Book Review of
The Soviet Destruction of Army Group South
Ukraine and Southern Poland 1943-1945
Author: Ian Baxter
Casemate Illustrated
Men-Battles-Weapons Series
ISBN: 978-1-63624-262-0
Copyright: 2023
MSRP: $28.95
Men-Battles-Weapons Series
ISBN: 978-1-63624-262-0
Copyright: 2023
MSRP: $28.95
HISTORY:
Following the destruction of Sixth Army of Stalingrad in February 1943, Army Group South slowly withdrew westwards, using the Dnieper as a fortified position. In late 1943, the Soviet 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Ukrainian Front launched a strategic offensive against the German Army Group South-A, as one of the largest operations of the war. In May 1944, Red Army troops defeated Army Group South and Army Group A on the Dnieper. Many thousands of German troops evacuated across the Black Sea.
In July, troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front launched an operation into the Crimea. The offensive coincided with other Red Army operations further north, including the Lublin-Brest Offensive – part of Operation Bagration. Slowly and inexorably, the powerful Russian attacks forced the tattered German army group to retreat hundreds of miles west, into Eastern Poland and Romania. Here, German forces defended their positions and built defences in Hungary and Austria to tray to slow down the overwhelming might of the Red Army. There, the Germans would fight a series of desperate battles until the remnants surrendered in early May 1945.
THE BOOK:
Casemate is both a publisher of their own line of books and distributor of other company's books. They are located in Havertown. PA.
This new book is of soft-cover of128 pages in 7” x 10” page format. It has flaps on the front and back that fold over.
The book contains 144 black and white wartime photos (including the front and back covers), 18 color illustrations, 6 maps and 12 data lists.
The front cover shows, at the top, a Soviet gun crew manning a Soviet 76mm 4-K Air Defense Gun M1938 prepared along the Dnieper.
Below, on the left, is a photo of 3 German tanks moving over a snow-covered field.
On the right is the ubiquitous 76mm divisional gun M1942 or ZiS-3 during a fire mission.
Overtop of this photo there is a color illustration of a Soviet KV-85 heavy tank, Zaporozhye, September 1943. It is overall dark-green, with a large white 5225 on the sides of its turret.
This tank was an interim heavy tank solution to help combat the arrival of the German Panther medium tank series in 1943. However, its overall combat effectiveness was insubstantial, especially against heavier German tanks. Yet despite this, the tank was mass-produced and was successful in larger numbers.
There are 3 more black and white wartime photos on the back cover.
The one on the left, at the top, is of a Soviet 3-man crew manning a mortar.
One the right, at the top, is a photo of a man raising the Soviet flag over Sevastopol on May 25th.
At the bottom there is a photo of a battery of German 10,5 cm leFH18 in a woods, preparing for action.
Black and white photos inside the book show Soviet and German commanders, Soviet and German infantrymen, tanks, weapons, a German Schwimmwagen, rafts, wheeled vehicles and a ship that was used to evacuate Sevastopol.
The color illustrations include:
A Volkswagen Schwimmwagen on the Dnieper River.
An SU-122 Self-propelled Howitzer tank, Dnieper River, October 1943.
A T-24.85 Model 1944 tank in a grassy field, during operations in September 1944, in Southern Ukraine.
The KV-35 that is shown on the front cover of the book (already described above).
A SS Grenadier, 5th SS Panzer Div., Wiking, Cherkassy, January 1944.
A German motorcyclist with a sidecar combination motorcycle.
A T-34.85 Model 1943, February 1944, covered in winter white-wash.
A German Sd.Kfz. 3b Maultier flat-track truck with anti-aircraft gun mounted. It is in a camouflage of a base of sand-yellow with large green spots.
Two Soviet Ilyushin IL-2 Sturmoviks, one shown in flight and the other destroyed. In overall dark-green with a badge insignia on the side of its nose, a white Soviet slogan and red star and a red star under the cockpit and a red star an white no. 23 on its rudder.
A German Borgward B3000 truck. In overall sand-yellow, with a dark-grey canvas cargo bed roof.
A Soviet 152mm howitzer M1937 (MI-20), Sapun Hill, Crimea, May 6, 1944, being towed by a tank. Tank not named what it is.
A German Tiger II and a Tiger I with the 501st Heavy Tank Battalion. Both are in a camouflage of a base of earth-yellow with dark green blotches. One has a red number 502 on the sides of its turret. The other one just has a black and white German cross on the sides of its hull.
A Soviet (ZiS-3) 76mm Divisional Gun M1942 & a 122mm Howitzer M1938 (M-30). Both medium-grey.
A German 7.5 cm PaK 40 Howitzer. Defense of the Oder, January 1943. In a camouflage of a base of earth-yellow with dark green spots.
A German Marder II, Sd.Kfz. 132, March 1945, Oder Front. Covered in winter white-wash with black and white German cross on sides of the hull.
