Operation Little Saturn & Infantry Battles of Heeresgruppe
Süd
William K. Fowler
Southern Russia loomed large in Hitler's overall strategy to
conquer Russia. After capturing Stalingrad as his linchpin, he
planned to launch Operation Blau and cut off Russian oil supplies
in the Caucasus. To do this he had formed two separate armies in
Heeresgruppe Sud - Heeresgruppe A under General List, and
Heeresgruppe B commanded by General Weich. This new volume authored
by William Fowler examines in some detail this sector of the
Eastern Front.
As with previous books in this popular Concord series, this volume
consists of an impressive collection of black and white photos
stemming from this area of Heeresgruppe Sud. The book is confined
to the period from December 1942 to June 1943, which covers the
Soviet plan codenamed Operation Little Saturn. This was a plan
hatched in December 1942 by the Soviet General Malinovsky and his
2nd Guards Army to thwart German efforts to relieve encircled
troops in Stalingrad. With the successful completion of this phase,
the next stage began in January 1943. At this time, four Soviet
armies from General Golikov's Voronezh Front encircled and smashed
through German and Hungarian defenses. Heeresgruppe Sud, trying to
maintain some sort of cohesion against overwhelming Soviet
superiority, was unrelentingly pushed back. In the end, Manstein
launched a counteroffensive that recaptured Kharkov and finally
ended the Soviet winter offensive. The bitter winter fighting of
this period is captured vividly in photos. German soldiers endured
harsh conditions against a resilient foe, and their experience is
captured in the book's photographs. Each photo is accompanied by a
detailed caption that outlines pertinent points about units,
uniforms, weapons or the state of the battle.
The book also contains four color plates as a centerpiece, these
being created by Ramiro Bujeiro. These color plates illustrate
typical uniform and weapon details of soldiers during this stage of
the war, when the tide had truly begun to change against the Third
Reich. For those wanting to learn about this significant and
bitterly contested period of WWII, this volume will prove a
goldmine of information and pictures.
Format 21 x 28 cm, Paperback, 52 Seiten, 135 s/w-Fotos, 4
Farbtafeln, englischer Text, Best.-Nr. Con6530