The Siege of Küstrin

[Benoit Douville]

This one look really interesting for those fascinated by late Battle in Germany in 1945.The unexpected arrival of Soviet troops at the end of January 1945 at the ancient fortress and garrison town of Kustrin came as a tremendous shock to the German High Command. The Red Army needed the vital road and rail bridges passing through Küstrin for their forthcoming assault on the Berlin, but flooding and their own high command's strategic blunders resulted in a sixty-day siege by two Soviet armies which totally destroyed the town. The delay in the Soviet advance also gave the Germans time to consolidate the defences shielding Berlin west of the Oder River. Despite Hitler's orders to fight on to the last bullet, the Kustrin garrison commander and 1000 of the defenders managed a dramatic break-out to the German lines. The protracted siege had an appalling human cost - about 5 000 Germans were killed, 9000 wounded and 6000 captured, and the Russians lost 5000 killed and 15000 wounded. Tony Le Tissier, in this graphic and painstakingly researched account, has recorded events in extraordinary detail, using the vivid eyewitness testimony of survivors to bring the story of the siege to life. Anyone read it yet?

[Richard Hargreaves]

This one is really interesting. See:

viewtopic.php?f=33&t=30442

and also

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Siege-Kustrin-1 ... 875&sr=8-1