Introduction

Casemate Publishers have a formidable release of book titles both their own publications and those of others. This offering is one of their own titles looking at 'From Moscow to Stalingrad the Eastern Front 1941 - 1942' and is part of the Casemate Illustrated series of titles.

Review

The book has been written by Yves Buffetaut. The book is presented and printed in portrait style. This is a soft backed book of 128 pages of good quality glossy paper. The cover consists of a stiff card that has been folded over making the cover more substantial. The gloss finish to the pages means that the photographs are very well presented to the viewer.

The contents of this release are:
Timeline of Events
The Russian Counter Offensive in the Southern Sector
The Wehrmacht Prepares
The German Plan
Case Blau
Towards the Caucasus
The Advance on Stalingrad
Afterward
Further Reading
Index

This offering from Casemate Publishers and written by Yves Buffetaut looking at From Moscow to Stalingrad the Eastern Front 1941 - 1942 is an nice offering covering both sides of the conflict on the Eastern Front in a balanced way without giving bias to either side of the conflict. I like that Yves Buffetaut appears to have been able to inform the reader in his own way within the limited restrictions of page count.

The photographs in this offering are all black and white, but they have very good clarity and been well chosen for this title. The photographs that I found of particular interest are of British and American vehicles that had been sent to the Soviets to add in their fight. There is even a photograph of two Hawker Hurricanes on a train transport carriage in their Soviet livery, but have been destroyed it would seem.

The captions in the book with each of the photographs deserve special praise as they are especially informative to the viewer, this is an aspect of photographs that is often glossed over with things like 'This is X at X'. An example of this covers two photographs of a Lee tank that has been built by the Americans and shipped to the Russians where it later came into the hands of the Germans. The caption tells you a fair amount about the vehicle pointing out specific details to note and continues to tell you how it is being sent to Germany for study.

This book starts with the Soviet forces suffering loss after loss on a scale that was unheard of even in World War 1 it would seem. It continues by looking at the Soviet forces being pushed further back towards Stalingrad, Moscow and so on. This book finishes with the Soviet forces starting to hold their ground and fight with a new sense of resistance and in some cases pushing the Germans back.

Another aspect of this book that I like and that I believe is the work of the author is a list of further titles to read. It should be noted that Casemate has not restricted the author in only listing their products.

Conclusion

A very informative title in bite size segments accompanied with very good photographs. The text is well written and so is easy to read and take in the provided information. The excellent captions that are provided with the photographs making them even more valuable to the reader than than they otherwise might be. Very highly recommended.