German Battle Tactics on the Russian Front, 1941-1945

The amazing tenacity and cohesion of the German Army in Russia from 1941-1945, fighting against overwhelming odds but refusing to disintegrate, has fascinated readers for decades. But most of the available sources concentrate on the maneuvers of armies and panzer corps, leaving the divisions, regiments, and individual soldiers in the background. This fact has obscured skillful use of tactics employed by the German soldiers at the divisional level and below. Until now, this information has been sequestered in manuscript reports in various archives. In German Battle Tactics on the Eastern Front, 1941-1945, Professor Steven H. Newton has retrieved, retranslated, and annotated the detailed tactical accounts of combat in Russia that German officers provided their American captors after the war. In this collection of ten essays, the Chief of Staff of the XXXXI Panzer Corps describes the final furious dash toward Moscow. One of the commanders of the relief force narrates the rescue of the troops trapped in the Demyansk pocket. A corps commander on Manstein's right flank at Kursk analyzes the tactical failures of the battle. And, in one of the more controversial documents in the early cold war, the last commander of Army Group South recalls his futile attempt to interest General Patton in assisting in the war against the Soviets. A wide variety of tactical situations--from winter warfare to desperate infantry defenses, and unit types--from panzer divisions to cavalry brigades--are covered in this collection.