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Kursk: The Air Battle: July 1943
Compiled by one of the world's leading experts on the subject of the air war over the Eastern Front, Christer Bergström, The Air Battle, is the third in a series of books covering the major phases of the air war in this theatre of operations. It will be required reading for all historians of the Luftwaffe during World War II and those with a specific interest in the Eastern Front in particular.
The German 'Kursk' offensive, 'Operation Zitadelle,' was launched on July 4, 1943. Strong Soviet defense ensured that the Germans failed to make their planned breakthrough and, after three weeks, defense was turned to attack by the Soviets, as two counter-attacks saw the Red Army seize the initiative and ultimately force the Germans to retreat. During the month of August, Soviet forces recaptured strategic cities such as Oryol, Belgorod, and Kharkov. This book provides a detailed history of the air battles that were a part of this operation.
To date, no single study has been written in English on the air aspects of the battle in which, literally, thousands of aircraft were pitted against each other. The strength of the author's writing lies in its detail, his ability to tell the story from the viewpoints of both sides, and from both strategic and tactical contexts. There is also much unique eye-witness material and the text will be accompanied by a large number of rare and previously unpublished photographs, 'biography boxes', plus data tables, technical assessments, and appendices.
The German 'Kursk' offensive, 'Operation Zitadelle,' was launched on July 4, 1943. Strong Soviet defense ensured that the Germans failed to make their planned breakthrough and, after three weeks, defense was turned to attack by the Soviets, as two counter-attacks saw the Red Army seize the initiative and ultimately force the Germans to retreat. During the month of August, Soviet forces recaptured strategic cities such as Oryol, Belgorod, and Kharkov. This book provides a detailed history of the air battles that were a part of this operation.
To date, no single study has been written in English on the air aspects of the battle in which, literally, thousands of aircraft were pitted against each other. The strength of the author's writing lies in its detail, his ability to tell the story from the viewpoints of both sides, and from both strategic and tactical contexts. There is also much unique eye-witness material and the text will be accompanied by a large number of rare and previously unpublished photographs, 'biography boxes', plus data tables, technical assessments, and appendices.
144 pages, Hardcover
First published January 24, 2008
48 people want to read
About the author
Christer Bergström
41 books21 followersChrister Bergström works professionally as a teacher in English and Swedish history and is the author of several highly-acclaimed books on Second World War aviation.
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June 26, 2017
The third book in Christer Bergstrom's series on the air war on the Eastern Front covers the aerial side of the colossal clash of armor at Kursk, as well as subsequent actions at Orel and Bryansk. It's a fairly well-balanced book, with plenty of information, personal accounts and statistics for both sides.
The book covers the build-up to Kursk and analyzes the forces on both sides prior to the battle, and then covers the aerial battle itself for a little over half the book. After that, the actions at Orel and Bryansk, along with the Russian "Operation Kutuzov", finish off the narrative. The author uses lots of statistics, so the book can be a bit dry if you don't care for lots of numbers. But it's interlaced with plenty of narratives from Russian and German aviators who participated in the battle, so at least the book isn't a non-stop stream of numbers. Since much has been written about the battle and how the Russians won a great victory, author Bergstrom dives into the numbers to present a more accurate accounting of how much was lost on both sides. As is usual in a battle of this magnitude, there are substantial overclaims of victories on both sides, but the final statistics don't exactly match the outcome. The battle provided sort of a graduation of sorts for the Russians as they started implementing new tactics and gradually began taking over the skies in Russia. The battle also saw the first wide-spread use of anti-tank cannons mounted on aircraft, as well as anti-tank bombs. Lots of pictures will satisfy the aviation enthusiasts, but another map or two might have been helpful.
Overall, a good book on a different side of the Battle of Kursk, one which has not gotten as much ink as the land battle itself.
The book covers the build-up to Kursk and analyzes the forces on both sides prior to the battle, and then covers the aerial battle itself for a little over half the book. After that, the actions at Orel and Bryansk, along with the Russian "Operation Kutuzov", finish off the narrative. The author uses lots of statistics, so the book can be a bit dry if you don't care for lots of numbers. But it's interlaced with plenty of narratives from Russian and German aviators who participated in the battle, so at least the book isn't a non-stop stream of numbers. Since much has been written about the battle and how the Russians won a great victory, author Bergstrom dives into the numbers to present a more accurate accounting of how much was lost on both sides. As is usual in a battle of this magnitude, there are substantial overclaims of victories on both sides, but the final statistics don't exactly match the outcome. The battle provided sort of a graduation of sorts for the Russians as they started implementing new tactics and gradually began taking over the skies in Russia. The battle also saw the first wide-spread use of anti-tank cannons mounted on aircraft, as well as anti-tank bombs. Lots of pictures will satisfy the aviation enthusiasts, but another map or two might have been helpful.
Overall, a good book on a different side of the Battle of Kursk, one which has not gotten as much ink as the land battle itself.
Displaying 1 of 1 review