This book came up on Audible's home page as a new release - it came out August of this year. I've always been a bit of a World War II history nut and have felt that the Eastern front (between the Germans and the Russians) was overlooked a lot in Western histories. Armor and Blood's sub title is The Battle of Kursk, the turning point in WWII and it does provide some decent evidence to that fact. I've personally argued that the battle of Stalingrad was the turning point against one of my former professors who cited the battle of Midway. After listening to this, I concede many points that Showalter brings ups and I have to acknowledge that while Stalingrad did destroy much of the German spirit and men the German Army was still a force to be reckoned with. Here is the link to Audible's page for the book. It was narrated by Robertson Dean who did a good job of it. As the book mentions at the beginning, the purpose of this work is to provide insight to a battle that many Westerners are not familiar with.
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Plot: the battle of Kursk started on July 3rd / 1943 and went for approximately ten days. The German army had been driven back from their lose at Stalingrad earlier that year. While the Russian fought them across the steppes of southern Russia and pushed them into Ukraine the Germans sought to regain the initiative. Their war doctrine was based on flexibility and maneuverability and so they sought to form an attack in an attempt to be able to control the field. The Russians had pushed a large bulge (salient) into the German line centered more of less around the city of Kurst. The salient was quite large, over a hundred miles around its edge, and the Germans thought to separate it from the rest of the Russian line, encircling and eventually liquidating the forces left trapped. However, the Russian commanders saw this and an eventuality and layer defensive positions that rivaled and even surpassed some of the most heavily fortified fronts of WWI. Preparing fortified lines upwards of 20 to 30 miles deep the Russians laid minefields (some as dense as a mine for every square foot of ground), buried tanks up to their turrets for pillboxes, and laid over 500 miles of barbed wire. The Germans attacked on July 3/1943 and had moderate success due to the Tiger tank, a behemoth that sported an 88mm high velocity cannon with excellent optic sights. The only way for the Russian T-34s could destroy it was to engage at close range (<500 meters) and aim for side or rear armor. As the Tiger was capable of destroying T-34s at upwards of 1000 meters, this was very hard to do. The defensive lines fought well, but the Germans ultimately penetrated deeper and deeper into the Russian lines. However, this was done in narrow thrusts, likened unto an up-raised middle finger by the author. They were not able to break out into the Russian's rear areas. Nor were they able to stem the tide of Russian tanks and soldiers. Never mind that the Germans could destroy dozens of tanks with little to no loses to their own tanks, the Red Army kept throwing more and more at them. Also, the infantry of the Red Army no longer were scared of the German forces but would engage in close quarters fighting and often destroy German tanks with hand grenades or Molotov cocktails. There were several counter attacks that delayed the Germans and the weather, as always, favored the home team. In the end, with mounting offensives in other parts of the Eastern Front and with the American / British invasion of Italy, Operation Citadel, the German name for the offensive, was called off. With no more reinforcements the Germans ultimately retreated to the Dipper River and the Russian started moving towards the west in an attack that didn't stop until they stormed Berlin.
Personal favorites: Showalter gives the narrative of the battle without showing any real bias for either side. I enjoyed the scope of the book and its descriptions of both the action and the people and machines that fought in it. While the battle was not the "1500 tanks fight each other over one small town" version that has been circulated (and is one of the few known in the west) the actual details of the battle are impressive enough. It's amazing that the Germans were able to do so well against close to 7 to 1 odds and equally impressive that the Russians managed their own successes despite their equipment and lack of training. Showalter's conclusion was interesting as well. He proposes four reasons that the Battle of Kursk was a watershed and while I can't bring myself to accept everything he states on face value, I can't fault his logic. One particularly interesting thing was Showalter's analysis of Russian tactics reminded me of Red Storm Rising and the description of the tactics used there. Also, I liked the dry wit and humorous moments that Showalter slipped into the narrative.
Considerations: As a historical, military analysis there was no language or what might be deemed questionable material. With that said, the book is a historical, military analysis and may not be the kind of writing that many people enjoy. Also, it's necessary to learn the names of the different commanders to keep track of the different sides. This is because the narrative seems to jump from one side to the other it what seems to be the same paragraph. If you're not paying attention you'll find yourself listening to a description of the German side of the attack when you thought it was just talking about the Russians.
