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Operation Barbarossa 1941 #1
Operation Barbarossa 1941 (1): Army Group South
Osprey's first title that examines the events of Operation Barbarossa -- Germany’s surprise assault on the Soviet Union in June 1941, aimed at nothing less than the complete destruction of Communist Russia. This book focuses on Field Marshal von Rundstedt and Army Group South, tasked with the capture of the Ukraine and Crimea. Von Rundstedt’s 46 divisions and single Panzer Group faced fierce resistance from the best equipped, trained and commanded units in the Red Army, but ultimately succeeded in destroying the Soviet 6th and 12th Armies at Uman before inflicting a further 600,000 casualties at Kiev. Here, von Rundstedt’s five-month advance to Rostov is examined in detail.
96 pages, Paperback
First published September 22, 2003
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 17, 2022
The Ukrainian War of the 1940s
This slim volume describes the WW2 fighting in the south in the German invasion of Ukraine and Russia. This means primarily the battles in Ukraine itself, including the Crimea and Kyiv.
All the names of the battlefields are the same names that have been in the news throughout 2022 - Lviv, Karkhiv, Kyiv, the Sea of Azov, Mauripol, even Moscow (though it is not part of the southern battlefront). I had the same eerie feeling reading about Napoleon’s invasion in 1812. Again most of the fighting occurs in Ukraine, a Ukraine under the czars, and all the names of the battle locations are pretty much the same as now but for new or renamed towns and cities. Ukraine never escapes warfare, it seems, especially being on the border of czarist, Communist, and Putinisk Russia.
The book is well-written and clearly laid out. You will gain a good amount of knowledge in a short time. It’s not boring though you may (or may not) wish to skip the long lists of combat units on both sides.
One picture sums up not only The Ukraine War of WW2, Napoleon’s War, and now the 2022 Putin’s War in Ukraine - a woman throwing up her arms and grieving the loss of her farmhouse which is going up in flames. As the writer says, civilians suffered horribly due both to Hitler’s invasion and to the Red Army’s scorched earth policy. Some ten million died.
This slim volume describes the WW2 fighting in the south in the German invasion of Ukraine and Russia. This means primarily the battles in Ukraine itself, including the Crimea and Kyiv.
All the names of the battlefields are the same names that have been in the news throughout 2022 - Lviv, Karkhiv, Kyiv, the Sea of Azov, Mauripol, even Moscow (though it is not part of the southern battlefront). I had the same eerie feeling reading about Napoleon’s invasion in 1812. Again most of the fighting occurs in Ukraine, a Ukraine under the czars, and all the names of the battle locations are pretty much the same as now but for new or renamed towns and cities. Ukraine never escapes warfare, it seems, especially being on the border of czarist, Communist, and Putinisk Russia.
The book is well-written and clearly laid out. You will gain a good amount of knowledge in a short time. It’s not boring though you may (or may not) wish to skip the long lists of combat units on both sides.
One picture sums up not only The Ukraine War of WW2, Napoleon’s War, and now the 2022 Putin’s War in Ukraine - a woman throwing up her arms and grieving the loss of her farmhouse which is going up in flames. As the writer says, civilians suffered horribly due both to Hitler’s invasion and to the Red Army’s scorched earth policy. Some ten million died.
June 16, 2018
The first book in the series has rougher prose than the other two, but the maps as always are superb, and Kirchubel's take on the various commanders is hard to refute.
August 28, 2019
Straightforward account of the operations in the Ukraine and Crimea.
Sometimes it was hard to conmnect the maps to the text. And the campaign is primarily viewed from the German perspective. Russian sources are more limited, but I got no sense of the confusion among the Soviet high command in the first couple of weeks.
Sometimes it was hard to conmnect the maps to the text. And the campaign is primarily viewed from the German perspective. Russian sources are more limited, but I got no sense of the confusion among the Soviet high command in the first couple of weeks.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews