Kursk 1943: The Southern Front: 305 (Campaign)

is this the defininitive book on kursk southern front

Reading this book is a very good way of getting closer to what actually happened rather than the mythology of the battle.

like all this authors books. Understandable and written without any discernable bias

This is a great guide on Kursk and the various colour plates and photos add real detail to the action. Very nice addition to the Kursk theatre of literature.

This is an extremely well researched and written book

This follows the usual format and is a good guide to this element of citadel, well illustrated and balanced, my gripe with this as a two parter is there is a lot of unnecessary repetition

Excellent book, first rate discussion that challenges many old assumptions

Informative

This is the second comprehensively researched volume relating to (and completing) the Operation Zitadelle, one of World War II's pivotal battles. Once again, I found a compelling study where the military detail is touched by accurate and sharp descriptions.The strategic and operational context of the Zitadelle is quickly made by the author in the first chapter – “Origins of campaign”, followed by a short “Chronology”, useful to understand the decision making process between January – July 1943, before delving into the respective commanders (“Opposing commanders”).“Opposing forces” description is meticulously explored in a 14-page chapter with accent skillfully divided between the two forces, but also among different participating arms and services - infantry, artillery, pioneers, combat logistics and air support. A particular accent is placed on mine warfare and armor’ capabilities and tactics; a complete “Order of battle” concludes this preparatory chapter.In “Opposing plans” chapter, Dr. Forczyk explored the operational strategy/concepts, capabilities, different schemes of maneuver, logistical problems as well as the deployment of the available reserves. Dr. Forczyk even (slightly) touched the subject of the steady stream of intelligence received by the Soviets before the battle, through various human or SIGINT sources (page 33). Concerning this subject, I still believe that we do not have the complete picture of intelligence received or all the sources involved.The conduct of Hoth’s 4.Panzerarmee and Kempf’s Armee Abteilung actions and Voronezh’s Front’s defense, plus Vatutin’s counter-offensive, are detailed in a day-by-day narrative over the next 50 pages. The author makes a balanced and detailed presentation of combined-arms fighting and tactics used during the Battle of Prokhorovka.Of particular note is author’s examination of air warfare and offered a nice integration of air actions with the land forces’ maneuvers.In the conclusion part - “Aftermath”- the author analyses both sides’ commanders’ battle management and troops’ performance, but also the tactics and - the still debatable - losses. The study concludes with “The battlefield today” and a short index; “Further reading” shows a balanced and very thorough note on sources (twenty books).The narrative is nicely supported by a great selection of 60+ b&w and color photos showing equipment, leaders or troops in combat, plus three full colour battlescenes. There are also six informative 2-D maps and 3 x 3-dimensional’ bird’s-eye-views’.Highly recommended!

Volume conciso ma estremamente esaustivo sull'argomento, davvero consigliato a tutti esperti ed ovviamente ai " meno".

Given the limitations of the Osprey format, the author does a very good job summarizing the course of the battle in the southern front of Kursk. However, there are errors in the tables and maps that should have been caught during the proofing of the book.Table 3: Soviet armour strength is short 11 KV-1/2 and 20 SUs. This may be due to the lack of a row for the 38th Army (which had the 192nd and 180th Separate Tank Brigades).The map on pages 78-79 does not have a triangle for Event 17, the attack on Vasilevka. In addition, the text for Event 17 misidentifies the 170th Tank Brigade as the 107th.The Final Actions map on page 87 has transposed the circled events 3 and 4.These are somewhat minor errors and they do not detract from the overall narrative, but they should have been caught by the copy editors.

All good!!!

After the disaster at Stalingrad, Hitler sought a means of restoring the initiative on the Eastern Front against increasing powerful Russian Armies. In July 1943, the German Army launched Operation Zitadelle, a two-pronged attack designed to destroy the Russian salient centered on the city of Kursk. Unfortunately, thanks in part to shared British intelligence, the Russians knew they coming..."Kursk 1943: The Southern Front" is an Osprey Campaign Series book, well-written in remarkable detail by Robert Forczyk, with illustrations by Graham Turner. This is an exciting narrative, as the Germans threw their best remaining forces against a Russian depth in depth. The result was a savage two week fight that killed thousands of soldiers and destroyed hundreds of armored vehicles on both sides. The text is nicely supported by period and modern photographs, illustrations, maps, and battle diagrams. The author's blunt analysis is a very worthwhile concluding chapter. This book is a companion volume to "Kursk 1943: The Northern Front". Both are highly recommended to students of the Second World War's Eastern Front.