Solid, substantial military storytelling

Buttar picks up from “On a Knife’s Edge”, sidestepping the bloodletting at Kursk to detail the Soviet operations the first cleared and then breached the Dnepr with the recapture of Kiev and the drive to Zhitomir that closed 1943. He weaves a robust storyline, well-mixed with German and Soviet voices from above and below, painting a gripping panorama of the sweeping blows, the desperate counter-thrusts, and the continuous bloodshed and attrition that marked the Soviet Summer/Fall offensives in 1943. The strategic initiative now is firmly in Soviet hands and the desperation of the German defense is vividly told. One is left appreciating the courage and suffering on both sides by the common soldier, with battle after battle, largely without rest/refit and the vicious attrition that this constant warfare inflicted on the men of both sides. “When is my turn coming?” must have been a constant unavoidable thought in the soldiers minds, as the battles ground on through the fall and early winter, and comrades around you inevitably fell day after day after day. This portion of the campaign has often been overlooked, and Buttar’s manuscript fills in many long-needed details. As an audiobook it is satisfying with some supplemental maps to provide an overview (see Wikipedia at a minimum) and the narrator does a good job with the Soviet and German references. I have greatly appreciated Buttar’s now/substantial previous works, and Retribution adds another valuable work into the literature. I am looking forward to his next work!

6 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Quality content but hard to follow

The reader was good. I found myself often confused as to which combatant army was being referred to. Nearly all units of distance were provided in miles and (kilometers), rather then simply picking a single unit. This made for slightly disruptive sentence listening. There is a solid recapitulation in the final chapter, however, throughout the book the content is repeated unnecessarily. I learned a lot and am glad to have listened to this book that the author obviously put a great deal of effort into researching.

3 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Excellent tactical military book

This book has excellent tactical military history. It goes in to detail how the red army pushed back the nazis. It talks about the brutal fighting and the sheer magnitude of the combatants. It spends most of the time (if not all) talking about the different tactics used by the armys from army group north, central and south. If you want a social history this isn’t for you but if you want detail by detail of the fighting by the various army groups on both sides this is for you.

1 personne a trouvé cela utile

The best

I cant say enough good thing about all of Prit Buttar! He brings the Eastern Front to the vivid forefront in Both the 1st and Second World Wars.

1 personne a trouvé cela utile

best of the books post kursk

Prit Buttar master of history in Prussia and Ukraine battle scape. Generals, machines, and tacticians