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When the Soviets fortified Sevastopol in 1941, it heralded the beginning of a period of intense fighting over the Crimea. In this remarkable work, acclaimed author Robert Forcyzk assembles new research to investigate the intense and barbaric fighting for the region in World War II, where first Soviet, and then German armies were surrounded and totally obliterated.

Now available in paperback, Forczyk's unique account provides a definitive analysis of the many unique characteristics of the conflict, exploring the historical context as it uncovers one of the most pivotal theaters of...

Zhukov was the dominant figure in the Red Army during World War II even though his actual job title varied from day to day. Serving as a senior General Staff representative from the Stavka, Zhukov moved from one critical sector to the next, serving as advisor, coordinator and de facto front commander as required. There is no doubt that Zhukov played a critical role in salvaging the critical situation in the fall of 1941 and leading the Red Army to an amazing reversal of fortunes in 1942-43 and eventual victory in 1944-45. He was instrumental in the initial defence of Leningrad, before...

Osprey's study of the involvement of Poland's Home Army in World War II (1939-1945). Poland had apparently lain dormant under the Nazi heel for nearly five years, suffering the waves of genocidal round-ups, organized looting and the brutal suppression of its culture. The Poles, however, had in fact formed an underground army, the Armia Krajowa (Home Army), and waited for the moment when German weakness would offer the opportunity for a successful rising. That moment seemed to have arrived in July 1944. As the Soviet armies began to advance into eastern Poland following the destruction of...

Against the wishes of Hitler, German forces under Erich von Manstein were forced to retreat following the failure of their offensive at Kursk in July 1943. The weakened force had only one possible refuge, behind the wide Dnepr River. The race to the natural defensive line was on, with the Soviets launching one of their largest offensives of the war--with over two million men on the move.

Expert Eastern Front historian Robert Forczyk describes the dramatic four-month campaign that saw the Red Army not only succeed in crossing the Dnepr at multiple points, but also liberate Kiev, the...

In mid-December 1942, the Soviets had surrounded the German 6th Army in Stalingrad but the Wehrmacht was engaged in a desperate relief effort with Operation Winter Storm and an airlift. The Soviet Stavka moved to defeat both these German efforts in order to ensure the rapid destruction of the 6th Army and to maintain strategic momentum. As part of the effort to defeat the airlift, the Soviet Stavka decided to launch a deep raid with the entire 24th Tank Corps to seize the airfield at Tatsinskaya, the primary operating base for the German airlift.

On 17 December 1942, the 24th Tank...

After failing to finish off the German Army in the 1941/42 Winter Counteroffensive and aware that Hitler was planning a new summer offensive in mid-1942, Stalin directed the Red Army to conduct a powerful blow in one sector of the Eastern Front in order to disrupt German plans. The sector chosen was Kharkov, where the Soviet Southwestern Front had seized bridgeheads over the Donets River and Heeresgruppe Sud appeared vulnerable. Under Stalin's trusted military advisor, Marshal Semyon Timoshenko, the Stavka's remaining reserves were assembled and prepared to conduct a breakthrough attack...

With the fall of France in 1940, Germany suddenly had the opportunity to strike at poorly guarded Allied convoys. The Luftwaffe pressed into service the Fw-200 Condor, a plane that had originally been designed as a civilian airliner and the first plane to fly non-stop from Berlin to New York in 1938. After various modifications, the Fw-200 became the Luftwaffe's long-range maritime patrol and strike bomber. It was devastatingly effective; a single attack by five Condors on a convoy in February 1941 resulted in the sinking and damaging of 11 ships. Furthermore, the Condors passed on convoy...

Robert A. Forczyk provides a riveting and intense description of the design and development of these two deadly opponents, the Panther and the T-34, analyzing their strengths and weaknesses and describing their tactics, weaponry and training. Moreover he gives an insight into the lives of the tank crews themselves, who were caught up in the largest land conflict of World War II, in some of the most important engagements in the history of warfare.

Innovative digital artwork and first-person perspectives place the reader in the midst of a duel between the titans of the Soviet and...

Kursk 1943 focuses on the northern front and the battle of Kursk, and period of July 5th to August 18th, 1943, covering both the German offensive and the Soviet counteroffensive - Model's AOK 9 pitted against General Konstantin Rokossovsky's Central Front.

After recovering from the Stalingrad debacle, Hitler intended to conduct a limited objective offensive (using the new Panther and Tiger tanks) in the summer of 1943 in order to eliminate the Soviet Kursk salient. He intended to conduct a classic pincer attack of the kind that succeeded during the 1942 Kharkov campaign and hoped...

The fighting around the town of Demyansk was one of the longest encirclement battles on the Eastern Front during the Second World War, stretching from February 1942 to February 1943. Originally, the German 16. Armee occupied Demyansk in the fall of 1941 because it was key terrain - a crossroads located on high ground amidst a sea of swampy terrain - that would be used as a springboard for an eventual offensive into the Valdai Hills. Instead, the Soviet winter counteroffensive in February 1942 encircled the German II Armeekorps and other units, totalling about 100,000 troops, inside the...