Book Review of Images of War
The German Siege of Leningrad 1941-1944
Rare Photographs From Wartime Archives
Author: Ian Baxter
Pen & Sword Military Books
ISBN: 978-1-39906-466-8
By Ray Mehlberger
Copyright: 2023
MSRP: $26.95
ISBN: 978-1-39906-466-8
By Ray Mehlberger
Copyright: 2023
MSRP: $26.95
THE BOOK:
Pen & Sword Books is located in the UK.
This book is of soft-cover in 128 pages in 7 ½” x 9 ¾” page format. Four pages are blank.
The cover art shows a large black and white photo at the top, of a 21cm Morser 18 German gun crew, preparing their weapon for a fire mission. This weapon was used in independent battalions and heavy artillery batteries , but it was also used as coastal artillery due to its siege success around Leningrad. The firing procedure of this weapon consisted of feeding six charges into the gun tube to fire a single projectile. This gave the gun greater distance capability against enemy targets.
The 3 men are all standing behind the Morser 18. They are all dressed in field-grey uniforms with high black jack boots. Two wear steel helmets and the third man is bare-headed. The two that are wearing helmets have their hands atop a 21cm round.
At the bottom of the cover, there are 4 more, small black and white photos.
Reading from left to right, the first one shows Russian civilians (mostly women) digging a defensive position in front of Leningrad in 1941, probably the Luga Operational Groupe. It comprised from north to south, the 191st, 111th and 177th divisions, supported by the 3rd Tank Division and the 1st Mountain Brigade, together with other formations of the Northern Front.
The second one to the right shows a German 21cm Morser, preparing for a fire mission. Often these howitzers were used to bombard the “ice road” in order to try to weaken the ice and prevent supplies from entering the Leningrad pocket.
The third one to the right shows Russian troops operating outside the city in late 1941. The soldier is armed with the PTRS-41 or Simonov anti-tank rifle. This weapon fired a 14.5mm armour-piercing bullet, with a muzzle velocity of 1.013m/s and devastating ballistics. It could penetrate armour plate of up to 40mm thickness to a distance of 100 meters.
The fourth (and last) one on the right shows the destruction of Leningrad by heavy German bombardments. Hundreds of Luftwaffe bombers constantly made a series of heavy air-raids on Leningrad with incendiary and high-explosive bombs. During the course of the whole siege, an estimated 75,000 bombs were dropped on the city, killing 50,000 civilians and destroying thousands of homes and commercial buildings.
One the left side of the back cover of the book, there is a black and white photo of a motorcyclist wearing the standard motorcyclist’s rubberized, waterproofed coat. Seen here in a village surrounded by locals. The soldier probably belongs to a motorcyclist messenger platoon.
Such a platoon was a vital asset to the divisional staff and enabled the officers and staff to receive and dispatch vital information on the battlefield. Motorcyclists were also utilized for reconnaissance duties. Because they were very versatile machines, they enabled the rider to survey enemy positions until he encountered fire and then returned swiftly with important data and other information relating to the location and strength of the enemy.
The black and white photo on the right side of the back cover of the book shows a howitzer position being set up near Krasny Bor by soldiers of the Spanish Blue Division in August 1942. The Blue Division was transferred north to the south-eastern flank for operations around Leningrad, just south of the River Neva near Pushkin, Kolpino and Krasny Bor in the River Izhora area. The Blue Division faced a major Soviet attempt to break the siege of Leningrad in February 1943, when the Soviet 55th Army attacked Spanish positions in the Battle of Krasny Bor, near the main Moscow-Leningrad road.
The CONTENTS page lists 5 chapters:
1. Objective Leningrad 1941
2. Leningrad Defenses
3. The Siege
4. The ‘Ice Road’
5. The Turning Point
EPILOGUE
Appendix 1
German Order of Battle
Appendix 2
Red Army Order of Battle
A half page About the Author
A half page Introduction
There are many pages of German and Russian soldiers and Russian civilians, vehicles, howitzers, wrecked and burning buildings in Leningrad, some ships, a B-24, Soviet barrage balloons, T-34 tanks, a KV-1 tank, Soviet nurses with dead and wounded soldiers, horse-drawn carts.
The historic 872 day siege of Leningrad by the German Army Group North began in earnest on 8 September 1041 and was not lifted until 17 January 1944. During this period the Red Army made numerous desperate attempts to break the blockade, which the Nazis and their Spanish and Finish allies doggedly resisted .
Eventually, due to overwhelming enemy pressure, Hitler’s forces were compelled to retreat, but not before ransacking and destroying numerous historic palaces and landmarks and looting their priceless art collections.
The bitter and prolonged fighting , often under appalling climatic conditions, resulted in many thousands of casualties for both sides from direct action and constant artillery and air attack. Arguably most shocking was the loss of life due to the systematic starvation of the civilian population trapped inside and the intentional destruction of the buildings.
Drawing on a superb collection of rare and unpublished photographs, with detailed captions and explanatory text, this dramatic book vividly portrays every aspect of the siege which has the dubious claim of being arguably the most costly in human and material terms of any in recent military history.
THE AUTHOR:
Ian Baxter is a much-published author and photographic collector, whose books draw an increasing following Among his many previous titles in the Images of War Series are “Hitler’s Boy Soldiers”, “Nazi Concentration Camp Commanders”, “The Ghettos of Nazi-occupied Poland”, “The German Army on the Eastern Front”, “The Advance, German Army on the Eastern Front”, “The Retreat, The Crushing of Army Group North” and the popular “Waffen-S.S. on the Eastern Front 1941-1945”, “The Waffen S.S. in Arnhem” and “The Waffen S.S. Ardennes Offensive.
Ian Baxter lives near Chelmsford, Essex.
