The Korsun Pocket

Known to the Germans, and thus many in the Anglo-American speaking world, as the Battle at Tscherkassy (Cherkassy) and to the Red Army as the Korsun-Shevchenkovskii Operation; the January-February 1944 battle centered around the town of Korsun has long attracted tremendous interest from amateur and professional historians alike.

Interest in the battle stems from a number of reasons not least of which, and as authors Niklas Zetterling and Anders Frankson amply demonstrate, because the fighting around Korsun marked one of the rare late war large scale operational level engagements whereby the Wehrmacht and Red Army slugged it out on relatively equal terms. Historians and enthusiasts are also drawn to the battle for a number of other reasons including the unusually large concentration of Tiger and Panther tanks used by the Germans during the relief operation, the size of the pocket formed - the largest endured by the Germans since Stalingrad, the Red Army's significant tank losses and, finally, an enduring debate revolving around the question of just how many Axis soldiers the Red Army managed to kill and capture during the operation.

Remarkably Zetterling and Frankson are able to not only amply educate a reader interested in all of the battle's elements listed above, but also do so in a highly detailed and interesting manner. For instance, the book includes not only analysis at the operational level but frequently delves into the minutest details at the tactical - including firsthand accounts from men who fought in the battle. These often engrossing accounts help bring the movement of masses of men and machines to a level which the layperson can readily identify with and aid tremendously in allowing the reader to comprehend why the events around Korsun unfolded as they did in January and February 1944.

In addition, the Eastern Front enthusiast and amateur military historian will be amply rewarded by not only these first person accounts but the ample charts, tables and voluminous appendices detailing the units that fought in the battle, their strengths at critical moments before, during and after the battle, losses sustained, and more; all aiding in backing a very well-researched look at the impact the fighting had on the respective combatants. Furthermore, the book contains a number of easy to follow maps that are especially good at allowing the reader to link events described in the text to the places shown on the maps and the dates which those locations witnessed the battle's most significant events. Only in a few  instances do the maps fail to convey adequately the movements of various units described in the text, and though this oversight is somewhat annoying it hardly detracts from the larger strength of the text and its graphical support.

This reviewer has recommended Niklas Zetterling's past scholarship, most recently in his collaborative work with historian Michael Tamelander regarding the German Battleship Tirpitz, and yet considers KORSUN POCKET: The Encirclement and Breakout of a German Army in the East, 1944, perhaps Zetterling's best effort yet; working here with Anders Frankson. Though a reasonably well-informed reader may initially ignore this work, as it is about a commonly known battle, they do so at their own loss. As someone who has had the opportunity to study much about the war on Germany's Eastern Front, this reviewer found Zetterling's and Frankson's work illuminating for a number of reasons; especially in its ability to highlight how the late war Red Army was able to defeat a Wehrmacht that had previously run circles around the best the Soviet Union could throw at it. The battles fought in and around Korsun rank as among the most interesting of the Second World War, an opinion only made stronger after reading Zetterling and Frankson's thoroughly researched and well written account.

1.Steven Douglas Mercatante's Why Germany Nearly Won, A New History of the Second World War in Europe, is currently scheduled for publication by ABC-CLIO's Praeger early in 2012. Why Germany Nearly Won not only explores how close Germany actually came to winning the Second World War, but also why Germany was defeated. This work stems from over two decades researching and studying the Second World War. Steven's writing in the historical field goes beyond his research, and draws upon his experience as a former history teacher, from his undergraduate studies in history at the University of Michigan, from his graduate work in history at Eastern Michigan University, and from his study of International Law at Michigan State University College of Law. Steven has been published numerous times over in the historical and financial/legal field, both online and in a scholarly journal with a 2008 article entitled; The Deregulation of Usury Ceilings, Rise of Easy Credit, and Increasing Consumer Debt, published in volume 53 of the South Dakota Law Review.