I went from refusing to review books written by former Second World War German officers to...well, here we are with my third such review in the past year. But these books have all been flat out good. Perhaps it is because one is from the former Chief of Staff of Panzer Group Four and now this one is authored by the former quartermaster of Mountain Corps Norway. Such men simply have less reason to deviate from an objective look at military operations and enter into the realm of excuse making. As...
Book and Film Reviews
The Advance of Mountain Corps Norway on Murmansk, 1941, Wilhelm Hess, Casemate Publishers, 2021, $45.00 (Hardcover), 216 pages
Steve Mercatante
on Feb 13 2021 - 8:10pm
Review Type: Book
The Siege of the Hungarian Capital, 1944-1945, Kamen Nevenkin, PeKo Publishing Kft., 2020, 1400 pages (Hardcover), $129.95
Steve Mercatante
on Dec 8 2020 - 10:36pm
The 1944-1945 battle for the Hungarian capital of Budapest often gets overlooked by not only other great city sieges of the Second World War (like Leningrad), but also because of its timing (running contempanerously to other great campaigns in Europe like the Battle of the Bulge in Western Europe). However, from the perspective of those interested in examining why it was certain battlfield outcomes were achieved during the war or those interested in history's great military sieges then this...
Review Type: Book
The Advance of Panzer Group 4, 1941, Chales De Beaulieu, Casemate Publishers, 2020, $34.95 (Hardcover), 216 pages
Steve Mercatante
on Aug 26 2020 - 8:55pm
Here we are again. I had previously sworn off reviewing World War II books written by former German officers. Darn it but don't I have another good one for my readers. This time we get to hear the thoughts of Panzer Group 4's former Chief of Staff - Chales De Beaulieu. More to the point, we get a detailed look at his opinion as to why his panzer group failed to meet its objectives during Operation Barbarossa. In particular, he ably documents here his take on the work of himself, the commander...
Review Type: Book
Germany's Panzer Group 3 during the Invasion of Russia, 1941, Hermann Hoth, Casemate Publishers, 2017, $15.99, 200 pages
Steve Mercatante
on Jun 15 2020 - 8:12pm
Astute readers may have noticed that to date I have shied away from reviewing any of the books written by German officers who fought in the Second World War. So why this book? I'll get to that, my thoughts on the author, and a word of caution for readers, but first let's discuss the actual book.
Originally penned in 1956 this is the English language edition, and a good one at that. The translation by Linden Lyons is excellent. His work fully holds up well in comparison to other notable...
Review Type: Book
Clandestine Cold War Operations of the US Army's Elite, 1956-1990, James Stejskal, Casemate Publishers, 2017, $22.95, 426 pages
Steve Mercatante
on May 17 2020 - 3:26pm
Special Forces Berlin by James Stejskal is an engaging, informative, and eye-opening look at a special forces unit (though it was technically two units, with one ending in the mid-1980s and replaced by the other, these were ostensibly the same unit) that one could argue may have just been the proverbial best-of-the-best. I'll get to more on that arguably controversial statement in a moment, but note also that is a book which is very difficult to put down. That's because it is not just a unit...
Review Type: Book
Wilkowyszki, Gumbinnen/Nemersdorf, Elbing, Wormditt/Frauenburg, Kielce/Lisow, Igor Nebolsin, Helion and Company, 2019, $89.95, 544 pages
Steve Mercatante
on Mar 21 2020 - 7:06pm
Igor Nebolsin should be a familiar name for this website's readers, as I have previously reviewed his suberb two-volume combat history of the Soviet 2nd Guards Tank Army. For armored enthusiasts he has done it again - in this massive, well-sourced, and in-depth look into several little known or poorly understood but large Eastern Front tank battles that took place during the Second World War's final year. Tank-on-tank combat that mostly dwarfed the scale of armored clashes in Western Europe at...
Review Type: Book
Volume I: IV. SS-Panzerkorps and the Battle for Warsaw, July-November 1944, Douglas E. Nash Sr., Casemate, 2019, $37.95, 624 pages
Steve Mercatante
on Mar 11 2020 - 3:16pm
Douglas E. Nash has by this point become well-known amongst Second World War historians for providing painstakingly researched and well-written accounts focused on German military operations. With From the Realm of a Dying Sun he continues his streak of welcome additions to the existing body of research on the greatest war in history. This time, Nash focuses on the formation of IV-SS Panzerkorps and its combat operations near Warsaw in the late summer and fall of 1944.
By early in August of...
Review Type: Book
The Battle of Kham Duc, James D. McLeroy & Gregory W. Sanders, Casemate, 2019, $34.95, 272 pages
Steve Mercatante
on Feb 15 2020 - 9:33pm
Bait is an excellent book, and is so for a number of reasons. First off, without a doubt Bait provides a new look at a controversial battle that was fought during the Vietnam War; but It does something else as well. It provides a great new strategic perspective on the U.S. mid-late 1960's military approach to the Vietnam War in general. As if that were not enough it is also well written, and impeccably researched (as one would expect given one of the authors was a participant in this same...
Review Type: Book
Mike Guardia, Casemate Illustrated Series, 2020, $24.95, 128 pages
Steve Mercatante
on Feb 2 2020 - 9:53pm
Casemate's Illustrated Series has continued to grow and improve. The original volumes (previously reviewed here) were often reprints of French books. And though well done, with numerous of great images, they somewhat lacked in terms of the analysis that often makes the difference between one wanting to pick up a new book about a previously well-covered topic or not. However, since those initial volumes released in 2018 the series has evolved. In fact, in recent months it has rolled out an...
Review Type: Book
And The Genesis of the Operational Manoeuvre Group, John S Harrel, Pen and Sword Military, 2019, $34.95, 336 pages
Steve Mercatante
on Jan 24 2020 - 7:10pm
Soviet Cavalry Operations During The Second World War offers a unique perspective on the fighting between Germany and the Soviet Union during World War II. In addition, the reader also gets a brief look into the developmental genesis of such operations and their impact on modern Soviet and Russian ground forces.
The strength of this book is in showing a reader otherwise confronted with a blizzard of works emphasizing the role of the tank on World War II's Eastern Front that in fact cavalry...
Review Type: Book
