 | Images of Kursk: History's Greatest Tank Battle, July 1943, by Nik Cornish, Nikolas Cornish, Brasseys, Inc.; (November 1, 2002), ISBN: 1574885766 Contains more than 300 photographs, many from Russian archives and previously unpublished. Features firsthand accounts from Russian and German soldiers and presents details on the air action. Includes biographical information about the main German and Soviet commanders. Images of Kursk is an illustrated account of a pivotal battle on the Eastern Front during World War II. At Kursk, the Germans threw 900,000 men and 2,500 tanks against 1,300,000 soldiers and 3,000 tanks of the Red Army in a savage battle of attrition. Unlike many pictorial accounts of the war on the Eastern Front, Images of Kursk draws upon both German and Russian archive material. All the photographs of the Red Army at Kursk, moreover, are previously unpublished images. The book begins with the build-up of forces before the battle and then illustrates the offensive by two German army groups against the Kursk salient. The images convey the true scale, intensity, and horror of the fighting as the Germans tried in vain to batter their way through the Soviet defensive systems. A chapter is devoted to the climactic battle at the village of Prokhorovka, in which 1,000 tanks engaged each other furiously at point-blank range. With authoritative text and extended captions, Images of Kursk is an enthralling pictorial record of the battle that shifted the strategic initiative on the Eastern Front to the Red Army for good. Written in an informative yet exciting style, it will appeal to military specialists and laymen alike. (Review source: Amazon.com)
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 | Kursk: The German View, by Steven H. Newton (Translator), DaCapo Press; (March 25, 2003), ISBN: 0306811502 "Firsthand accounts of the German commanders who planned and executed the largest tank battle in history. The battle of Kursk, fought in the summer of 1943, involved six thousand German and Soviet armored vehicles, making it the biggest tank battle of all time and possibly the largest battle of any kind. Students of military history have long recognized the importance of Kursk, also known as "Operation Citadel," and there have been several serious studies of the battle. Yet, the German view of the battle has been largely ignored. After the war, U.S. Army Intelligence officers gathered German commanders' post-war reports of the battle. Due, in part, to poor translations done after the war, these important documents have been overlooked by World War II historians. Steven H. Newton has collected, translated, and edited these accounts, including reports made by the Chiefs of Staff of Army Group South and the Fourth Panzer Army, and by the Army Group Center Operations Officer. As a result, a new and unprecedented picture of German strategy and operations is made available. The translated staff reports are supplemented by Newton's commentary and original research, which challenges a number of widely accepted ideas about this pivotal battle. (Review source: Amazon.com)
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 | Kursk: The Greatest Tank Battle 1943 by M. K. Barbier, Kathryn Barbier; Motorbooks International; ISBN: 0760312540; (March 2002) "A great book on Kursk in particular and on Barbarossa in general. The captions are extremely well written and provide a lot of new insight on Soviet strategy and the surprising poverty of German tactics. The photos, many of which I don't think have been previously published in an English-language book, are incredible. Specialists and general readers alike will enjoy this book." (review source: Amazon.com) |
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