Ostfront 1944: The German Defensive Battles on the Russian Front 1944 (Schiffer Military History)

Rating:
Summary: Excellent blend of tactics with personal accounts
Review: I was lucky enough to find this book at a local book store. If you can find it, buy it. It documents six eastern front battles in 1944 where large numbers of German troops were surrounded and eventually destroyed or captured. Battles include Cherkassy, Ternopol, the Crimea, Bagration, Brody, and destruction of the Sixth Army in Romania. The book puts the history in very personal terms. A few soldiers were lucky enough to escape the pockets, sometimes traveling up to six weeks behind Russian lines before being reunited with the German army. There are many personal accounts of the behind thelines adventures, and they are the most captivating reading.

The book is compelling for it's account of the horrors of war, and the massive destruction that the German Army suffered on the eastern front, in terms of men, machines, and horses. The book is written from a former german soldier turned historian, so there is an obvous pro-german army bias in recounting the suffering and difficulties, but I did not find that detracting from work. My only complaint is that there are few maps, and the ones provided are poor.