Today is my birthday (I have one every year, BTW) and I think it will be fair enough to reveal what is in store for you (hopefully) in the next 12 months.
1.) "Entrapment" - (The publisher already has announced this one). It is dedicated to the third and forth Soviet attempts to encircle and capture Budapest, in Dec 44. The style is similar to some of the Glantz's books, the focus is on the command decisions, troop movements, mostly tactical-level detail. I have used a plenty of archival material from the Russian archives (the after action reports of the 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts, the Pliev Group and 46th Army, the war diaries of the 7th Guards Army and the 6th Guards Tank Army, as well as the after action reports of the tank-, mechanized and cavalry corps plus some artillery units) and German /American archives (KTB and Anlagen of HGr Sued, Meldungen and Anlagen of 72 AK, OKH and OKL records). I have utilized some secondary material too (mostly books and some articles). The work will be heavily equipped with tables, lists, etc. I hope that the maps will turn out nicely too. Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you that everything is footnoted and sourced... Not so many photos or personal accounts, rather a straight-forward tactical/operational study of the offensive. The battles discussed are: the Ercsi landing (5 - 9 Dec), the breakthrough in the sector of the 7th Guards Army (5 - 9 Dec), the tank battles in the area between the Gron and Ipoly rivers (20 - 28 Dec) and the breakthrough of the 4th Guards Army and the 46th Army towards Esztergom that led to the encirclement of Budapest (20 - 26 Dec). For those who love statistics, there will be a large section dealing with losses, strengths, aircraft and AFV breakdowns and so on.
2.) "The East Prussian Operation 1945" - I think the title says all. Similar in style to "Entrapment", it is dealing with the Soviet offensive operations in East Prussia from Jan to Apr 1945. 20 to 30 maps, more than 60 photos (German and Soviet, most of them - never published before), ca. 200 pages long. And here is a draft version of the synopsis that I have prepared for the publisher:
When, at the beginning of August 1944, the Red Army reached East Prussia, neither Stalin nor anyone else of his entourage suspected that the conquering of the easternmost province of the Third Reich would take more than eight months and would cost an enormous amount of effort and the lives of hundreds of thousands of soldiers. The first two attempts of the young Soviet General Chernyakhovsky to penetrate deep into the enemy territory failed miserably, which, in turn, forced Stalin to redeploy considerable forces to that area and allow them to prepare thoroughly for the final assault. The assault in question commenced in the small hours of 13 January 1945 and continued for almost four months. It would go down in history as one of the most ferocious battles of the World War 2.
The new book by the Bulgarian author Kamen Nevenkin scrutinizes that third and final attempt of powerful Soviet force to capture East Prussia. Using a considerable number of German archival documents, as well as formerly classified Soviet General Staff studies, the author discusses in detail all aspects of the battles that took place in East Prussia from January to April 1945. A special attention is paid to the decision-making processes in the headquarters of the two opposing forces. Thanks to utilization of a variety of primary sources, the author tries to give objective answers to some central questions, as well as to debunk a number of resistant myths that have emerged in the post-Second World War decades.
The book is provided with a number of useful appendices, maps and previously unpublished photos.
3.) "The Bulgarian Army in World War II 1944-1945" - This a photographic history dedicated to the participation of the Bulgarian army in the final operations against Germany (Oct 44 – May 45), ca. 500 pictures, some 10 pages of text and the same number of maps. While selecting the photos in the archive, my clear intention was to choose such images that will give an insight into all sides of wartime service of the Bulgarian soldier and officer. The full range of military experience is portrayed, including recruitment, training, transport, marching, scouting, combat. Many close-view photos of vehicles, weapons, men, booty and wrecks.
4.) "A Shortcut to Munich" - This is a book about the military and political struggle for Hungary in the second half of Oct 1944 and the beginning of Nov 1944. A considerable part of the book is dealing with the internal political situation in Hungary and the region as a whole, Stalin - Churchill race for Central Europe, economic significance, Hitler's East - West strategy, the Holocoust, etc. Criminal behavior of the German, Soviet and Romanian armies against the local population is discussed as well and a number of orders against rapes, looting and robbery signed by Friessner and Malinovsky are quoted in full. The book also discuss the famous "phone call story" (when Stalin called Malinovsky and ordered him over the phone to attack Budapest on the very next day), but from a completely different angle. The other half of the book is "right-in-your face" non-stop combat at tactical/operational level including tank-vs-tank duels, first person accounts from Russians, Germans and Hungarians aided by up to 30 maps showing all those small-scale and large-scale engagements. The story here is focused on the battles in the area of Kecskemt and subsequent Soviet drive to Budapest (29 Oct – 7 Nov 44). A plenty of statistics, tables, OOBs, reports on losses and victory claims plus a dedicated section to the war in the air. Up to 30 pics (or maybe more?). The materials that I’ve used in writing this book come directly from the archives: KTB and Anlagen HGr Sued, the war diaries of the 2nd Ukrainian Front and 5th Air Army, the daily reports of the 46th Army and the after-action reports of 2nd and 4th Guards Mechanized Corps. I also have used a large amount of so-called “secondary sources” – articles, wartime newspapers, unit histories, memories, studies and document collections. The text turned out very nicely even though I'm not Cornelius Ryan, Christopher Duffy or at least Richard Hargreaves.
Well, that's all folks.
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