[BOOK REVIEW] Stalingrad Pocket - by Akhil Kadidal

Am well over half way through the Island of Fire, what a cracking book that is, so detailed and really pulls you into the battle with all the first hand accounts and diary entries. I dont think any other nation would have had as much stubborn stoicism as the soviets showed, to resist so much pressure and firepower, and the willingness to suffer so many casualties!
I do think its quite telling that some of the units integrated throughout Lyudnikov's positions on 'the island' were NKVD Blocking detachments :sneaky: ie the ones tasked to shoot any retreating/surrendering/weak willed red infantry! Also apparently a high number of political officers were spread amongst the men.
But the reds were tough buggers, especially those Pacific marines they fed in piecemeal. Looking at the terrain and the shear amount of steelwork & masonry detrius covering the battlefield, you can see why it was an utter mincing machine of men and equipment.
I just dont know how they held out so long before the tables were eventually turned on the Germans. Mind you, first time i've read that any German armour trying to move about was also engaged by AA, AT and arty from the east bank of the Volga, over open sights. I assumed AFV losses were mostly from up close with ATR's and molotovs in the ruins.
Great book.
 
Bootie is involved with a site called "Battle Guide Virtual Tours" which started up over CoVid when everyone was stuck at home.
Using things like Google Maps and on the ground video they put together some excellent tours.
One such tour was: Stalingrad – The Fight for Mamayev Kurgan – 1942/43 with Battlefield Guide – Professor Matthias Strohn.

It was great to see the actual ground, albeit virtually, with detailed descriptions of maneuver and combat was excellent made for an excellent tour.

If you have an hour or so I would highly recommend it.

 
It's just Panzerkrieg that is not available, the rest are, I'm hoping that when he release Vol 2 it will be reprinted. I didn't see his article no, I will try and find it I think.
Rec'd Guderians Foxes a few weeks ago. Before this I decided to fill out my entire collection and got Angriff and Turning Point. Angriff is like Guderians Foxes, except no colour and no maps.
 
Ha I bought Leaping Horsemen straight after finishing the amazing Island of Fire. Expensive thread this :)

On the Stalingrad theme, I’ve just started Breakout at Stalingrad by Heinrich Gerlach. Have heard good reviews by historians
 
Its one of the best. I hope there is a vol II coming.

Have you seen Autumn Gale and Kampf Walther?
http://www.autumngale.com/
Sorry for resurrecting this one but I just took delivery of my copies of Autumn Gale and Kampf Walther, took a bit to track down copies that weren't £200 each! I've got some more reading to do.
 
I want to get Autumn Gale, but like you, not going to pay ridiculous sums for it. Mind you i have about 15 unread books to get through yet in my pile!

and ps, Breakout at Stalingrad, i found it a hard read, interesting in places and reveals a few unknowns but meanders on and on, maybe text lost in translation? Does reveal how desperate and forlorn the bands of survivors became.
 
Full Title: Stalingrad Pocket - The Advance To Stalingrad and the Destruction of the Sixth Army.
My OPINION; an Interesting but horribly irritating read.

First the bad news - 'horribly irritating read'. In a previous book review I have complained how modern books have gone downhill in terms of editing and grammar. Well, this small book is by far the worst edited publication I have ever read. By far. Hardly a page is turned without one or more errors in grammar or misplaced, dupicated or omitted words. I want to SCREAM it's so horrible. I think that even a standard computer based spell/grammar checker would do better than this. And that after an author's foreword in which he self-extols the quality of his original (lost due to hard-drive crash) manuscript. Ugh.

Now the good news. Putting aside the murder of the English language and good literature, I found the historical account sufficiently engaging. I have not previously read any accounts of the battle of Stalingrad. Within that context, I found sufficient scope and detail to satisfy my curiosity and interest in this battle. It touched briefly but adequately upon the personalities involved as well as the overall strategic situation but primarily focused upon the battle itself.

Would I recommend it? That's difficult given my lack of reading other accounts about this battle. You see, if there was another source which delved into the matter with a similar scope and detail but was properly written and edited, I would recommend that publication instead and toss this one. But that's not the case so I'm back to repeating my opening opinion, 'an Interesting but horribly irritating read.' I don't dare recommend it out of fear that it irritates you more than me. On the other hand I cannot recommend that you pass it by. Who knows? You might like it.
There are errors in this publication such as the inclusion of 76th Infantry Division incorporated within 48th Panzer Corps on the southern side of the city. I started my Stalingrad work with a picture from this publication but I found that it was wrong.
Indeed I have a copy of Anton Joly's Stalingrad Battle Atlas and there is a spelling or grammatical error on many pages, however it is a very informative book. I've found errors in Glantz's Stalingrad book relating to number of panzers within a certain unit, and with Anton Joly's work I was able to solve that mystery. I double checked with a forum post on Feldgrau from Jmark, a Leaping Horseman author.
 
