New book on 3rd Battle of Kharkov

[Der Alte Fritz]

Last Victory in Russia 1943: The SS-Panzerkorps and Manstein's Kharkov Counteroffensive - February-March 1943 (Schiffer Military History Book)

George M. Nipe

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0764311867/ref=oss_product

Just released.

[Redwolf]

Is that a reputable author?

Looks like he's a little SS focused, which is usually a bad sign. But maybe he just has a real clue about the SS corps.

[huhr]

I have this book for a year or 2, good book

[huhr]

Nipe writes some good historical biographies and the books are usually quite detailed but on the pricier side due to the number of photos and entire set up of the book. Even if it could be somewhat biased its still useful info, good to read both sides besides our mainstream media gives you one side of the sory all the time.

[Michael Emrys]

On a related note, Glantz has a new book coming out next month that looks interesting. A bit pricey, so I may wait to see if my local public library will buy a copy.

Michael

[Redwolf]

On a related note, Glantz has a new book coming out next month that looks interesting. A bit pricey, so I may wait to see if my local public library will buy a copy.

Michael

I like how Amazon gives you a "frequently bought with this item" section, given that the item hasn't been released yet.

[huhr]

I have the book in my Book Collector data base and this is the description for the book, it was released in 2000 and its not a book you will find in the local library, however, I could be proved wrong since I think I do remember seeing it somewhere recently either at a bookstore or local library. A good company for finding books is at Federowicz Publishing, check them out

Schiffer Publishing*(2000)

#166

Read It:

Yes

War

World War, 1939-1945 - Campaigns, Kharkov, Battle of, Kharkiv, Ukraine, 1943

This book is the first detailed and comprehensive account of the Kharkov counteroffensive, the operations of the SS divisions and the supporting actions of Armeeabteilung Fretter-Pico and 1. Panzerarmee, and is supported by over 210 photographs and maps. By the end of January of 1943, Hitlers armies had been dealt a series of defeats by the Russians, beginning with the disaster at Stalingrad. Successive Soviet offensives had destroyed the German 6. Armee and annihilated the armies of Germanys Axis allies, Italy, Rumania and Hungary. Germany teetered on the brink of defeat in World War II because the Soviet advance threatened to drive to the Dnepr River and encircle the remaining Germans armies in southern Russia. Stalin and the Russian high command believed that the war could be won with just one more great effort. Accordingly, they planned and launched two offensives, designated Operations Star and Gallop. The focal points of the two offensives included the recapture of Kharkov, the industrial heart of the Ukraine and the destruction of Armeeabteilung Hollidt, 4. Panzerarmee and 2. Armee. Feldmarschall Erich von Manstein entered the picture in late 1942 when he was appointed commander of Heeresgruppe Don. Beginning in February he engineered a remarkable operation that changed the course of the war in Russia. Mansteins counteroffensive destroyed or severely damaged four Russian armies and regained much of the territory lost in January. The troops that played the most important role in the offensive were three divisions of the Waffen-SS. Leibstandarte, Das Reich and Totenkopf were combined for the first time into a corps, which was commanded by SS-Obergruppenfhrer Paul Hausser, the senior commander of the Waffen-SS. Leibstandarte and Das Reich participated in the defense of Kharkov, along with the elite Army division ?Grossdeutschland supported by three weak infantry divisions. This handful of divisions was attacked by four Soviet armies, but under command of Armeeabteilung Lanz, was able to hold the city for two weeks. On 14 February, 1943 the SS-Panzerkorps and the rest of Armeeabteilung Lanz withdrew from Kharkov under disputed circumstances that involved Hausser and his violation of a direct order from Hitler. Almost exactly a month later, the Germans had recaptured Kharkov and destroyed or crippled the four Soviet armies that had driven them out of the city in February. The divisions that played the key role in Mansteins counteroffensive were the three divisions of the Waffen-SS. While Leibstandarte defended the supply base of the SS-Panzerkorps from the entire Soviet 3rd Tank Army, Das Reich and Totenkopf conducted a complex series of operations that began with a 100 kilometer thrust to the south which saved the Dnepr bridges, thus securing supply lines for the armies of Heeresgruppe Don/Sd. Subsequent operations by the SS divisions drove the Russians away from the rail net south of Kharkov and wrested Kharkov from the Russians once again. During the recapture of the city, there was controversy regarding Haussers command decisions. Hausser has been accused of disregarding his instructions from superior officers and throwing his divisions into costly combat in the city for reasons of personal and SS prestige, in order to regain Hitlers favor. This study has found that the records of the SS-Panzerkorps and 4. Panzerarmee provide a different explanation for Haussers actions.

[Der Alte Fritz]

Not sure about this one, may just be a chapter from his Forgotten Battles series re-released. Helion did this with his book about the operations after Stalingrad.

Description:

At dawn on 10 July 1941, massed tanks and motorized infantry of German Army Group Center's Second and Third Panzer Groups crossed the Dnepr and Western Dvina Rivers, beginning what Adolf Hitler, the Fuhrer of Germany's Third Reich, and most German officers and soldiers believed would be a triumphal march on Moscow, the capital of the Soviet Union. Less than three weeks before, on 22 June Hitler had unleashed his Wehrmacht's massive invasion of the Soviet Union code-named Operation Barbarossa, which sought to defeat the Soviet Union's Red Army, conquer the country, and unseat its Communist ruler, Josef Stalin. Between 22 June and 10 July, the Wehrmacht advanced up to 500 kilometers into Soviet territory, killed or captured up to one million Red Army soldiers, and reached the western banks of the Western Dvina and Dnepr Rivers, by doing so satisfying the premier assumption of Plan Barbarossa that the Third Reich would emerge victorious if it could defeat and destroy the bulk of the Red Army before it withdrew to safely behind those two rivers. With the Red Army now shattered, Hitler and most Germans expected total victory in a matter of weeks. The ensuing battles in the Smolensk region frustrated German hopes for quick victory. Once across the Dvina and Dnepr Rivers, a surprised Wehrmacht encountered five fresh Soviet armies. Despite destroying two of these armies outright, severely damaging two others, and encircling the remnants of three of these armies in the Smolensk region, quick victory eluded the Germans. Instead, Soviet forces encircled in Mogilev and Smolensk stubbornly refused to surrender, and while they fought on, during July, August, and into early September, first five and then a total of seven newly-mobilized Soviet armies struck back viciously at the advancing Germans, conducting multiple counterattacks and counterstrokes, capped by two major counteroffensives that sapped German strength and will. Despite immense losses in men and materiel, these desperate Soviet actions derailed Operation Barbarossa. Smarting from countless wounds inflicted on his vaunted Wehrmacht, even before the fighting ended in the Smolensk region, Hitler postponed his march on Moscow and instead turned his forces southward to engage 'softer targets' in the Kiev region. The 'derailment' of the Wehrmacht at Smolensk ultimately became the crucial turning point in Operation Barbarossa. This study exploits a wealth of Soviet and German archival materials, including the combat orders and operational of the German OKW, OKH, army groups, and armies and of the Soviet Stavka, General Staff, Western Direction Command, Western and Central Front's, and their subordinate armies, to present a detailed mosaic and definitive account of what took place, why, and how during the prolonged and complex battles in the Smolensk region from 11 July through early September 1941. Its structure is designed specifically to appeal to both general readers and specialists, by including a detailed chronological narrative of the course of operations, accompanied by an extensive collection of specific orders and reports translated verbatim from German and Russian, which were prepared and issued by German and Soviet headquarters and forces that planned and conducted the operations. Finally, the study includes and extensive collection of archival or archival based maps detailing every stage of the battle.