Blowtorch
Sergeant Major
- Joined
- Nov 5, 2006
- Messages
- 1,754
Seeing a growing interest on some forums regarding East Front WW2 topics, I thought I would post some links to free high quality research & reading materials for the novice.
After WW2, the US Army had an extensive program of having captured German officers write down their experiences fighting, especially in Russia. A portion of these manuscripts were translated into English & published as a series of Restricted Pamphlets. These pamphlets are now available for free download, and some were republished in book form by Greenhill Books under the editorship of Peter G. Tsouras. Here are some of the more interesting ones:
1) "Fighting in Hell"-1995 was a book featuring four of the pamphlets: 20-230 Russian Combat Methods in World War II; 20-291 Effects of Climate on Combat in European Russia; 20-292 Warfare in the Far North; 20-231 Combat in Russian Forests and Swamps.
2) "The Anvil of War"-1994 had three: 20-201 Military Improvisations during the Russian Campaign; 20-233 German Defense Tactics against Russian Breakthroughs; 20-234 Encircled Forces: German Experiences in Russia"
3) "Panzers on the Eastern Front"- 2002 had the previously unpublished writings of General Erhard Raus
Some others which weren't commercially republished to my knowledge and are very interesting are:
4) 20-261a The German Campaign in Russia-Planning and Operations (1940-1942)
5)20-290 Terrain Factors in the Russian Campaign
6) 20-240 Rear Area Security in Russia
7) 20-242 German Armored Traffic Control during the Russian Campaign
8) 20-269 Small Unit Actions during the German Campaign in Russia
All of the above are located for free here:
http://www.history.army.mil/
but it's a lot easier to copy & paste the number & title into a search engine, it will usually show the PDF link right away.
It helps to have a wartime map of the USSR and a really good one is available here:
http://english.mapywig.org/viewpage.php?page_id=42
"Europaeisches Russland" is a 1:2.5M scale German High Command map of the USSR located way near the bottom of the page in the Large Scale German Administrative Map section
Oh, if you have some of Steven Newton's books, you may have some of the pamphlets already as he used them heavily for some of his works
After WW2, the US Army had an extensive program of having captured German officers write down their experiences fighting, especially in Russia. A portion of these manuscripts were translated into English & published as a series of Restricted Pamphlets. These pamphlets are now available for free download, and some were republished in book form by Greenhill Books under the editorship of Peter G. Tsouras. Here are some of the more interesting ones:
1) "Fighting in Hell"-1995 was a book featuring four of the pamphlets: 20-230 Russian Combat Methods in World War II; 20-291 Effects of Climate on Combat in European Russia; 20-292 Warfare in the Far North; 20-231 Combat in Russian Forests and Swamps.
2) "The Anvil of War"-1994 had three: 20-201 Military Improvisations during the Russian Campaign; 20-233 German Defense Tactics against Russian Breakthroughs; 20-234 Encircled Forces: German Experiences in Russia"
3) "Panzers on the Eastern Front"- 2002 had the previously unpublished writings of General Erhard Raus
Some others which weren't commercially republished to my knowledge and are very interesting are:
4) 20-261a The German Campaign in Russia-Planning and Operations (1940-1942)
5)20-290 Terrain Factors in the Russian Campaign
6) 20-240 Rear Area Security in Russia
7) 20-242 German Armored Traffic Control during the Russian Campaign
8) 20-269 Small Unit Actions during the German Campaign in Russia
All of the above are located for free here:
http://www.history.army.mil/
but it's a lot easier to copy & paste the number & title into a search engine, it will usually show the PDF link right away.
It helps to have a wartime map of the USSR and a really good one is available here:
http://english.mapywig.org/viewpage.php?page_id=42
"Europaeisches Russland" is a 1:2.5M scale German High Command map of the USSR located way near the bottom of the page in the Large Scale German Administrative Map section
Oh, if you have some of Steven Newton's books, you may have some of the pamphlets already as he used them heavily for some of his works