This book ends with a one-page EPILOGUE, two pages of FURTHER READING list and a three page INDEX.
This book will be of great interest to modelers and military historians alike.
I sincerely wish to thank Casemate Publishing for this review sample. All Casemate books can be viewed on their website at:
Following the destruction of Sixth Army of Stalingrad in February 1943, Army Group South slowly withdrew westwards, using the Dnieper as a fortified position. In late 1943, the Soviet 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Ukrainian Front launched a strategic offensive against the German Army Group South-A, as one of the largest operations of the war. In May 1944, Red Army troops defeated Army Group South and Army Group A on the Dnieper. Many thousands of German troops evacuated across the Black Sea.
In July, troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front launched an operation into the Crimea. The offensive coincided with other Red Army operations further north, including the Lublin-Brest Offensive – part of Operation Bagration. Slowly and inexorably, the powerful Russian attacks forced the tattered German army group to retreat hundreds of miles west, into Eastern Poland and Romania. Here, German forces defended their positions and built defences in Hungary and Austria to tray to slow down the overwhelming might of the Red Army. There, the Germans would fight a series of desperate battles until the remnants surrendered in early May 1945.
THE BOOK:
Casemate is both a publisher of their own line of books and distributor of other company's books. They are located in Havertown. PA.
This new book is of soft-cover of128 pages in 7” x 10” page format. It has flaps on the front and back that fold over.
The book contains 144 black and white wartime photos (including the front and back covers), 18 color illustrations, 6 maps and 12 data lists.
The front cover shows, at the top, a Soviet gun crew manning a Soviet 76mm 4-K Air Defense Gun M1938 prepared along the Dnieper.
Below, on the left, is a photo of 3 German tanks moving over a snow-covered field.
On the right is the ubiquitous 76mm divisional gun M1942 or ZiS-3 during a fire mission.
Overtop of this photo there is a color illustration of a Soviet KV-85 heavy tank, Zaporozhye, September 1943. It is overall dark-green, with a large white 5225 on the sides of its turret.
This tank was an interim heavy tank solution to help combat the arrival of the German Panther medium tank series in 1943. However, its overall combat effectiveness was insubstantial, especially against heavier German tanks. Yet despite this, the tank was mass-produced and was successful in larger numbers.
There are 3 more black and white wartime photos on the back cover.
The one on the left, at the top, is of a Soviet 3-man crew manning a mortar.
One the right, at the top, is a photo of a man raising the Soviet flag over Sevastopol on May 25th.
At the bottom there is a photo of a battery of German 10,5 cm leFH18 in a woods, preparing for action.
Black and white photos inside the book show Soviet and German commanders, Soviet and German infantrymen, tanks, weapons, a German Schwimmwagen, rafts, wheeled vehicles and a ship that was used to evacuate Sevastopol.
The color illustrations include:
A Volkswagen Schwimmwagen on the Dnieper River.
An SU-122 Self-propelled Howitzer tank, Dnieper River, October 1943.
A T-24.85 Model 1944 tank in a grassy field, during operations in September 1944, in Southern Ukraine.
The KV-35 that is shown on the front cover of the book (already described above).
A SS Grenadier, 5th SS Panzer Div., Wiking, Cherkassy, January 1944.
A German motorcyclist with a sidecar combination motorcycle.
A T-34.85 Model 1943, February 1944, covered in winter white-wash.
A German Sd.Kfz. 3b Maultier flat-track truck with anti-aircraft gun mounted. It is in a camouflage of a base of sand-yellow with large green spots.
Two Soviet Ilyushin IL-2 Sturmoviks, one shown in flight and the other destroyed. In overall dark-green with a badge insignia on the side of its nose, a white Soviet slogan and red star and a red star under the cockpit and a red star an white no. 23 on its rudder.
A German Borgward B3000 truck. In overall sand-yellow, with a dark-grey canvas cargo bed roof.
A Soviet 152mm howitzer M1937 (MI-20), Sapun Hill, Crimea, May 6, 1944, being towed by a tank. Tank not named what it is.
A German Tiger II and a Tiger I with the 501st Heavy Tank Battalion. Both are in a camouflage of a base of earth-yellow with dark green blotches. One has a red number 502 on the sides of its turret. The other one just has a black and white German cross on the sides of its hull.
A Soviet (ZiS-3) 76mm Divisional Gun M1942 & a 122mm Howitzer M1938 (M-30). Both medium-grey.
A German 7.5 cm PaK 40 Howitzer. Defense of the Oder, January 1943. In a camouflage of a base of earth-yellow with dark green spots.
A German Marder II, Sd.Kfz. 132, March 1945, Oder Front. Covered in winter white-wash with black and white German cross on sides of the hull.
This book ends with a one-page EPILOGUE, two pages of FURTHER READING list and a three page INDEX.
This book will be of great interest to modelers and military historians alike.
I sincerely wish to thank Casemate Publishing for this review sample. All Casemate books can be viewed on their website at:
Highly recommended.