Winter reading coming up soon...

[Larboard]

Research, research, research... and you invariably learn about books you should read and although I usually go for books that are almost vintage already (I need to pickup an original copy of Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, 1960 printing), sometimes it's brand new books like these two that were just recently published about Stalingrad, and of course I had to have them. The third book about Skorzeny should make for light reading by comparison. Anyway, I've already read quite a few on the Eastern Front and Stalingrad over the years, but I'm hoping this will be captivating.



Didn't realize til these got here that they were part of a trilogy, I ordered the others, will be lucky to read these in one winter...

[mauser9]

I hear ya Larboard. Just started Guns at Last Light by Rick Atkinson. Third book of the Trilogy. Also got Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors. I finished Lenningrad by Anna Reid. Some truly grizly events that took place during the siege concerning starvation and cannibalism. If you haven't read Survivors of Stanlingrad read this one. Don't know how anyone survived that brutal winter. I think the Eastern Front provides the best reading.

[Larboard]

Thx for the tips Mauser, I'll check those books out ;-) This guy alone [Ganz] has written so much stuff on the Russian front, it's pretty crazy, could fill a pretty good sized bookshelf. He has one on Kharkov I'm thinking about picking up, but then there's the dilemma of reading the war out of order... Always been fascinated by the Eastern Front, particularly Stalingrad, the beginning of the end for the Third Reich. Hitler made some huge blunders, obviously attacking Russia in '41 was one of them. Had he waited ten years he's probably been alright? His biggest blunder was Britain, no doubt (in my eyes), and the Eastern Front the complimentary second, losing the focus on the oil fields in the Caucasus to get mired in Stalingrad his fatal one. Stalin was a fairly cunning adversary in the end, and the Russians had seemingly endless men to spare.

[mauser9]

No problem. Will go through some more of the best to suggest. Don't forget about down loadin. Gettin cheap myself nowadays but a Nook or Kindle does save ya quite a bit these days. Only $10 for Lenningrad.

[Larboard]

Yeah, Nooks and Kindles... I find more comfort in having the books, might not even read a lot of these until who knows when but it's good to know they're there if I get laid up or get more time on my hands.

[mauser9]

Just remembered for Lardboard and all forum readers. A great read is "Ostkrieg" Hitler's war of extermination on the Eastern Front by Stephen Fritz. Now available in paperback. Saw it on Amazon. Great reviews.

[Larboard]

Thx Mauser, I'll go check it out right now, sounds like a good one.

[Larboard]

Got it ;-) eBay, Goodwill of Michiana, best deal on the net. Always like helping Goodwill out. Book sounds quite interesting, pretty damning...

[mauser9]

This post really got me thinkin. Few years back my brother-in-law let me read Hells Gate by Douglas Nash. Deals with the breakout of the Korsun Pocket in early part of 44. Awesome reading of fierce battles. Unfortunately not in paperback and the hardcover is expensive. Hopefully can be found cheaper from another source.

[Larboard]

$36 shipped on Amazon is the cheapest I can find out there, unless you watch eBay for a long time and find someone starting one off for a penny... The books looks pretty awesome.

RZM Publishing, Stamford, CT, 2009. Hardcover.

Virtually unknown in the English-speaking world, the Battle of Cherkassy (also known as the Korsun Pocket) still stirs controversy in both the former Soviet Union and in Germany. It was at Cherkassy that the last German offensive strength in the Ukraine was drained away, creating the conditions for the victorious Soviet advance into Poland, Rumania, and the Balkans during the summer and autumn of 1944. Eclipsed by a war of such gigantic proportions that saw the deaths of over one million men or more as commonplace, the events which occurred along the banks of the Gniloy Tickich river should have faded into obscurity. However, to the 60,000 German soldiers who were encircled there at the end of January 1944, this was perhaps one of the most brutal, physically exhausting, and morally demanding battles they had ever experienced. Thirty-four percent of them would not escape. The culmination of years of research and survivor interviews, Hell's Gate is a riveting hour by hour and day by day account of this desperate struggle analyzed on a tactical level through maps and military transcripts, as well as on a personal level, through the words of the enlisted men and officers who risked the roaring waters of the Gniloy Tickich to avoid certain death at the hands of their Soviet foe.