- 160 pages
- English
- PDF
- Available on iOS & Android
Panzers in the Defence of Festung Posen 1945
About this book
Panzers in Defence of Festung Poznan 1945 by Maciej Karalus and Jaros?aw Jerzak is the first book published in English to describe the bitter battle for Festung Pozna? in 1945. That Polish city, occupied by the Nazis since almost the very beginning of the Second World War in 1939, was declared a fortress (Festung) on January 20, 1945, and for the whole month it saw heavy fighting between Wehrmacht and Waffen SS troops and the Red Army advancing directly towards Berlin. Among the garrison of the fortress a special part was played by a small heavy Panzer unit which possessed just one Tiger tank, two Panthers, one Panzer IV and a handful of Sturmgeschütze. Despite the difficulty and sparsity of sources, the authors were able to acquire an impressive wealth of information and memoirs, as well as rich iconography. Before Poland was able to regain her full political autonomy in 1990, the fighting in Pozna? was described only by Zbigniew Szumowski and Stanis?aw Ok?cki. These, however, were poor compilations, only marginally touching upon the participation of German Wehrmacht. These authors looked upon this subject through the lenses of Soviet documentations and historiographical propaganda of their times. Sadly, they could not or would not make use of the documents in German archives. Their cardinal mistake was to overestimate the strength of the forces at play (especially on the German side), and the glorification of the Soviet victory, foregoing an honest analysis of the losses of human life as well as equipment on both sides. This is the first book in English that allows the reader to follow the street fighting in Pozna? through the eyes of the Wehrmacht soldiers, documenting the story of the German armored forces engaged in the battles for the city.
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Information
Table of contents
- Cover
- Book Title
- Copyright
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Foreword
- Preface
- Introduction to the Polish 3rd Edition
- 1 Before the Battle
- 2 The Armoured Assault Reserve Emerges. Fighting in the “East” Sector
- 3 Soviets Breaking Through
- 4 Łęgi Dębińskie Counterattack and the Struggle for Wilda
- 5 The Grolman Lock and City Centre Fighting
- 6 Around the Citadel
- 7 Capitulation
- 8 Escape from Festung Posen. StuG-Brigade “Großdeutschland” members escorting the SD officials
- 9 Tankers Without Tanks
- 10 The Mystery of the Sturmgeschütze from Krzewata, Dąbrówka and Grzegorzew
- Epilogue
- Appendices
- Note on Sources
- Index
- Back Cover