The Battle Of Kursk: Controversial and Neglected Aspects

by

Valeriy Zamulin

translated by

Stuart Britton

 Here we are at Kursk again with another great book by Valeriy Zamulin. He is the author of sixty books and other historical works, mostly about the battle of Kursk. This book about the controversial and neglected aspects, digs deep into some interesting questions. Among them are:

Could the Germans have won the battle of Kursk?
Did Vatutin err?
With what forces did Model begin the battle of Kursk?

 No sane military leader expects to win an attack against dug in troops with less than a three to one advantage in men and weapons. The Germans planned this attack knowing they did not even have a parity in forces, and in some cases were heavily outnumbered. So why did they think they could win? 

 Mr. Zamulin goes into all the details of Army Group Center and Army Group South in the attack. He considers all of the variables and comes to the conclusion that if 'Operation Citadel' was launched earlier in April or May the Germans would still have lost. I believe that he is probably correct, but the answer lies not in numbers or trenches, but in hubris. Until 1943, the Germans trounced the Russians whenever the weather was warm. On the German side, I believe that they thought they lost in 1941 and 1942 to 'General winter', and not exclusively to the Russians. With the Japanese in the Pacific, the term was coined 'Victory Disease'. I think the German plan for Kursk showed that they suffered from the same virus.

 This book is standard fare for a Helion & Company volume, meaning that it is an excellent work with eight pages of colored maps and many pictures from during the war. The author is as meticulous with his writing as with his figures and statistics. Anyone looking for what actually happened at Kursk without the legends and stories should look no further than this work and the author's 'Demolishing the Myth'. These books should be required reading for anyone who wants to know the real truth about the battle of Kursk. In 2018 he will be publishing a third book about Kursk, 'The Forgotten Battle of the Kursk Salient',  about Army Group Kempf's offensive.


Robert

Book: The Battle of Kursk: Controversial and Neglected Aspects
Author: Valeriy Zamulin
Translator: Stuart Britton
Publisher: Helion & Company
Distributor: Casemate Publishers

Stalin's Favorite

The Combat history of the 2nd Guards tank Army from Kursk to Berlin

by

Igor Nebolsin

Translated by

Stuart Britton 

 

 Stalin's favorite; at one time it would have meant honor. In this day and age, the phrase might be met with a bit of revulsion.

 This is the second volume of a masterful work on the history of the 2nd Guards Tank Army. In this volume we see its history from the battles for Lublin,Warsaw, and finally the capture of Berlin. After the war, it was stationed in East Germany and was actually disbanded in 1997. In 2001 it was reactivated. More than 103,000 of it's troops were decorated with medals and 221 of them were named Heroes of the Soviet Union. After the tank armies success in the Berlin battles is when it became 'Stalin's favorite'. The 2nd Guards Tank Army would have been in the thick of the Battle for Germany had WWIII broken out.

 This is a monumental work that is filled to the brim with combat and after-combat photos, but also contains photos of all of the separate unit commanders that made up the 2nd Guards Tank Army. There are sixteen pages of colored maps of the tank army's various battlefields. The pictures also show you the different lend-lease tanks that were in action with the Soviets, especially Shermans. The author not only shows us its history, but also adds his own conclusions to the write ups of its different combat actions. One of the highlights is the remarks of General Bogdanov's thoughts for the correct order of battle for a tank army, and an appreciation of the correct use of tank armies in combat. For each operation, the author not only gives us the order of battle for the 2nd Guards Tank Army down to the individual tanks, but also the order of battle for their enemies. There are also some remarks from German officers who had to face the 2nd Guards Tank Army. 

General, later Marshal Bogdanov

 The book is separated into three parts. The first 412 pages are dedicated to its use and actions up until the end of WWII. Next there is next an 'afterword' section that details its history for the next fifty years, and even discusses veterans' reunions. After that comes almost fifty pages of appendices.

