by Robert Forczyk (Author), Steve Noon (Illustrator)
Against the wishes of Hitler, German forces under Erich von Manstein were forced to retreat following the failure of the Kursk offensive of July 1943. The weakened force only had one possible refuge, behind the wide Dnepr River. The race to the natural defensive line was on, with the Soviets launching one of their largest offensives of the war - with over 2 million men on the move. Expert Eastern Front historian Robert Forczyk describes the dramatic four-month campaign that saw the Red Army not only succeed in crossing the Dnepr at multiple points, but also liberate Kiev, capital of the Ukraine. Revealing new detail about the largest Soviet airborne operation of the war and the increasingly desperate delaying tactics employed by Manstein as catastrophic casualties mounted on both sides, Forczyk charts the course of the battle that confirmed to many observers that the relentless Soviet advance westward could not be halted. Berlin would be next.
Format: Illustrated
Pages: 96
Edition: 1
Publisher: Osprey Publishing
Published: 24 Mar 2016
ISBN 10: 1472812379
ISBN 13: 9781472812377
Book Overview: A highly illustrated account of the race for the River Dnepr in 1943, one of the major campaigns on the Eastern Front in World War II, which saw Erich von Manstein's make a desperate and ultimately doomed attempt to stop the massed Soviet Army from crossing the river - written by one of the pre-eminent historians of Eastern Front military history.