Stalin's Revenge PDF
Preview Stalin's Revenge
First published in Great Britain in 2009 by Pen and Sword Military an imprint of Pen and Sword Books Ltd 47 Church Street, Barnsley South Yorkshire S70 2AS Copyright © Anthony Tucker-Jones 2009 ISBN 978-1-84415-866-9 eISBN 9781844685455 The right of Anthony Tucker-Jones to be identified as Author of this Work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the Publisher in writing. Typeset in 10pt Palatino by Mac Style, Beverley, East Yorkshire Printed and bound in the UK by the MPG Books Group Pen and Sword Books Ltd incorporates the imprints of Pen and Sword Aviation, Pen and Sword Maritime, Pen and Sword Military, Wharncliffe Local History, Pen and Sword Select, Pen and Sword Military Classics, Leo Cooper, Remember When, Seaforth Publishing and Frontline Publishing. For a complete list of Pen and Sword titles please contact PEN and SWORD BOOKS LIMITED 47 Church Street, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, S70 2AS, England E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.pen-and-sword.co.uk Contents List of Illustrations Maps Preface and Acknowledgements Dramatis Personae Debate, Deception and Chapter 1 Deployment Debate in the Lair of the Red Tsar Hitler Deceived Soviet Deployment Behind Enemy Lines Chapter 2 Red Storm Rising ‘44 Red Storm Leningrad: The 900 Days Victory in Ukraine Death in the Korsun Pocket The Kamenets-Podolsk Pocket Defeat in the Crimea Finland’s Punishment Chapter 3 Where Will Stalin’s Blow Fall? ‘Fatherland’ and ‘Panther’ Lines The Exposed Byelorussian Balcony ‘No More Doubt’ Communications Cut Chapter 4 Stalin and His Warlords Zhukov: A Talented Strategist Zhukov’s Rival: Rokossovsky Stalin’s Front Commanders Busch: Incompetent or a Safe Chapter 5 Pair of Hands? The Lion’s Share A Lacklustre Performance Hitler’s Commanders Army Group Centre Questionable Loyalty Stalin’s Traitors Army Group North Army Group North Ukraine Army Group South Ukraine Last-Minute Success Bagration: Stalin’s Revenge Chapter 6 Unleashed ‘The Hurricane Broke’ The Soviet Barrage Fester Platz Vitebsk – 3rd Panzer Army Fester Platz Orsha – 4th Army Fester Platz Mogilev – 4th Army Fester Platz Bobruisk – 9th Army Chapter 7 5th and 12th Panzer Strike Back Borisov – 4th Army Fester Platz Bobruisk – 9th Army Heads Roll Chapter 8 Minsk Freed from the Nazi Yoke Closing the Trap on Minsk Fester Platz Minsk Conference of the Damned A Foiled Breakout Cat and Mouse Clearing Baranovichi Battles for Polotsk and Vilnius Army Group North Stalin Gloats Lvov–Sandomierz: The Second Chapter 9 Blow Strong Defences Freedom Fighters or Traitors Konev’s Unusual Operation ‘The Great Onslaught Began’ Zolochev The Brody Pocket Hitler Distracted Battle for Lvov Chapter 10 Rokossovsky: Defeat at the Gates of Warsaw Poland’s Fate Preordained Model’s Gathering Riposte Defeat before Warsaw Sacrifice of Warsaw Rokossovsky’s Poles Konev: To the Vistula and Chapter 11 Beyond Sandomierz Bridgehead The Red Army Rests on Its Laurels Beyond the Vistula Betrayed to Stalin Hitler Holds Budapest Chapter 12 Bagration: Stalin’s Triumph? The Right Decision Two Army Groups Smashed Was Busch a Scapegoat? Fighting On The Appalling Byelorussian Toll Bagration’s Legacy Stalin’s Cold War Shame Remarkable Revenge Appendices Appendix I Stalin’s New Tanks Appendix II Stalin’s Revitalized Air Power Appendix III Hitler’s New Panzers Appendix IV The Enfeebled Luftwaffe Göring’s Luftwaffe Field Appendix V Divisions Soviet Order of Battle, June– Appendix VI August 1944 German Order of Battle, June– Appendix VII July 1944 Principal Soviet Armoured Appendix VIII Fighting Vehicles Deployed on the Eastern Front Appendix IX Principal German Armoured Fighting Vehicles Deployed on the Eastern Front Source Notes Bibliography List of Illustrations Stalin Generalfeldmarschall Busch Hitler’s occupation Winter of 1943–44 on the Eastern Front A German flak unit A dusty German motorized column Generalfeldmarschall Busch’s command The Sturmgeschütz III assault gun A Luftwaffe infantryman A Stuka Ju 87 dive-bomber Freshly dug German trenches Stalin’s Red Army The T-34/76 medium tank A column of T-34/85s Soviet ‘tank riders’ The famous Ilyushin ‘Flying Tank’ or Il-2 Shturmovik Red Army rifle division reconnaissance Soviet partisans A Red Army mortar crew Entrenched German troops Apprehensive-looking German troops Soviet assault troops and a knocked-out StuG III Soviet infantry liberating a Russian village An MG34 machine-gun crew Cumbersome German heavy artillery An exposed German 105mm field gun German officers planning a counter-attack Another model T-34/76 that came to grief in the swamps A grim-faced Generalfeldmarschall Busch Soviet infantrymen attack across a railway line A German column withdrawing Army Group Centre lost 55,000 men Abandoned German motor vehicles Generaloberst Lindemann A Soviet soldier shot through the head One of the Wehrmacht’s 670,000 casualties Grim-faced retreating German troops Triumphant-looking Soviet troops German PoWs await an uncertain fate Bagration cost the Red Army 178,000 casualties In the summer of 1944 Stalin wanted not only to liberate Byelorussia but also to smash Hitler’s Army Group Centre, which formed the very heart of the Wehrmacht on the Eastern Front. (Scott Pick collection)
The list of books you might like