All in all, I was glad to get this book and enjoyed it quite a bit. A 2nd listen through wouldn't be bad as there was a lot of material to keep track of. It's amazing that such a large battle would be lost to history. As someone that claims to be more familiar with the Eastern Front, this was a must read. The total length was just over 10 hours.
Plot: the battle of Kursk started on July 3rd / 1943 and went for approximately ten days. The German army had been driven back from their lose at Stalingrad earlier that year. While the Russian fought them across the steppes of southern Russia and pushed them into Ukraine the Germans sought to regain the initiative. Their war doctrine was based on flexibility and maneuverability and so they sought to form an attack in an attempt to be able to control the field. The Russians had pushed a large bulge (salient) into the German line centered more of less around the city of Kurst. The salient was quite large, over a hundred miles around its edge, and the Germans thought to separate it from the rest of the Russian line, encircling and eventually liquidating the forces left trapped. However, the Russian commanders saw this and an eventuality and layer defensive positions that rivaled and even surpassed some of the most heavily fortified fronts of WWI. Preparing fortified lines upwards of 20 to 30 miles deep the Russians laid minefields (some as dense as a mine for every square foot of ground), buried tanks up to their turrets for pillboxes, and laid over 500 miles of barbed wire. The Germans attacked on July 3/1943 and had moderate success due to the Tiger tank, a behemoth that sported an 88mm high velocity cannon with excellent optic sights. The only way for the Russian T-34s could destroy it was to engage at close range (<500 meters) and aim for side or rear armor. As the Tiger was capable of destroying T-34s at upwards of 1000 meters, this was very hard to do. The defensive lines fought well, but the Germans ultimately penetrated deeper and deeper into the Russian lines. However, this was done in narrow thrusts, likened unto an up-raised middle finger by the author. They were not able to break out into the Russian's rear areas. Nor were they able to stem the tide of Russian tanks and soldiers. Never mind that the Germans could destroy dozens of tanks with little to no loses to their own tanks, the Red Army kept throwing more and more at them. Also, the infantry of the Red Army no longer were scared of the German forces but would engage in close quarters fighting and often destroy German tanks with hand grenades or Molotov cocktails. There were several counter attacks that delayed the Germans and the weather, as always, favored the home team. In the end, with mounting offensives in other parts of the Eastern Front and with the American / British invasion of Italy, Operation Citadel, the German name for the offensive, was called off. With no more reinforcements the Germans ultimately retreated to the Dipper River and the Russian started moving towards the west in an attack that didn't stop until they stormed Berlin.Personal favorites: Showalter gives the narrative of the battle without showing any real bias for either side. I enjoyed the scope of the book and its descriptions of both the action and the people and machines that fought in it. While the battle was not the "1500 tanks fight each other over one small town" version that has been circulated (and is one of the few known in the west) the actual details of the battle are impressive enough. It's amazing that the Germans were able to do so well against close to 7 to 1 odds and equally impressive that the Russians managed their own successes despite their equipment and lack of training. Showalter's conclusion was interesting as well. He proposes four reasons that the Battle of Kursk was a watershed and while I can't bring myself to accept everything he states on face value, I can't fault his logic. One particularly interesting thing was Showalter's analysis of Russian tactics reminded me of Red Storm Rising and the description of the tactics used there. Also, I liked the dry wit and humorous moments that Showalter slipped into the narrative.
Considerations: As a historical, military analysis there was no language or what might be deemed questionable material. With that said, the book is a historical, military analysis and may not be the kind of writing that many people enjoy. Also, it's necessary to learn the names of the different commanders to keep track of the different sides. This is because the narrative seems to jump from one side to the other it what seems to be the same paragraph. If you're not paying attention you'll find yourself listening to a description of the German side of the attack when you thought it was just talking about the Russians.
All in all, I was glad to get this book and enjoyed it quite a bit. A 2nd listen through wouldn't be bad as there was a lot of material to keep track of. It's amazing that such a large battle would be lost to history. As someone that claims to be more familiar with the Eastern Front, this was a must read. The total length was just over 10 hours.
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