed Yak-1 fighter; a pause in the action at a watering spot; and two especially poignant shots of soldaten talking with and possibly comforting refugee Ukrainian women and their children. It's all-too-easy to forget these thunderous events took place amidst and wrecked the lives of countless helpless civillians who bore no connection with the Soviet rulers in far-away Moscow. Surprisingly, this is shown in the evident compassion with which these civillian non-combattants, as well as enemy wounded and prisoners, are here treated by the soldaten of the Waffen-SS. Although this time there is no "featured" personality, photos by a fourth correspondent, Willi Merz, join those of Buschel, King, and Groenert. The text continues to lead up to a suggested climax at Prochorowka for the final volume 6.

anyone who is interested in the kursk battle should get all 5 books. they are worth it.