East front WW2 books

[Lowlander]

Has anyone read any of the Army Group North, Centre and South books by Werner Haupt which cover the whole of the East front from 1941 to 1945. Or could you recommend other books on this subject.

Have books which focus on battles and campaigns like Kursk, Stalingrad etc, and read the two Paul Carell books a long long time ago !!!, but was the final third volume ever published ?.
If so I might consider them again.

While I'm here are any map sets available ?, seem to remember a soft back A4 book, as I prefer to follow the action as it unfolds.

Would appreciate any feedback, asked this question on the historical discussion board but I'm not having much response.

[Mad Russian]

Has anyone read any of the Army Group North, Centre and South books by Werner Haupt which cover the whole of the East front from 1941 to 1945. Or could you recommend other books on this subject.

Yes, I have them. I'm not all that impressed with them because he doesn't follow a common format through each of them. For instance there isn't really an indepth OOB for them as you would think a book devoted to their entire history might have.

To my knowledge there isn't a good set of books on the subject. Eastern Front WWII is my favorite time period and I think I have everything in print the the Army Groups.

Have books which focus on battles and campaigns like Kursk, Stalingrad etc, and read the two Paul Carell books a long long time ago !!!, but was the final third volume ever published ?.
If so I might consider them again.

Which 3rd book would that be? Carell wrote more than 3.

While I'm here are any map sets available ?, seem to remember a soft back A4 book, as I prefer to follow the action as it unfolds.

Would appreciate any feedback, asked this question on the historical discussion board but I'm not having much response.

What is a soft back A4 book?

You can normally get some decent WWII atlas' at a book store in the discount section. I think that's where I bought all of my atlas'.

Good Hunting.

MR

[Lowlander]

My search on Paul Carell turned up number of books, but the one's which interest me are: Hitlers War on Russia 41-43 and Scorched Earth 43-44, am not aware of one on the final years 44-45.

Apart from the absence of OOB's in the Army Group books by Haupt did you enjoy reading the three volumes.
Would like to hear your thoughts on these.
The only review I have came across states the text sometimes jumps from strategic to tactical all in one sentence.
But this may be caused by the translation.

Have you looked at the OOB in the HPS games which contain more info than any one book, of course we all have different tastes.
The Nafziger collection has individual OOB's for sale but in my opinion you would do better to purchase a good book on on each battle.

Have just bought Fire Brigades by Kamen Nevenkim which looks to be really detailed on Panzer unit strengths from 43-45.

However I'm finishing off a Napoleonic book at this time.

A4 is printer paper size with plastic coated carboard cover.

[Landser34]

I have Haupt's books also I find if you just want a general overview they are OK but they really don't go into a lot of detail.

I have both of Paul Carell I have 3 books of his on the Eastern Front.

Hitler Moves East 1941-1943 Scorched Earth 1943-!944 And Also Stalingrad but that has more pictures than anything else Paul Carell never wrote a book about the last year of the war on the Eastern Front but if interested he wrote a book about the war in the Desert called Foxes of the Desert and also has another on the Normandy Invasion called Invasion They're Coming any of his books a great.

Now if you want Detail on battles of the Eastern Front cant go Wrong with David Glantz but they are kind of a dry read also John Eriksons two volumes
The Road To Stalingrad and the Road to Berlin

[Lowlander]

Thanks for the feedback.

Would agree with your assesment on David M Glantz books, however I thought that The Battle of Kursk ,with Jonathan M House was really excellent with a fantastic OOB included, a good, easy enjoyable read.

Also surprise, surprise, Belorussia 1944 The Soviet General Staff Study, with Harold S Orenstein was again a great easy to read book.
So maybe his co-authors make all the difference.

[Kuriltai]

Glantz's book on Operation Mars is a lot more entertaining than the others,written in a different style.

[Vaevictis]

I've gotten the impression from other literature that Carrell is too pro-German to give an accurate account. I've not read him though -- is this the case?

[Mad Russian]

I've gotten the impression from other literature that Carrell is too pro-German to give an accurate account. I've not read him though -- is this the case?

All authors have a national bias. Some more than others.

For my money the worst German author for bias is "Tigers in the Mud" by Otto Carius. Reading his book it's hard to imagine that the Germans could have actually lost the war.

Carell set the standard for many readers with his style. Many others now use that style of going from the trenches to the strategic level but he was one of the first. That and it was from the German point of view.

To my knowledge he only wrote 5 books. Hitler Moves East, Scorched Earth, D-Day:Invasion They're Coming, Foxes of the Desert and Stalingrad.

I have all of them and still refer to them often. The biggest fact that keeps me happy with them is how ofter then are used as references in the hundreds of other books on the subjects.

Good Hunting.

MR

[Mad Russian]

My search on Paul Carell turned up number of books, but the one's which interest me are: Hitlers War on Russia 41-43 and Scorched Earth 43-44, am not aware of one on the final years 44-45.

That's because he didn't write one on the final years in the east.

Apart from the absence of OOB's in the Army Group books by Haupt did you enjoy reading the three volumes.
Would like to hear your thoughts on these.
The only review I have came across states the text sometimes jumps from strategic to tactical all in one sentence.
But this may be caused by the translation.

They are generic. Nothing to get excited about. Just depends on what you want from them. I do ALOT of historical research and I will look in them. Usually last stop though. Sometimes I find what I'm looking for but not usually. Mostly the books are written about the operational level of the war. Usually I'm looking for tactical information. I have other sources that give me more detailed information.

Have you looked at the OOB in the HPS games which contain more info than any one book, of course we all have different tastes.
The Nafziger collection has individual OOB's for sale but in my opinion you would do better to purchase a good book on on each battle.

I have no use for a game designers OOB other than possibly as a starting place. I want actual OOB's in front of me other than something a game designer may have made up to work in a game. I long ago found that game OOB's are at least 50% fictional. They may be better now but I would never use one if I had an alternate source of information.

Have just bought Fire Brigades by Kamen Nevenkim which looks to be really detailed on Panzer unit strengths from 43-45.

However I'm finishing off a Napoleonic book at this time.

A4 is printer paper size with plastic coated carboard cover.

I like accurate detailed OOB/TO&E information. I'm always using that to make my scenarios more accurate.

Good Hunting.

MR

[Sgt Barker]

I have no use for a game designers OOB other than possibly as a starting place. I want actual OOB's in front of me other than something a game designer may have made up to work in a game. I long ago found that game OOB's are at least 50% fictional. They may be better now but I would never use one if I had an alternate source of information.

Then you need to read Russian. My understanding is that HPS uses the "Боевой состав Советской Армии", the "Order of Battle of the Soviet Army" microfische released in 1997 for PzC OBs. You can't get any closer to the source. As for German sources there is a plethora of primary documentation available there as well. Unless it's used then any alternate source of information is probably exactly what any given game designer used.

Paul Karl Schmidt aka "Paul Carell" was, for lack of a better phrase, a hack. His writing is not to be trusted as accurate, intent as he was to blame all military failures against the Soviets on Hitler. Reading his writing one comes away with the notion that the Red Army, indeed all the people of the Soviet Union, had nothing to do with winning the war. If only Hitler hadn't been in charge, the German Volk would have marched to the Pacific! :rolleyes: