Ostfront - Hitler's war on Russia (Charles Winchester)

review by Jonathon Fitzgerald

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For those that are unfamiliar with this title it is an Osprey Military History series book. It is a good size, 160 pages. Lots of photos, charts and colour plates.

This book is a must for a good overview of the war on the Eastern Front during World War Two. Lots of books try to provide a good overview but this is by far the best that I have ever had the pleasure of reading.

It does not go into too much detail on the many battles that happened but it covers the main events and gives a good account on what happened between 1941 and 1945 in the East. The book concentrates on six major highlights in the Campaign on the Eastern Front. Barbarossa and the battles to reach Moscow, The Red Army Counterattack from Moscow, The Stalingrad Battles, The German Army Counterattack around Kharkov, The Battle Of Kursk, and The Red Army assault on Berlin. There are a few other battles mentioned but only a paragraph or two are allocated to them. These are the battles for Leningrad, the Crimea, Zhitomir, Cherkassy, Kamenets-Podolsk and a few others.

Accompanying the chapters on events are chapters and sections describing the Red Army and the German Army. The strengths and weaknesses are described as well as the economy and war production of each nation. There are also charts and descriptions showing the tank strengths and manpower strengths on certain dates. The authour uses the most up to date sources for the figures so you know they are accurate.

I highly recommend this book. I enjoyed it a great deal and have read it three times already! I have a few little nitpicks though:

• I know this title is meant as an overview and not to cover every detail but I find myself wanting just a bit more descriptions of certain battles.
• In the Kursk section the author completely avoids mentioning the Prokhorovka battle. The Red Army counterattack is mentioned but the fact is not mentioned that the II SS Panzer Corps completely destroyed the 5th Guards Tank Army. Also not mentioned is how the Red Army used diversionary attacks to draw German Panzer elements away from the Kursk area. But, the reason for this could be because it is not the authors intention to go into details.
• I believe more attention should have been given to the Kamenets-Podolsk Pocket battles. Of course, I have this nitpick about several books. The reason for this is that I believe this battle was amazing. There are two popular "Pocket Battles" from the Eastern Front, Stalingrad and Cherkassy. The Kamenets-Podolsk Pocket had a very different story than these two battles though, but much is not known or covered in most books. The Kamenets-Podolsk Pocket is not as "popular" as the Stalingrad Pocket, where a German Army surrendered or the Cherkassy Pocket, where the German elements left behind most of their equipment. The German Units surrounded in the Kamenets-Podolsk Pocket, the 1st Panzer Army, brought most of their equipment and all of their wounded with them and broke out. This is why I find it strange that this battle is not as popular as the others.

Other than these few little nitpicks I feel that this book is an excellent overview of the Eastern Front Campaign. It is simply the BEST title out there that covers this campaign. You will have to find other books if you want more detail on certain battles however. For the price, around $35 Canadian for the softcover version, this book is definately worth it.

Book data

WINCHESTER, Charles. Ostfront - Hitler's war on Russia. Oxford : Osprey Publishing, 2000.
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All contents written by Christian Ankerstjerne unless stated otherwise