Fighting Withdrawal: The Germans Retreat 1944/45
Gordon Rottman & Dmitriy Zgonnik
German forces made impressive advances across vast swathes of
Russia after Operation Barbarossa was launched in 1941. Indeed,
Blitzkrieg reached the very gates of Moscow. Yet, the Battle of
Stalingrad in 1942 marked a decisive turning point in the tide of
war on the Eastern Front. What began was a long series of setbacks
and defeats, with German forces being rolled back inexorably by the
massive Russian juggernaut. The territory that was captured so
quickly in 1941-42 was soon being fought for all over again, with
German troops extracting a very high price as Russian troops
advanced towards Berlin. This new book by Gordon Rottman examines
pictorially this long fighting retreat of German forces, with the
focus being on the closing years of the war from 1944-45.
This book begins with a concise explanation of the situation in
1944-45, and how German units were organized to try and overcome
acute shortages of personnel. Additional divisions were raised in
the form of Luftwaffe field divisions, Waffen-SS divisions manned
by non-Germanic recruits, and Volkssturm (this name translates as
'People's Assault') units filled with those too young or too old
for regular units. The book then proceeds to exhibit German
soldiers from this time period in a series of black and white
photos. While most photographs portray soldiers, several also show
equipment like tanks and transport vehicles. The uniforms and
weapons of these soldiers as they retreated westward are on full
display, and the selection of photos will no doubt provide plenty
of modeling inspiration or historical information. The photo
content even extends to showing Volkssturm personnel in the closing
weeks of the war.
The centerpiece of the book is a series of four color plates by
illustrator Dmitriy Zgonnik. These portray grenadiers from a range
of units as they appeared in combat, with pertinent comments on
their uniforms, personal equipment and weapons outlined in the
accompanying captions. There is a lot of interest in the closing
years of WWII, and this book offers a fine collection of photos
showing the German infantryman as he fought for his own survival
and that of his nation.
Format 21 x 28 cm, Paperback, 52 Seiten, 139 s/w-Fotos, 4
Farbtafeln, englischer Text, Best.-Nr. Con6525