 For a complete history of a Soviet tank army in WWII, look no further. This is a wargamer and statistician's gold mine for information. You even get a Soviet appreciation of the vaunted German panzerfaust, and its effectiveness. Thank you once again Helion & Company, and Casemate Publishers for bringing us another history home run. 

Robert

Autheor: Igor Nebolsin

Translator: Stuart Britton

Publisher: Helion&Company

Distributor: Casemate Publishers 

Demolishing the Myth

by 

Valeriy Zamulin

translated by

Stuart Britton

 Kursk it brings to mind nebelwerfers and Stalin's organs screaming, but most of all the oily pall of burning tanks. That one sentence sent to Koba, "the tigers are burning", was supposed to have summed it up. The only question is, did it really happen? Was the Panzerwaffen destroyed on July 12th 1943 at Prokhorovka, or are the earlier histories all wrong, and the true history is very different. 'Demolishing the Myth' looks to answer that question.

 Kursk is probably the second most written about battle following Waterloo. The tank battle at Prokhorovka has been stated many times to be the largest tank battle in history. Unfortunately, due to Soviet propaganda and other untruths, it has been very hard for historians to peel back the layers and find the truth about Kursk. The actual battle of Prokhorovka has been wrapped even tighter in an impenetrable fog than the rest of the Kursk battle. Long known as the 'death ride' of the panzers, Prokhorovka was really much smaller in scale than was imagined. Only in some Soviet dreams was the ground littered with burned out panzers. That is not to say that the fighting was not bitter and to the death, as was all the fighting in the Kursk salient. I want to stress that point. Just because we now know that Dubno in 1941 saw the greatest amount of tanks in one battle, with approximately 5,000 Soviet and 1,000 German tanks, it does not mean that the battle of Prokhorovka was any less important or earth shattering in its consequences or the lives of its veterans.

 "Demolishing the Myth' is a book that was first released in Russian and written by Valeriy Zamulin. It was translated into English by Stuart Britton. Zamulin was a staff member of the Prokhorovka state museum, and has immersed himself deeply in the battle of July 12th. This is a book about that day, and the tremendous conflict that took place there. The book shows more light on the Soviet side, but is sweeping enough to keep you informed about what was happening on both sides of the war. There is some background given on the Soviet main force in the battle, the 5th Guards tank army, and its leader Pavel Rotmistrov. The reason for the battle of Kursk, the German plan, and the days from July 5th to the 11th are gone into, is to give the reader a good foundation of the facts leading to the clash on July 12th. The book itself is over six hundred pages long, and is well supplied with photos from the war. It also has a set of color photos taken to show how the battlefield looks today. The author has also liberally supplied the reader with tactical maps of the engagement. The book continues with an overview of the end of the battle of Kursk. One of the book's greatest assets is the numerous Soviet after battle assessments, and their conclusions on why the 5th Guards tank army was given a bloody nose by the SS panzer grenadier divisions. The hour by hour description of the battle is top notch. The book also comes with a complete Soviet and German order of battle and copious notes. The author brings up the fact, but does not belabor the point, that it is possible that an attack by the 5th Guards tank army should have happened at another site, and not straight into the SS panzer grenadiers. The possibility of using this large force in a flank attack would have brought the German attack to a stand still without the commiserate loss of vehicles and soldiers.

 The author also uses personal accounts to try and put the reader into the contestants' shoes. All in all, the book gives all the whys, and not just the facts of what happened. 

 There have been numerous books written about the battle of Kursk. There are some with a Soviet slant and others that have a German one. With the fall of the Soviet Union and the ability of authors to view the official and non-official reports of the battle, we are now much better informed as to what really did take place. Helion and Company is to be heartily thanked and congratulated on this book. The information alone is worth the price, let alone the top notch physical components of the book. There are so many books on the market about Kursk that one cannot at this time say "this is the one book you need to understand Kursk", however I can state categorically that 'Demolishing the Myth' deserves a spot on your shelf.


 Robert


Author: Valeriy Zamulin
Translator: Stuart Britton
Publisher: Helion and Company
Distributor: Casemate Publishing
Date of Review: 10/23/2016