This book will be of great interest to both modelers and military historians alike.
I sincerely wish to thank Casemate Publishing for this review sample. Casemate is the N. American distributor of Pen & Sword books and all their titles can be viewed on Casemate’s website at:
Pen & Sword Books is located in the UK.
This book is of soft-cover in 128 pages in 7 ½” x 9 ¾” page format. Four pages are blank.
The cover art shows a large black and white photo at the top, of a 21cm Morser 18 German gun crew, preparing their weapon for a fire mission. This weapon was used in independent battalions and heavy artillery batteries , but it was also used as coastal artillery due to its siege success around Leningrad. The firing procedure of this weapon consisted of feeding six charges into the gun tube to fire a single projectile. This gave the gun greater distance capability against enemy targets.
The 3 men are all standing behind the Morser 18. They are all dressed in field-grey uniforms with high black jack boots. Two wear steel helmets and the third man is bare-headed. The two that are wearing helmets have their hands atop a 21cm round.
At the bottom of the cover, there are 4 more, small black and white photos.
Reading from left to right, the first one shows Russian civilians (mostly women) digging a defensive position in front of Leningrad in 1941, probably the Luga Operational Groupe. It comprised from north to south, the 191st, 111th and 177th divisions, supported by the 3rd Tank Division and the 1st Mountain Brigade, together with other formations of the Northern Front.
The second one to the right shows a German 21cm Morser, preparing for a fire mission. Often these howitzers were used to bombard the “ice road” in order to try to weaken the ice and prevent supplies from entering the Leningrad pocket.
The third one to the right shows Russian troops operating outside the city in late 1941. The soldier is armed with the PTRS-41 or Simonov anti-tank rifle. This weapon fired a 14.5mm armour-piercing bullet, with a muzzle velocity of 1.013m/s and devastating ballistics. It could penetrate armour plate of up to 40mm thickness to a distance of 100 meters.
The fourth (and last) one on the right shows the destruction of Leningrad by heavy German bombardments. Hundreds of Luftwaffe bombers constantly made a series of heavy air-raids on Leningrad with incendiary and high-explosive bombs. During the course of the whole siege, an estimated 75,000 bombs were dropped on the city, killing 50,000 civilians and destroying thousands of homes and commercial buildings.
One the left side of the back cover of the book, there is a black and white photo of a motorcyclist wearing the standard motorcyclist’s rubberized, waterproofed coat. Seen here in a village surrounded by locals. The soldier probably belongs to a motorcyclist messenger platoon.
Such a platoon was a vital asset to the divisional staff and enabled the officers and staff to receive and dispatch vital information on the battlefield. Motorcyclists were also utilized for reconnaissance duties. Because they were very versatile machines, they enabled the rider to survey enemy positions until he encountered fire and then returned swiftly with important data and other information relating to the location and strength of the enemy.
The black and white photo on the right side of the back cover of the book shows a howitzer position being set up near Krasny Bor by soldiers of the Spanish Blue Division in August 1942. The Blue Division was transferred north to the south-eastern flank for operations around Leningrad, just south of the River Neva near Pushkin, Kolpino and Krasny Bor in the River Izhora area. The Blue Division faced a major Soviet attempt to break the siege of Leningrad in February 1943, when the Soviet 55th Army attacked Spanish positions in the Battle of Krasny Bor, near the main Moscow-Leningrad road.
The CONTENTS page lists 5 chapters:
1. Objective Leningrad 1941
2. Leningrad Defenses
3. The Siege
4. The ‘Ice Road’
5. The Turning Point
EPILOGUE
Appendix 1
German Order of Battle
Appendix 2
Red Army Order of Battle
A half page About the Author
A half page Introduction
There are many pages of German and Russian soldiers and Russian civilians, vehicles, howitzers, wrecked and burning buildings in Leningrad, some ships, a B-24, Soviet barrage balloons, T-34 tanks, a KV-1 tank, Soviet nurses with dead and wounded soldiers, horse-drawn carts.
The historic 872 day siege of Leningrad by the German Army Group North began in earnest on 8 September 1041 and was not lifted until 17 January 1944. During this period the Red Army made numerous desperate attempts to break the blockade, which the Nazis and their Spanish and Finish allies doggedly resisted .
Eventually, due to overwhelming enemy pressure, Hitler’s forces were compelled to retreat, but not before ransacking and destroying numerous historic palaces and landmarks and looting their priceless art collections.
The bitter and prolonged fighting , often under appalling climatic conditions, resulted in many thousands of casualties for both sides from direct action and constant artillery and air attack. Arguably most shocking was the loss of life due to the systematic starvation of the civilian population trapped inside and the intentional destruction of the buildings.
Drawing on a superb collection of rare and unpublished photographs, with detailed captions and explanatory text, this dramatic book vividly portrays every aspect of the siege which has the dubious claim of being arguably the most costly in human and material terms of any in recent military history.
THE AUTHOR:
Ian Baxter is a much-published author and photographic collector, whose books draw an increasing following Among his many previous titles in the Images of War Series are “Hitler’s Boy Soldiers”, “Nazi Concentration Camp Commanders”, “The Ghettos of Nazi-occupied Poland”, “The German Army on the Eastern Front”, “The Advance, German Army on the Eastern Front”, “The Retreat, The Crushing of Army Group North” and the popular “Waffen-S.S. on the Eastern Front 1941-1945”, “The Waffen S.S. in Arnhem” and “The Waffen S.S. Ardennes Offensive.
Ian Baxter lives near Chelmsford, Essex.
This book will be of great interest to both modelers and military historians alike.
I sincerely wish to thank Casemate Publishing for this review sample. Casemate is the N. American distributor of Pen & Sword books and all their titles can be viewed on Casemate’s website at:
Very highly recommended.