War in Ukraine

Volume 8

The Battle of Kyiv:  February - April, 2022

One of the latest titles to come out in the Helion Book Series, War in Ukraine, is Volume 8.  Titled "The Battle for Kyiv", this volume essentially covers the first early part of the war when Soviet forces tried to encircle and cutoff the capital of Kyiv.  Needless to say, Putin's armed forces didn't get to have their way.  History has shown that a larger army can be repulsed by a much smaller one.  This issue is a pictorial photo journal of that struggle and how a much smaller army can hold it's own in a toe-to -toe struggle.  The invasion of Ukraine started on the morning of February 24th, 2022.  With initial actions on four fronts, the primary threats to Kyiv to encircle the city were:

1)From the North:  A drive towards Western Kyiv from Belarus involving the Eastern Military District

2)One deployed towards Eastern Kyiv by the Central Military District, made up of units from the 41st CAA (Combined Arms Army) and 2nd Guards Combined Arms Army. 

3)Another was from the Kharkiv area

4)The last was from the Southern front coming from the Crimea and Russia's Rostov Oblast area.   

Russian forces made great advances towards Kyiv and to their credit, the situation looked desperate.  By the 26th of February, the 35th CAA had advanced to the northern outskirts of Kyiv in the Hostomel and Irpin areas.  The situation did look bleak for Ukrainian forces defending the capital.  But, Russian forces were dealing with supply issues with regards to bottled up logistics that could not make it to the front where Russian troops were located.  Additionally, bridges over the Irpin river were being blown as well as behind Russian forces.  Ukrainian artillery caught a lot of the Russian forces in a refueling nightmare on February 27th with the guns of the 43rd Artillery Brigade and the 2nd Artillery Battalion, 72nd Mechanized Brigade raining death and destruction destroying over 100 armored vehicles.  Effective reactions by the Ukrainian forces caught the Russians unprepared and the Russian units were picked off on congested roads.  This continued into the next months with Ukrainians regaining the upper hand.  Poor lines of communication, overextended and clogged resupply lines in the rear, and a counter artillery bombardment broke the Russian onslaught at Kyiv's doorstep.

The Ukrainian forces fought bravely and with tenacity to the point that on April 7th, Russian forces begun to pull back on the Northern front for "regrouping and resupply".  By the first week of May, Putin was declaring victory and the threat to Kyiv had been eliminated with a general pullback from the encirclement of the city with help from the Western nations.  Since that time, Ukrainian forces staged a rally of sorts and took back a lot of territory in a counteroffensive with help from the West.  Ammunition shortages and complacency by the West would make the frontal gains by Ukraine come to an end. Still, Putin's nose had been bloodied, resulting in the sacking of many generals and the call up of fresh troops that would prove unpopular back in Moscow.

Coming in at 104 pages with 61 color photos and countless others, this volume is a great insight into that armed conflict.  Would you expect it to be any different from this series publisher?  Nope, not in this series.  As noted, there are 61 color photos which show some very closeup details of equipment and vehicles that were used in the field of battle.

There are 31 color profiles to look at as well, with some additional tables that can be scoured over.  At pretty much 8 1/2 inches by 11 inches, this book is published with thicker paper for the covers and that holds up to the flexing that I have done to scan the photos for this review, really well.  The text is very easy on the eyes to read and is laid our very well to aid the reader with the strain on the eyes.  Broken down into eleven chapters and a well written appendix at the end of the book, it covers the following topics in order:

Abbreviations and Acronyms - Page 2
Acknowledgements - Page 2
Note - Page 2
Introduction - Page 3
1)  Unchecked Hubris - Page 3 
2)  The Ukrainian Prelude - Page 8
3)  The Battle Begins - Page 13
4)  The Race to Kyiv - Page 15
5)  The Tipping Point - Page 24
6)  Reinforcing Failure - Page 29
7)  The Battle of Moschun - Page 35
8)  The End in the West - Page 39
9)  Eastern Axes - Page 45
10)The Breakthroughs of the 2nd GCAA and 41st CAA - Page 53
11)The Tide Turns in the East - Page 63
Appendix:  Page 72
Selected Bibliography - Page 75
Endnotes - Page 75
About the Author - Page 86

The following photos are from this book.  All are excellent in quality.

Wow, what can I say about this book.  I have been fascinated by the events in Ukrainian now for the past 3 years, wondering if Putin would be able to make that country submit to his rule by the use of the Russian military.  In my quest to know more about this, I had not really found any history books yet on the topic, being that this conflict is so still relatively new.  This volume really shed light on how the Russian forces were broken at the doorstep to Kyiv in a way that answers the questions that I had.  As it turns out, There were several factors that led to the Russian Army not being able to close the deal on bagging the Ukrainian capital.  In some respects, it was a perfect storm for the Ukrainians that broke the Russian advance; Russian resupply, clogged interior roads that led to Russian resupply issues on the front north of Kyiv, a successful Ukrainian counter artillery massed attack on the 27th of February that caught the Russians by surprise and the unending aid that the Western nations gave to the Ukrainian people to defend their country.

This book in my humble opinion is a great read.  I'm a history buff to begin with.  I love armor operations, in particular in great struggles in how it is used to encircle and annihilate a city or smaller army and in some rare situations, how the smaller or beleaguered force turned the tide of war against their attackers.  I have enjoyed reading about the German encircled 6th Army at Stalingrad, the Americans in Bastogne in the winter of 44', the American Army in the Cho'sun Pocket in Korea, the French and Dien Bien Phu, the Marines at Khe Sanh and now this, the Russian Army that almost took Kyiv and missed their chance.  Could it happen still?  Sure.  But, with the will of the Ukrainian people, and help from the West, and the military assets that are still making the way to the front, the Orcs can be held back.

This volume is beautifully written with lots of color maps that show the progress that is told on the pages so you can follow along the order of battle.  I would highly recommend the purchase of this volume, if anything, because of the history that is captured in these well-written pages.  The book is filled with color photos that are just large enough to give the reader a sense of what took place.  Some are suitable for diorama ideas.

All in all, this book was very enjoyable to read.

Highly Recommended for Beginner to Advanced builders and to especially those that like historical accounts of close-in battles of encirclement.

Thanks goes out to Casemate Publishing for this Book Review by Helion & Company., and Joseph Mathers, Author

Reviewed by GLEN MARTIN

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