Sorry for resurrecting this one but I just took delivery of my copies of Autumn Gale and Kampf Walther, took a bit to track down copies that weren't £200 each! I've got some more reading to do.
Enjoy mate. Both are great reads, so many maps so you can keep track of the action, plus the excellent pictures.

Be careful, I dropped the Autumn Gale book and it slightly tore away from the spine becuase of the weight. Its still in one piece though.
 
Enjoy mate. Both are great reads, so many maps so you can keep track of the action, plus the excellent pictures.

Be careful, I dropped the Autumn Gale book and it slightly tore away from the spine becuase of the weight. It’s still in one piece though.
I’ve had a scan through and I love the maps, very clear and well illustrated. I have a few to read ahead of these but should get to them soon hopefully.
 
There are errors in this publication such as the inclusion of 76th Infantry Division incorporated within 48th Panzer Corps on the southern side of the city. I started my Stalingrad work with a picture from this publication but I found that it was wrong.
Indeed I have a copy of Anton Joly's Stalingrad Battle Atlas and there is a spelling or grammatical error on many pages, however it is a very informative book. I've found errors in Glantz's Stalingrad book relating to number of panzers within a certain unit, and with Anton Joly's work I was able to solve that mystery. I double checked with a forum post on Feldgrau from Jmark, a Leaping Horseman author.
I looked at Joly's atlases but I have not room for them, plus Mrs Stache will probably have a connery if I buy anymore books on Stalingrad :) Jmark will be Jason Mark who's books I recommended above. I now own all but one of his books and his work is usually very well researched.
 
I looked at Joly's atlases but I have not room for them, plus Mrs Stache will probably have a connery if I buy anymore books on Stalingrad :) Jmark will be Jason Mark who's books I recommended above. I now own all but one of his books and his work is usually very well researched.
Jason had great info and it helped a bunch.
The stalingrad battle atlases are good, but simple. It's really just 6th army and 62nd army's war diaries translated + some low quality situational maps. It's perfect for a scenario designer. It's different than a book like Glantz's and similar at the same time for both those reasons. Joly's book is an easier read than Glantz's if you arent a hardcore grog. :)
 
The Prit Buttar books on the eastern front are pretty detailed too. I really enjoyed his 'On a knifes Edge' which describes the desperate battles around stalingrad as the russians tried to seal off the pocket whilst Mansteins panzers battled desperately to break through it. Though i found his other book on Battleground Prussia in 44-45 not as easy reading for some reason and i put it down to finish later whilst i read others, which is unlike me. He has several books covering different stages of the Ost front.

RE Island of Fire, can see me wanting 'Leaping Horsemen' next at a fair whack !
On Prit -
I seriously considered buying his books until I read the reviews. People are thrashing him for rampant errors in his books. I don't own any, nor do I intend on obtaining any form of his books to fact check his work. Frankly considering the amount of content he pushes out... I'm extremely suspect.

There is a two star review in this product page where the customer lists like 100 errors. And this isnt even the only book where people are complaining.

Stuff like this alone is intolerable.... 5th TA's counter stroke was one of the largest events in the early Blau campaign...

"Page 32 falsely states that 5th Tank Army encountered 24th Panzer Division, citing Forczyk's Tank Warfare on the Eastern Front 1941-1942 (p. 201). Forczyk's book does not say this. You could argue that Buttar cites Forczyk only for the 5th Tank Army casualties and is making us take his word for it about the 24th Panzer."

 
wow, thats interesting to hear. Thought he is being touted as the foremost writer on the Eastern Front these days. I've got 3 of his books so bit disapointing to hear they could be full of innacuracies! I really enjoyed 'on a Knifes Edge' but found his other book 'Battleground Prussia' a bit of a slog to read and not as captivating. I've got his latest one 'meat grinder' to read yet in my pile.
 
Just finished reading 'Death of the Leaping Horsemen', another top quality cracking good read with plenty of personal accounts interlaced with the timeline. Only thing i was a little peeved at was it ends suddenly in Dec 42. After following their trials in battle for 4 months it was a little deflating to not read what happened to them through the winter encirclement and presumed eventual demise. Is there a follow up book?
 
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