Description
By (author) Buttar Prit Description:
A fascinating history of the great summer offensive launched by the Red Army in 1944 which turned the tide of the war.Throughout the war on the Eastern Front, there were two consistent trends. The Red Army battled to learn how to fight and win, while involved in a struggle for its very survival. But by 1944 it had a leadership that was able to wield it with lethal effect and with far more effective equipment than before. By contrast, the Wehrmacht had commenced a slow process of decline after the invasion of the Soviet Union. Hitler became increasingly unwilling to delegate decision-making to commanders in the field, which had been crucial to earlier success. The long years of fighting had also taken a heavy toll. Thousands of irreplaceable junior officers and NCOs were dead, wounded or prisoners.Renowned Eastern Front expert Prit Buttar expertly brings these contrasting fortunes to life, trends which culminatedin the huge battles of Bagration. As this masterful study conclusively shows, in 1944 the Red Army finally put together a campaign that utterly destroyed the German Army Group Centre. The Wehrmacht suffered the loss of over 300,000 men killed, wounded or taken prisoner and the Red Army rolled forward across Belarus to the outskirts of Warsaw. The end of the war was still many months away, and the Germans managed to reconstruct their line on the Eastern Front, but final victory for the Soviet Union was now only a matter of time as a direct consequence of Bagration.
Table of contents:
List of Illustrations List of Maps Dramatis Personae Introduction: TehranChapter 1: Fritz and Ivan: The State of the Armies of the Eastern Front Chapter 2: The Front Behind the Front: Partisans in Belarus Chapter 3: Preparing the Blow Chapter 4: Waiting for the Hammer to Fall Chapter 5: A Fateful Anniversary: 22–24 JuneChapter 6: The Floodgates Open: 25–28 June Chapter 7: Exploitation: 29 June–3 July Chapter 8: The Surge to the Frontier: 4–8 JulyChapter 9: Vilnius: 9–14 JulyChapter 10: Fire Brigades: The Panzer Divisions and the Red Army, 9–19 July Chapter 11: Interlude: ‘Make Peace, You Fools! What Else Can You Do?’ Chapter 12: High Tide for the Red Army Chapter 13: Praga and WarsawChapter 14: The Third Reich on the Brink Notes Bibliography Index
Review quote:A dynamic and engrossing read – Buttar captures the drama and detail of one of the most important campaigns of the Second World War.Biographical note:Prit Buttar studied medicine at Oxford and London before joining the British Army as a doctor. After leaving the army, he worked as a general practitioner. An established expert on the Eastern Front in 20th-century military history, his most recent titles include the critically acclaimed new history of the siege of Leningrad:To Besiege A City: Leningrad 1941–42 and Hero City: Leningrad 1943–44. He lives in Kirkcudbright, Scotland.Promotional headline:A fascinating history of the great summer offensive launched by the Red Army in 1944 which turned the tide of the war.Feature:Written by acclaimed Eastern Front historian Prit Buttar, Bagration 1944 weaves together a compelling narrative with fresh perspectives on the Eastern Front.Feature:Incredible first-hand accounts from German and Soviet soldiers make this an unforgettable read.Feature:The Eastern Front is an area of huge historical significance and yet is underserved for historians and military history enthusiasts alike. This is the first major history of Operation Bagration for several years.
