Battles of Smolensk & Roslavl 1941
Hans Seidler
The invasion of Russia in June 1941, Operation Barbarossa, was an
enormous affair. It involved around 3 million German soldiers
divided into 105 infantry and 32 panzer divisions. Initially, the
German assault knifed through Russian resistance, and huge numbers
of Red Army soldiers were surrounded. This latest volume from
Concord Publications examines part of that attack, specifically the
battles of Heeresgruppe Mitte. This central army, the largest of
three participating in the attack, was commanded by
Generalfeldmarschall Fedor von Bock.
This volume by Hans Seidler is brimming with black and white
photographs showing soldiers from Heeresgruppe Mitte. The focus is
on the Battles of Smolensk and Roslavl, conflicts that readers may
not be terribly familiar with. The city of Smolensk commanded the
route to the Russian capital of Moscow, and as German forces closed
in on it, Russian forces launched a counterattack. This resulted in
a large clash in early July 1941. However, the German juggernaut
could not be halted, and Smolensk eventually fell on 16 July, with
half a million enemy soldiers caught in the Smolensk pocket. Soon
after this, General Guderian sought to defeat Soviet forces further
east around the town of Roslavl. He launched a sudden and powerful
attack on 1 August, and within two days the town was taken. These
twin battles were among the most decisive and swiftest of all
German successes on the Eastern Front.
The sharply reproduced photographs in the book show soldiers
involved in the aforementioned fighting. Each photo is well
captioned with pertinent details about uniform and equipment. The
centerpiece of the book is four color plates by the illustrator
Dmitriy Zgonnik. These pictures show infantrymen in typical dress
as they fight the Red Army, with detailed explanation given about
their equipment and dress. This is a most informative work on a
location and period that is not well covered in other volumes about
the German Army, and it will provide a useful reference for history
buffs as well as military modelers.
Format 21 x 28 cm, Paperback, 52 Seiten, 130 s/w-Fotos, 4
Farbtafeln, englischer Text, Best.-Nr. Con6536