Kursk: The Greatest Battle [Hardcover]

For anybody who wants to read about the Campaign for the first time or for those who have read about it a long time ago, this would be an excellent overview to read. To the best of my knowledge, it contains the latest scholarship that refutes some of the exaggerations that have been around since the battle. One area that Mr Clark frequently visits concerns the number of tanks that were destroyed and the subsequent numbers of remaining tanks available to the key corps and divisions to continue the battle.
In addition to the ground action, the author frequently touches on the air war, showing examples where a battle was won or at least not lost with the help of their air forces. Extending the coverage further, partisans ambushing a supply convey that would never reach Hoth or visiting a field aid station with overflowing patients waiting for attention or sappers trying to clear a mine field during a bitter battle and more are presented in this book. The key officiers like Vatutin, Rotmistrov, Hausser, Manstein and others are discussed with mini profiles developed. Appraisal and analysis is also provided which was good and accurate but with a depth that was a little less than can be found in books by Glantz or Zamulin.

Considering the format and content of this book, I would consider this ideally suited for new or intermediate students of the Campaign. Of the 382 pages devoted to the main section of the book, only 174 pages cover the campaign. The other 208 pages are directed to the first years of the war from Barbarossa to Kharkov 1943 to the buildup for the invasion. The history of the two countries and their dictator's rise to power since the end of the Great War begins the book.
As a comparison Valeriy Zamulin's recent book, "Demolishing the Myth" consumes 559 pages on just the operational aspects of the Campaign.

Along with the narrative are ten maps; six are small scale maps of the salients. They're quite helpful showing key sites and deployments of key units as well as axes of attack but I would have liked more of the villages and fortified hills displayed and not all of the Soviet units were shown. The maps were spread out throughout the book but from my perspective weren't aligned with the story very well. In some cases the reader will have to scroll back to hunt for the map that displays the information that is currently being read. A small photo gallery is also provided.
Both salients are covered but the southern battle is more dominant. The book is also German-centric but the Soviets are still represented fairly well.

There is a very capable Notes section and an impressive Bibliography of primary and secondary sources if further study is desired. An abbreviated Order of Battle for both sides is helpful as well. The author also quotes Glantz, Nipe and Carell. There are a few typos but nothing that would cause a lot of confusion.

This is an interesting, easy to follow story that will provide sufficient operational information that will probably satisfy most readers and plenty of first hand accounts blended seamlessly into the story to show what it was like fighting in a tank, a plane or a trench during this horrific battle. This is a quality effort and if you have an interest in Operation Citadel, you should consider reading it.

FYI: Clark's other Kursk book, "Kursk,The Battle of the Tanks" is the EXACT SAME BOOK AS THIS BOOK.

Just a quick review to say that if the style of military history first made famous by Cornelius Ryan and more recently by numerous fine authors such as Rick Atkinson is what you are after then this is the Kursk book for you.

Lloyd Clark mixes operational analysis and explanation with first person accounts superbly. This is also the most balanced Kursk book I have come across having read nearly all of them. By balanced I am not implying that all pervious authors were biased but that Lloyd Clark truly gives the picture from both sides of the hill. Most previous accounts tend to concentrate on the battle viewed from either the German or Soviet side. Even the numerous very fine first person accounts are balanced in number between the two sides.

Additionally there is a full explanation of what happened during the second half of the offensive. Most Kursk books give a detailed account of the first four days fighting from the morning of the 5th July to the night of 8th/9th July. Then suddenly you find yourself at the climactic battle of the 12th then the book ends. In this volume the four days between the 8th/9th and the 12th are fully covered and explained. I learnt a lot even though I must have read more than ten odd other Kursk books including the Soviet General Staff report.

Serious military history but also brought to life by fine writing. Will lookout for his books from now on.

This book is brilliant. If you wanted to capture the essence of what it was like to be there in July 1943, in every sense this is the right book to read. Here you will find a book full of first-hand accounts, from both sides, on what it felt like to fight in one of the greatest battles of all time.

From the role of the Luftwaffe and its mighty stukas, sweeping down on the hapless Soviet infantry and tanks, to the effect of sleep deprivation on both sides, with exhausted Russian soldiers barely able to keep their eyes open after days of constant fighting, Lloyd Clark has really brought the story to life with details and experiences that added something to my understanding of the epic struggle.

He also does a great job of explaining the strategic background, the situation of both combatants and the reasons that brought them to the battlefield. I've read a lot about World War 2, and had been interested in Kursk for a long time - the great turning point of the entire war, together with the battle of Stalingrad. This book helped me place the battle of Kursk in a different perspective than I had ever seen it before. You see, for Hitler and the Germans, everything now depended on this great gamble. They may not have been able to decisively win the war in the east by July 1943, but they certainly had not lost it yet. Everything was poised on a knife edge - and that's what makes Kursk so endlessly fascinating. Lloyd Clark explains Stalin's frustration at the failure of the Western Allies to open up a second front, and the serious chance that, had the Germans been victorious at Kursk, peace negotiations would have ended the war in the East.

At this point, I must also digress slightly to strongly recommend reading 'Kursk: The Greatest Battle' in tandem with another highly excellent book, The Retreat: Hitler's First Defeat, by Michael Jones, which tells the story of the German advance on Moscow in 1941, and the desperate fighting in the winter snow. I mention this because between these two books, you really get a good picture of what was at stake - and they are both really, really good reads.

To return to Kursk, I'm really glad that I chose to buy Lloyd Clark's book - there are a lot to choose from on the topic, but none of them could have done a better job of bringing the battle to life. The personalities of the commanders come through - I was particularly shocked and enlightened to learn about Russian general Konstantin Rokossovsky, for example, who was tortured by the NKVD and spent time in a Siberian Gulag before a rapid rise that saw him commanding the central front in summer 1943. What kind of a society could produce such a man? It is sometimes astonishing to think that the events related in this book really took place - but then that is a big part of the purpose of history, to tell us what went before so that we might learn from it.

In summary, if you are interested in World War 2, and you want to know what decided the outcome - read this book. Highly recommended.