HISTORY

"In September 1944, the Soviet Army poured into captured German territory, flooding the martial heartland of the Reich: Prussia. Massively outnumbered by the human wave of the Red Army, the Wehrmacht battled on, pitching hundreds of thousands of soldiers and the helpless civilians caught in their crossfire into a fight to the death that would shape the outcome of the war and the future of Europe." Author's note from the back cover of the book.

THE BOOK

Osprey Publications Ltd has released Battleground Prussia – The Assault On Germany’s Eastern Front 1944-45. It is a paperback book with 482 pages. Included with the text are 32 black and white photographs with detailed captions and 14 black and white map illustrations. It has a 2010 copyright, first time in paperback is 2012, and the ISBN is 978-1-84908-790-2. The book examines and discusses the fighting that took place from 1944 to 1945 for the control of Prussia.

THE CONTENTS

List of Illustrations
List of Maps
Author’s Note
Preface

Introduction – The Slavs And The Teutons

1. Fritz And Ivan
2. Memel
3. Nemmersdorf
4. The Last Christmas
5. The House Of Cards – The Great January Offensive
6. Cherniakhovsky And The Pregel Valley
7. Rokossovsky Reaches The Coast
8. Encircled In East Prussia
9. Hannibal – The Baltic Evacuation Begins
10. The Riviera Of Hades And The Fall Of Pommerania
11. Heiligenbeil – Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea
12. Konigsberg
13. Danzig
14. The Last Command
15. The Long Road Home
Notes
Bibliography
Index

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

BETWEEN PAGES 146-147

- Dietrich von Saucken, 1943
- Erich Koch
- Waleeeeter Weiss (second from left) and Friedrich Hossbach (fourth from left), summer 1944
- Karl Mauss, 1945
- Karl Lorenz, Ukraine, 1944
- Ivan Khristoforovich Bagramian, summer 1944
- Konstantin Konstantinoovich Rokossovsky (left), speaking to Georgi Konstantinovich Zhukov, Poland, late 1944
- Members of the military council of the Third Belorussian Front, 1944
- The Prinz Eugen, Copenhagen harbor, 1945
- The Admiral Scheer, 1945
- The Wilhelm Gustloff, Hamburg, 1937
- The Steuben, 1925
- The Pz.IV tank, 1944
- Panther tanks, December 1944
- The Tiger tank
- Jg.Pz.IVs, Hungary, 1944
- A Jagdpanther similar to the vehicle used by Bix, summer 1944

BETWEEN PAGES 330-331

- The IS-2 tank, Berlin, 1945
- The Il-2 aircraft
- The Polykarpov PO-2 aircraft
- The bridge at Nemmersdorf, destroyed in battle, late 1944
- Two Panther tanks, Memel, December 1944
- A 16-year-old is sworn into the Volkssturm, 1944
- A youth and an elderly man armed with Panzerfausts, April 1945
- Street fighting, Königsberg, April 1945
- Soviet Artillery, Danzig, march 1945
- Soviet forces near Danzig, March 1945
- German refugees, East Prussia, early 1945
- German refugees, Frisches Haff, February 1945
- T-34 tanks, near Königsberg, February 1945
- Soviet forces, near Königsberg, February 1945
- German officers march into captivity, Königsberg, April 1945

LIST OF MAPS:

- Overview
- Bagramian’s Drive to the Coast, October 1944
- The Goldap-Gumbinnen Operation, October 1944
- 3rd Belorussian Front, January 1945
- The Rozan-Serock Bridgeheads, January 1945
- The breakouts from Thorn and Bromberg
- Hossbach’s Breakout Attempt
- Pomerania, February-March 1945
- The Heiligenbeil Pocket
- The Breakout from Königsberg, February 1945
- Königsberg, April 1945
- Danzig-Gotenhafen 11 March
- AOK Ostpreussen
- The Pillau and Peyse Peninsulas
- The Baltic Evacuation Ports

THE TEXT

The text in the book is well written and extremely detailed. I didn’t notice and spelling or grammar errors as I read through the book. Author Prit Buttar covers the fighting in Prussia on the Eastern Front 1944-45 very well and goes into great detail in the various campaigns and the actions taken there and various related incidents. Anyone interested in the fighting that took for place for the control of Prussia will find this book very informative and interesting.

THE PHOTOGRAPHS

There are a total of 32 black and white photographs throughout the book. The photographs show combatants, leaders, uniforms, armor, ships, aircraft and weaponry used by the Axis and Allied forces in nice detail. The majority of the photographs are nice, clear, centered and focused images and are of a good quality. I haven’t seen a majority of the featured photographs before, if not all of them, and I was pleased with this. I definitely consider that a bonus as it is nice to have a reference book that contains several lesser known photographs as opposed to the same old over used photographs that many books tend to contain. Many of the photographs can be used as inspiration to simple vignettes and possibly even larger dioramas. They also provide several details on items such as clothing and small arms.

THE CAPTIONS

The captions that accompany the photographs are well written and are very detailed. I didn’t notice any spelling or grammatical errors as I read through them. They give very specific information as to individuals, military units, uniforms items, weapons and locations shown.

CONCLUSION

All in all I am very impressed with the book. This is a very nice reference book that discusses the fighting for Prussia from 1944 to 1945 very well and also contains interesting photographs, detailed maps and well written informative captions. It details the tactics used by the Axis and Allied forces for the control of Prussia very well with informative text as well as personal written accounts by individuals that were involved in the battles for Prussia. I would have no hesitation to add other Osprey titles to my personal library nor would I hesitate to recommend this book to others as it will be a welcome addition to one’s personal military reference library. The scale figure modeler and the vignette and diorama builder will find little use for this volume however the military historian will find it to be a very useful reference book.

REFERENCES

http://ww2db.com/battle_spec.php?battle_id=197

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Königsberg

http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Battle_of_Königsberg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Front_(World_War_II)