Ostfront fans, more excellent Ostfront books are coming!

[panzermahn]

Dear fellow Feldgrauans who are Ostfront fans, (Richard Hargreaves obviously comes first in my mind),

Our own Feldgrau fellow member, Stephan Hamilton, is preparing a book about Heeresgruppe Weichsel and Generaloberst Heinrici



http://www.amazon.com/ODER-FRONT-1945-G ... pd_sim_b_1


Looks like we readers are spoilt for a bunch of coming Ostfront literature for this year. If I am not mistaken, Stephan's upcoming book would be one of those rare ones (in English) covering Heinrici and the Army Group Vistula (apart from Le Tissier's series on Battle of Berlin, Halbe Pocket and Oderfront). I think it's about time Heinrici should be given a reappraisal since the first time I read about him is via Ryan's old classic The Last Battle

Another book which caught my eye is this one by Ruper Butler (though I must admit I have to think twice since I think Butler's league is more similar to Christopher Ailsby, Chris Bishop, Franz Kurowski and Charles Witting than Jason Mark, Rolf Hinze or David Glantz). I don't recall if there is any major book about NKVD in the Eastern Front so far though



http://www.amazon.com/STALINS-SECRET-WA ... 012&sr=1-3


What do you think folks?

[Ricardo Silva]

Those books would give an excelente summer reading!
I'm particular curious about "The Oder Front 1945", since it probably has a good perspective about the battle of the seelow heights, one of my favourite defensive battles of all times.
Great advise panzermahn

[Richard Hargreaves]

One can never have too many books about the Ostfront. Especially the Endkampf.

I can't praise Stephan's book too highly.

[Stephan H.]

Panzermahn, thanks for posting info about Stalin's Secret War. It's a book I plan to buy. While hunting it down on Amazon, I noticied this book that also ended up in my basket mysteriously : Stalin's Secret War: Soviet Counterintelligence Against the Nazis, 1941-1945 by Robert Stephan.

While it is still too early to get into too much detail, The Oder Front 1945 has grown into a multi-volume history thanks to significant new collections of documents I've acquired (or am acquiring) from the USNA or BAMA. Everytime I think I've seen or read it all, there is always something new to be found if you dig hard enough. I'm hard at work on Volume II that will be due out in May/June 2011. I'll post more details in a month or so.

Thanks for the early feedback, Richard! Your willingness to share some of your own Endkampf research/translations helped round out my biographic sketch of Heinrici.

Cheers,
Stephan

[Rotanhäntäpistin]

When is the volume 1 due?

[panzermahn]

Hi Stephan

No problem. I had the one by Robert W. Stephan, and I consider it the best book I had bought in 2009. An excellent book and I would say the most definitive work (at least in English) on Counterintelligence in the Eastern Front I came across so far. If you seen my previous review in this Feldgrau section, I was hoping the author would come out a volume II work focusing more on German intelligence cooperation with other Axis counterintelligence units against the Soviet NKVD. There is also a book writenn by Count Nikolai Tolstoy-Miloslavsky with the same title published in the 70s or 80s if I am not mistaken.

I am going to get this Oderfront book once it is released (I think Richard's going to do the same). Not having the motive of comparing between authors, but would it be possible for you to share with us the main differentiation (in general) between your work and Tony Le Tissier's series on the Oderfront (Battle of Berlin, Zhukov at the Oder, Siege of Kustrin, Slaughter at Halbe)?.

I have a couple of Le Tissier's book (Siege of Kustrin, Battle of Berlin, death was our companion and With Our Backs to Berlin) and from what I have read, Le Tissier emphasized more on the "human" (eg, memoirs, recollections) side and the information of battles that raged in these books were generalized and explained as simple as possible (probaly intended for laymen readers or just enthusiasts rather than academic research) unlike John Erickson ones (Road to Stalingrad & Road to Berlin) which are more like a textbook/academic research.

Many thanks and would there be any option of buying directly from you (of course with your dedication if possible :))

Best regards
Panzermahn

[Stephan H.]

