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Casemate: The Soviet Battle for Berlin, 1945
ISBN Number:
9781636244372
Publisher:
Casemate Publishing
Published:
Friday, January 31, 2025
Retail Price:
US $28.95
Reviewed By:
Dan Egan
The Soviet Battle for Berlin, 1945
Casemate has published Ian Baxter's "The Soviet Battle for Berlin, 1945" in the "Casemate Illustrated" series. This is a paperback, 7 X 10 inches, 128 pages, with multiple maps, about 160 photos, and several paintings. Writing style is generally clear, easy to understand, and well organized.
The books in this series do a pretty good job of setting the strategic background before diving into the accounts of each operation. The book begins with a timeline of major events, beginning in January 1945, which provides high level context.
Baxter provides a good overview of the operations leading up to and in Berlin itself, telling the story from both the Soviet and German sides. In a book of this length it is not possible to get too in depth, and with a series of operations of this scale, with multiple Army Groups engaged on each side, only a very high level overview is possible.
The Order of Battle here is not entirely accurate; some units cited in the text simply never existed. For example, the Red Army organized a grand total of six Tank Armies during WW2. It never had a 7th or 8th Guards Tank Army, although both these fictional units are cited in the text. A major error is that Rokossovsky's 2nd Belorussian Front is described as deployed both to the north and to the south of Zhukov's 1st Belorussian Front (only north is correct).
The maps in the book are of uneven quality. The maps on pages 26 and 33 are near-duplicates of each other, show the same terrain, units, and operations, but with conflicting planning information. This is probably an error made during the editing process. I suspect two drafts were prepared, but both were mistakenly included. There are also two WW2-era Red Army maps shown, but they are printed so small it is impossible to get much information from them. No maps showing the progress of the fighting within the city are included. The maps are definitely a weak point of the book.
Maps are a weak point here; this map is a near-duplicate of another.
Color plates are of ordinary quality, consisting of a few paintings of German and Soviet tanks and soldiers or Volksturm members. I think these could have been omitted; they do not add anything in particular to the account.
Photo quality is really quite good. There are about 160 photos, of which almost all are sharp and clear. Only a very small number were mis-captioned or from other periods of the war. For example, a handful of photos from the early war period are mistakenly included. But overall, the photo collection is definitely the high point of the book. The photo selection includes a good mix of individual soldiers from both sides, a variety of equipment in use, and several 'aftermath' photos of soldiers and civilians in the city after the fighting ended.
Profiles of several commanders from each side are provided. Some of these are not especially accurate, for example, the author does not understand Marshal Zhukov's role as a Stavka representative, as opposed to an ordinary Front (Army Group) commander.
Conclusion This is a very basic overview of the events leading to the fall of Berlin, starting in January 1945 and leading up to the surrender. The text, with some errors excepted, would be valuable to someone new to the campaign. However, the errors are such that a reader would be well-served by following up with something better. The photos, however, is where this book really shines. I have been a student of the 1945 campaign for a long time, and at least 70% of these photos were new to me. I will be studying them closely. The book is worthwhile simply for that.
Recommended for all builders.
Thanks goes out to Casemate Publishing for this review sample.
Reviewed by Dan Egan
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