Introduction

The Kursk Offensive resulted in the largest tank battle in history and saw the Red Army fight the Germans to a standstill. The Kursk Offensive saw the Tiger 1 and Panther thrown in large numbers against the Red Army, and while these were superior tanks most German armour was still based on the Panzer IV chassis. The Red Army built up a huge depth of defences that slowly but surely stopped the German Army in its tracks over the course of 2 weeks, and while the Soviet forces suffered heavy losses it put an end to the myth that the Germans were unbeatable and the Germans never went on the offensive in the East again.

Review

This offering is published by Casemate and authored by Ian Baxter. The book has 128 pages of high gloss paper that presents both text and images to a great degree. The breakdown of the title is as follows:
Timeline of Events
Prelude to Disaster
The Opposing Forces
Soviet Preparations for Battle
German Preparations for Battle
Army Group Centre
Army Group South
Aftermath
Further Reading
Index

The text in this offering is interspersed with the images included in the book. The text is well presented and easily understood with the author doing a good job of covering the various aspects of this battle. The way the text is presented draws the reader in and keeps them reading as the text flows so to speak and allows or enables the reader to take in the information presented without overwhelming the reader with facts and figures. With that said the details provided are sufficient to give the reader a good understanding of the battle.

The images are spread throughout the book and I found them a very pleasing mix of preparation, rest and in battle. The photographs in this title are nearly all of the German forces and I suspect that this is due to cameras being more widely owned by German troops and it has to be said some of the best optics of the period. The result is an excellent mix of photographs accompanied by well presented captions that provide a pleasing level of information.

The book also has a good number of artworks present that cover maps, uniforms and vehicles and these are of a good quality for the most part. The images of the vehicles present some interesting camouflage schemes that may catch your eye and I like that there is a very good amount of information provided on each of the vehicles covered. The maps are useful in providing the reader with a sense of the size of the battlefield this offensive took place on. The images of the figures are the weak spot in this title as the colouration seems off and while the details of the uniform is well presented the image as a package detracts from it.

Conclusion

I suspect that most modellers have produced a vehicle as seen in the Kursk Offensive and as such I feel you will benefit from this book as it will help you with understanding the battle. I like the presentation style of the book as the text is not presented in huge lumps and that makes it a pleasing and relaxing read due to providing the reader with plenty of time to study and absorb the details provided in the pictures. Due to the presentation style of this book I feel most potential readers will find this an enjoyable and informative read.