Panzermahn-I’d prefer not to make comparisons with Tissier’s previous works, I’ll leave that to you after you read The Oder Front 1945. I will say that even if you read all his works, you will find much new information in The Oder Front 1945 as it is broader in scope. I also did my best to sketch out a biographic picture of Heinrici--the man deserves his own book as I believe he was one of the most interesting field commanders of the war.

My goal was to put together the most complete accounting of H.Gr. Weichsel while under Heinrici’s tenure. I’ve posted the Table of Contents in my Author Forum sticky some time ago so you can go there and see the scope of the book. The book uses almost all primary documents and first person accounts by participants of the fighting and senior officers of H.Gr. W, most of which is translated and published for the first time in English. I’ve done my best to compare all accounts with the available KTB record to give an authoritative accounting of final German operations in eastern Germany.

My personal opinion is that the events on the eastern front in the last six-seven months of the war are fascinating to explore and lacking in research/publication. I will be writing on this subject for many years to come as I and others are turning up more and more documents from the BAMA, USNA, and Russian archives that have been untapped by prior researchers.

Besides my tentatively planned three or four volumes on the Oder Front, I have plans to publish a work of Armeegruppe Heinrici (1.Pz.Armee) operations in the Carpathians (again, based on previously unpublished documents/accounts). . . just do not hold your breath for that one as I’ll have to do significant translation work first.

Also, there isn’t an option to buy direct for me. If that changes, I’ll let you know before the book goes to print.

Rotanhäntäpistin – Volume I is due out on November 2010.

Thanks for the interst,
Stephan

[Richard Hargreaves]

Heinrici left voluminous papers at BA-MA, including his notebooks/diaries/letters. It's a real shame that only the 1941-42 period has been transcribed because (a) they're a golden nugget and (b) his handwriting's hideous (unlike Weichs, whose memoirs I could read even though they were handwritten) and faded (he wrote in pencil in very small notebooks).

He's certainly worthy of a solid biography; I had hoped Hürter might finish transcribing his notes, but it doesn't look like it.

[panzermahn]

Hi Stephan

Many thanks again for your explanation. As mentioned before, I definitely does not had any motive (in a negative perspective) to compare the works of different authors, but rather I think that your work complements more comprehensively into what Le Tissier has done.

I shall be looking forward to this excellent book for my collection of Ostfront books (but I think I will never match Richard's library, not in my lifetime anyways :P)

Thanks
Panzermahn

[Jan-Hendrik]

By the way, is the best books on the fights between Oder and Elbe ever translated into english?

I mean the Tieke Volume?

Jan-Hendrik

[Richard Hargreaves]

Sadly not. Nor Schäufler's excellent book.

[panzermahn]

2011 surely a marketable year for Ostfront topics :)



http://www.amazon.com/Paratroops-Battal ... d_sim_b_24




http://www.amazon.com/ODER-FRONT-1945-D ... 046&sr=1-1


Though this one is not an Ostfront topic, but I am pretty much surprised since Dr. Norbert Sza'mve'ber actually wrote a book on the Westfront since he was a researcher on Hungarian volunteers in Waffen SS



http://www.amazon.com/SS-ARMOUR-NORMAND ... pd_sim_b_3




http://www.amazon.com/Viking-Panzers-Ge ... pd_sim_b_2


Another excellent book Fallschirmjaeger book appearing in English, I probably have this on my wish list



http://www.amazon.com/LIONS-CARENTAN-Fa ... pd_sim_b_8

[Kelvin]

I can't wait 12.SS armour and Wiking armour.

[Richard Hargreaves]

November's a good month for Ostfront Endkampf fans. Aside from my own Breslau book, this is coming out too:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1848 ... d_i=468294

The title's a little misleading - the book's less about the fall of Danzig per se than the evacuations by sea (as well as some of the fighting on land), but it's gone through a number of reprints in its original language and is very highly regarded.

[panzermahn]

Hi Richard

Not to be too nitpicky on the choice of the cover, but the folks at Pen & Sword could have use something better for the cover of your book instead of using the picture of the burn-out Nordland SdfKz in Berlin...



http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hitlers-Final-F ... im_sbs_b_1

By the way, wasn't the title supposed to be Hitler's Last Fortress - Breslau 1945: The final struggle in the East?

Panzermahn