Robert Kirchubel - Böcker

The Eastern Front was the most significant theatre of World War II.Here the bulk of the Wehrmacht was committed and eventually shattered by the Red Army in a campaign of unmatched intensity. From Operation Barbarossa in 1941 through to the final fall of Berlin in 1945, German and Soviet soldiers fought across the breadth and depth of the Eastern Front, a staggering 1,600 miles, from the Arctic north through the dense forests and marshes of Belorussia, over the broad Ukraine and arid steppe to the rugged mountains of the Caucasus.The 128 detailed pieces of cartography in this impressive atlas help to explain the fighting and physical challenges faced by Axis and Soviet forces alike. The complex combat and movement, thrust and parry, brilliance and folly are all explained by these maps and their accompanying text, providing clear historical and geographical understanding of the brutal and titanic conflict.

This book focuses on Field Marshal von Rundstedt and Army Group South, tasked with the capture of the Ukraine and Crimea. Operation Barbarossa, Germany’s surprise assault on the Soviet Union in June 1941, aimed at nothing less than the complete destruction of Communist Russia.Von Rundstedt’s 46 divisions and single Panzer Group faced fierce resistance from the best equipped, trained and commanded units in the Red Army, but ultimately succeeded in destroying the Soviet 6th and 12th Armies at Uman before inflicting a further 600,000 casualties at Kiev.Here, von Rundstedt’s five-month advance to Rostov is examined in detail.

This book focuses on Von Leeb's Army Group North, tasked with seizing the Baltic States and Leningrad. Of the German Army Groups that attacked Soviet Russia, Von Leeb's Army Group North was the smallest and weakest. General Kuznetzov's Northwestern Front, however, was in an even weaker state.Despite brave counterattacks and defense by the Soviet forces, the Germans smashed through the Dvina Line, then the Stalin Line, flooded into Latvia and pressed on to encircle Leningrad.This book examines the German offensive and also the courageous Soviet attempts to halt the German spearhead, defending every possible line against overwhelming odds.