Steel Storm - Waffen-SS Panzer Battles on the Eastern Front

ISBN: 076030937X
224 pages
In the final years of World War II, the outnumbered Waffen-SS capitalized on superior training, equipment, and commanders to plug several open gaps on the Eastern Front. From the recapture of Kharkov to the last stand at the gates of Berlin, this illustrated history recounts the key aspects of the major Eastern Front battles from the perspective of the Waffen-SS. Explanations include the use of offensive tactics as defensive maneuvers, the development of tank technology, and methods that allowed the Germans to survive fierce Russian bombardments. Illustrated with maps, line art, and previously unpublished frontline photography, the story's main focus is on the tactics used by commanders like Wittman and Barkmann to hold off numerically superior Russian forces. Appendices detail panzer organization, panzer tank aces and Knight's Cross winners, and tank specifications.

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Tim Ripley knows his subject well and in his introduction says this is the book he always wanted to write. It is very well written and although not exhaustive it is comprehensive but interesting to read. Any book involving the SS is contraversial but he deals with his subject matter with great skill. It looks esentially at the combat record of the Waffen SS on the Eastern Front as is a companion to Steel Storm- Waffen SS Panzer Battles on the Western Front that he wrote a few years earlier. The book is well illustrated with photographs, maps and line drawings. Interesting he dedicated this book to the Red Army's XVIII and XXIX Tank Corps who fought the II SS at the Battle of Prokhorovka on 12th July 1943 and thereafter tanks formed the vanguard of the Soviet drive to Berlin.