Kiev 1941 Book

[demyansk]

I just read the first 50 pages of this book by David Stahel. I have read his other books as well. One thing to say-the author knows his stuff and brings a different slant on the Eastern Front. Stahel also writes in a easy way to understand.

Check out his books and after reading a few pages you will not play the Germans again in any game thinking you can win.

[wings7]

Thanks for the tip! The Germans were pretty unbeatable from '39 to '41, minus heavy aircraft bombing. [:)]

[Jagdtiger14]

I'm already there a long time ago Demjansk...its amazing they got as far as they did. Take into account the illogical mistakes (many) and things like ULTRA, and of course the USA just to name a few big ones.

[demyansk]

The interesting thing Jag is I have been reading about the Eastern Front for the last 35 years. After reading the first 50 pages of this book - it's still fresh in my mind - is the amount of reserves that the Soviets had and the number of males under a draft age available. Stahel also talks about the relocation of the factories as well as the standardization of the equipment. Plus, the majority of equipment destroyed in the first few months was obsolete tanks and Biplanes - all crap stuff. I always believed that the majority of the USSR citizens welcomed the Germans, however, new information discusses this issue and has an opposite view. A majority of the soldiers captured had no other option but many fought to the death. The citizens rallied around the flag and patriotism. Plus, a lot of this evened out as the cream of the crop - Germans also died as well, so things evened out.

The intelligence was very faulty and it's really quite surprising that the Axis lasted this long and the Soviets really took the brunt of the fighting. Lots of info from Stahel and check out his books. I think he's one of the best out there along with Glantz.

[Jagdtiger14]

demjansk: Glantz is one of my favorites and was able to sit in on two of his presentations...one of which was about the largest tank battle in history...and no one knew about it (Brody):

http://historum.com/war-military-histor ... -wwii.html

A lot of the Soviet material was basically cr@p, but the 500+ KV's were pretty good and there were T-34's around...just not lead well and few radios (even for the early T-34/76 and so on), and no air parity, the result of which reduced them to the value of scrap metal.

[demyansk]

Good job Jag, yes no radios and a low level of training. Makes a big difference in battles. The German war machine had to many variations of all the equipment. Can you imagine working in a motor pool with all the different parts needed?

Those Stukas took a toll on those tanks.
Thanks for the link.

[demyansk]

Just finished chapter 2 around page 98. Every person should read this chapter. You will no longer play a game as the Axis. This chapter is all about failed economics