Retribution: The Soviet Reconquest of Central Ukraine, 1943
Retribution: The Soviet Reconquest of Central Ukraine, 1943 book cover

Retribution: The Soviet Reconquest of Central Ukraine, 1943

Paperback – October 27, 2020

Price
$18.47
Format
Paperback
Pages
480
Publisher
Osprey Publishing
Publication Date
ISBN-13
978-1472835352
Dimensions
6.13 x 1.38 x 8.79 inches
Weight
1.46 pounds

Description

“An excellent strategic and operational analysis of this mostly ignored campaign.” ― New York Journal of Books Prit Buttar studied medicine at Oxford and London before joining the British Army as a doctor. After leaving the army, he worked as a GP, first near Bristol and then in Abingdon, Oxfordshire. He appeared from time to time on local and national TV and radio, speaking on a variety of medical issues, and contributed regularly to the medical press. An established expert on the Eastern Front in 20th century military history, Buttar's previous books include the critically acclaimed Battleground Prussia: The Assault on Germany's Eastern Front 1944 – 45 (Osprey 2010), Between Giants: The Battle for the Baltics in World War II (Osprey 2013), and a definitive four-part series on the Eastern Front in World War I which concluded with The Splintered Empires: The Eastern Front 1917 – 21 (Osprey, 2017). He lives in Kirkcudbright, Scotland.

Features & Highlights

  • From critically acclaimed Eastern Front expert Prit Buttar comes this paperback edition of his detailed and engrossing account of the World War II's Eastern Front as German forces were driven back following the Battle of Kursk.
  • Making use of the extensive memoirs of German and Russian soldiers to bring this story to life,
  • Retribution
  • follows on from
  • On A Knife's Edge
  • , which described the encirclement and destruction of the German Sixth Army at Stalingrad and the offensives and counteroffensives that followed throughout the winter of 1942–43. Beginning towards the end of the Battle of Kursk,
  • Retribution
  • tells the story of the massive Soviet offensive that followed the end of Operation
  • Zitadelle,
  • which saw depleted and desperate German troops forced out of Western Ukraine. In this title, critically acclaimed Eastern Front expert Prit Buttar describes in detail the little-known series of near-constant battles that saw a weakened German army confronted by a tactically sophisticated force of over six million Soviet troops. As a result, the Wehrmacht was driven back to the Dnepr and German forces remaining in the Kuban Peninsula south of Rostov were forced back into the Crimea, a retreat which would become one of many in the months that followed.

Customer Reviews

Rating Breakdown

★★★★★
60%
(168)
★★★★
25%
(70)
★★★
15%
(42)
★★
7%
(20)
-7%
(-20)

Most Helpful Reviews

✓ Verified Purchase

Needs a better editor.

This book has the potential to be good, but it needs a ruthless editing. I've read Buttar's whole series on the eastern front in WW1, and I enjoyed those, but this book has been a slog.

Pros: it's a timely, and under told, story. I like the way he mixes strategic and operational level history in with first person stories about the men who are doing the actual fighting and dying.

Cons: The chapters are massive with no logical breaks within them. They're 50ish page narratives punctuated by random anecdotes that have little to nothing to do with the story. I get the feeling Buttar came across interesting stories in his research and just decided to chuck them into the narrative, reader be dammed. Some have zero business in the book (e.g. the random break in the action as the Soviets are attempting to break out of their Dnepr bridgeheads to talk about Joachim Peiper burning a village in Italy down), and others should be in foot or end notes. Also, I don't care what some random Russian dude's patronym is. Inserting the patronym of someone into a quote by a Russian speaker (who obviously didn't feel it was necessary) is just pretentious.

A well edited 2nd edition could easily be a 4 star book. As it stands, if you have time to kill and are interested in reading about the eastern front, I'd do some looking around before you commit to this series by Buttar.
✓ Verified Purchase

Excellent!

Nice addition to my books on the Eastern front!