Scorched Earth: The Russian-German War 1943-1944

by Paul Carell

Release Date: February, 1994

Edition: Hardcover

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The Beginning of the End

Once again, Mr. Carell has written a masterful compendium of the Eastern front in WW 2 covering 1943-44. A bit chronologically out of place, the battle of Kursk is covered first. Not surprisingly, the author feels that this battle was the true turning point in the war, not Stalingrad; and futhermore, that he believes that Germany could have won it with less meddling by Hitler and without the total intelligence compromise that occurred. A whole chapter deals with this security compromise at the highest level which to this day the source is not known. Because of this, the operation was doomed from the getgo, as the germans could hardly afford a huge battle of attrition and expect to win at this stage. Subsequent portions of the book deal with General Manstein's masterful retiring action that, though not able to break the seige of Stalingrad, was brilliant in his ability to hold open the Rostov corridor long enough for the large number of german forces in the caucasas to escape, some of them over a frozen Sea of Azov!Manstein's ability to contain the Russian offensive and prevent an encirclement of German forces that would have dwarfed Stalingrad with relatively meager forces may be the most overlooked tactical success of WW2 - as most retiring actions are. After this, the actions around Kharkov are covered in good detail, especially general Hausser's controversial retreat from certain destruction, disobeying Hitler's direct order to hold at all costs. Subsequent to this, Manstein's counteroffensive that encircled and destroyed these forces and retook Kharkov were Mansteins'last and perhaps greatest victory and germany's last successful offensive that finally stabilized the eastern front in 1943. The remainder of the book covers a myriad of retiring actions in late '43 - early '44 such as Demyansk, Velyka Luki, Cherkassy, that from a tactical perspective are fairly interesting, but are depressing for the hopelessness of the actions and Hitlers' obstinate demand to hold territory that the germans didn't possess the forces to protect. These mini-disasters presaged the meltdown of Army Group Central in June 1944. As is usual in Mr. Carell's books, many pictures and maps are included. This era of the conflict is certainly not the most popular for reading, but is well covered albeit from a progerman skew. The most exciting portions are General Mansteins' battles in early 1943. It is an indispensible book for devoted students of the Eastern front.

Detailed but biased

An incredibly detailed depiction of the battle strategies and,especially, the tactics on the Eastern Front during the two decisive years of WWII. Readers should be aware, however, that the story is told largely from the German army's point of view. Russian tactics are given matter-of-factly, while German action is described as "brave", "courageous", "gallant", and so forth. The sub-title of the book, "The Russan-German War" would have better been given as "The German War in Russia".