The Stalingrad campaign was a major turning point in World War II. Germany's Sixth Army was encircled and destroyed, while the Soviets' desperate defense of the city and the suffering of the starving German troops receives much justifiable attention. However, here Soviet armor expert William E. Hiestand draws attention to a lesser-known element of the battle: the reborn Soviet tank and mechanized corps that delivered the death blow.
He explains how in the summer of 1942, Soviet armor was failing to reach its potential; despite their superb T-34 and heavily armored KV-1 tanks, the Red Army's new tank corps were unable to integrate with infantry and artillery, and their disjointed attacks were repeatedly shattered. But by November, organization, command, training, and tactics had matured, allowing the Fifth Tank Army to launch the decisive penetration through the Romanian Third Army.
Packed with rare archive photos and superb profiles of the tanks involved, this study shows that it was at Stalingrad that the Red Army's armored spearhead evolved into a force that could dominate the Eastern Front.
Author: William E. Hiestand
Illustrator: Steve Noon
Bloomsbury Publishing PIc
Osprey Publishing Ltd, 2026
ISBN: 9781472865229
Index by Angela Hall
Typeset by Lumina Datamatics Ltd
Printed by Repro India Ltd.
10 x 7 inches
48 pages