Fighting in Hell: The German Ordeal on the Eastern Front - Hardcover

Rauss, Erhard; Greiffengerg, Hans Von; Erfurth, Waldemar

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1853672181 ISBN 13: 9781853672187

Publisher: Greenhill Pr, 1995

Synopsis

Fighting in Hell presents four invaluable reports detailing the German campaign in Russia during World War II: Russian Combat Methods in World War II, Effects of Climate on Combat in European Russia, Combat in Russian Forests and Swamps and Warfare in the Far North. Like the reports in The Anvil of War, also published by Greenhill Books, they were written in the late 1940s and early 1950s as part of the U.S. Army program to record the German commanders' accounts and explanations of their strategies and tactics.
The authors of these reports were all veterans of the fighting they described, and frankly admitted that the soldiers sent to Russia were neither trained nor equipped to withstand the full fury of the elements there. The German war in Russia was so brutal in all its extremes that all past experiences paled beside it. Everything in Russia - the land, the climate, the distances and above all the people - was harder, harsher, more unforgiving and more deadly than anything the German soldier had ever faced before. One panzer-grenadier who fought both in the West and in Russia summed it up: 'In the West war was the same honourable old game; nobody went out of his way to be vicious, and fighting stopped often by five in the afternoon. But in the East, the Russians were trying to kill you - all the time.'
However, the German High Command were originally under the impression that the Red Army could be destroyed west of the Dnepr, and there would be no need for conducting operations in cold, snow and mud. Fighting in Hell shows what really happened, through first-hand accounts of the commanders who were there.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

On 22 June 1941, the German army invaded the Soviet Union, one hundred fifty divisions advancing on three axes in a surprise attack that overwhelmed and destroyed whatever opposition the Russians were able to muster. The German High Command was under the impression that the Red Army could be destroyed west of the Dniepr River and that there would be no need for conducting operations in cold, snow, and mud. They were wrong.

In reality, the extreme conditions of the German war in Russia were so brutal that past experiences simply paled before them. Everything in Russia -- the land, the weather, the distances, and above all the people -- was harder, harsher, more unforgiving, and more deadly than anything the German soldier had ever faced before.

Based on the recollections of four veteran German commanders of those battles, Fighting in Hell describes in detail what happened when the world's best-publicized "supermen" met the world's most brutal fighting. It is not a tale for the squeamish.

About the Author:

Peter G. Tsouras is an historian who retired from the Defense Intelligence Agency, where he was a senior intelligence officer. He also served with the 1st Battalion, 64th Armor, in Germany. Tsouras is the author or editor of twenty-two books on military operations and alternate history.

About this edition

• Publisher: Greenhill Pr
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 1853672181
• ISBN 13: 9781853672187
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288
• Editor: Tsouras Peter G.