Introduction
The German Infantryman on the Eastern Front is a recent release by Casemate Publishers, part of their series Casemate Illustrated. Authored by Simon Forty and Richard Charlton Taylor, this 128-page book is available in paperback and digital download formats. Key features of the series are special artwork, maps and a wealth of photographs. I foresee plenty of source material for modeling subject in addition to the pure historical archive presented in this book. As a softcover it measures 7 x 10 in, and is catalogued with ISBN 9781636243610. Digital downloads have different ISBNs, those formats being Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Google, and Kobo.
Content recounts the German Army's (Heer) 1941-1945 war against Russia over battlefields and hotspots in the news today - Ukraine, the Crimea, Poland and the Baltic countries. It embroiled tens of millions of Germans and Russians in an enormous fight along a front that reached up to over 1,800 miles.
In Casemate Illustrated books, each chapter is marked with a colored stripe along the upper corner of each page for easy orientation. Each chapter begins with a concise overview of the subject. Call-out boxes highlight interesting information. Beyond overviews and background information from the front line, Nazi societal organization is discussed, as well as details of decisions made in Berlin and Hitler's contributions to Allied victory.
This book is not a history of the war on the Eastern Front but rather an examination of the soldiers, their equipping and supply, tactics and daily life fighting against the Soviet Union. Let us look over this approach to the subject.
Content
The German Infantryman on the Eastern Front is told through five chapters, plus front matter and back matter:
Timeline of Events
Introduction
1. The Soldier
2. Transport and Services
3. Strategy and Tactics
4. Life in the Field
5. Conclusion
Further Reading
Index
The authors use quotes and excerpts to flesh out the academic text. Wehrmacht subjects and terminology are presented in both English and German language, i.e., "Luftwaffe Panzer Battle Badge (Panzerkampfabzeichen der Luftwaffe)". One source of information is U.S. Army analysis and assessments of German tactics and doctrines, with several illustrations and excerpts from the U.S. Army's Handbook of the German Army.
Timeline of Events orients the reader with 38 major events, from Operation Barbarossa through VE-Day. Introduction challenges the conventional wisdom that the Wehrmacht really was unbeatable had it not been simply ground into the ground by overwhelming Allied firepower and resources. In sub-chapter Carrot and Stick the authors explain influences to morale and motivation:
- Awards and medals
- Campaign shields
- Penalties
- Penal battalions
- Rehabilitation units
- Executions
- Kin liability (threatening one's family).
The Soldier begins with the history of Nazi indoctrination to Nazi ideology for a mindset of inevitable war. Subjects presented are:
- Hitler Youth
- Basic training
- Waffen-SS
- Reich Labor Service
- SS Police units
- Allies
- Hiwis
- Osttruppen and Ostlegionen
- Uniforms and Clothing
- Weapons
Sub-chapter Uniforms and Clothing describes the main Heer uniforms and specialized clothing. It discusses attempts to rectify Nazi protective gear negligence such as German Winter Relief drives and changes in materials among other topics. Sub-chapter Weapons introduces the reader to rifles, flamethrowers, grenades, mine detectors, rangefinders, automatic weapons, and other standard weapons in the infantry arsenal.
Transport and Services
This chapter continues the same format and focus as the preceding chapters. It discusses how the Germans moved - by foot, horse, motor vehicle, railways - and the challenges of doing so in so primitive an environment as Russia - especially in winter. Logistics are examined such as the problematic feeding of the hundreds of thousands of horses of Germany's trumpeted modern mechanized military. Adoptions of Soviet resources are mentioned, the Russian Panje horses and sledges receive a page unto themselves. Other callouts discuss couduroy roads, march procedures and drying of wet clothes, and greasing leather. German and Russian railroads are discussed along with Nazi problems with adopting/adapting Soviet rail transport.
Eighteen more pages explore:
- Manpower: Replacements, Combat Strength, and Efficiency
- Communications
- Service Troops
- Aerial Supply
- Medical Services.
Strategy and Tactics
This chapter consists of these subjects:
- The Infantry Squad: as organized for the 1939 platoon; 1940 change; 1943 neue Art division; 1944 Volkgrenadier
- Keil und Kessel
- Pockets: Operations of Encircled Forces
- River Crossings and Bridging
- Fixed Strongpoints and Fortresses
- Improvisation: tank riding; Combat Engineers as Infantry; Tactical Retreats
- German Defensive Doctrine: elastic defense; bunkers; strongpoints
- Tanks and Infantry
- Tank Hunting
- Counterattacks
- Static Positions
- Making Shelters with Explosives
- Sniping.
A detailed examination is presented through three pages recounting the exploits and ordeals of 12. Infanterie-Division during Operation Bagration.
Life in the Field
This chapter, primarily pictorial, looks at the life of the Landser in the field and behind the lines.
So sets the purpose of this chapter by the authors. It begins with a commentary about the nature of the Heer geared towards short campaigns, and their unpreparedness for Russia. We learn of daily grind such as the joining of individual's Zeltbahn to erect a Hauszelt (16-man house tent). The subject of feeding the army includes descriptions of the types and classes of rations, e.g., march rations, iron rations, iron half-rations, etc. That subject presents one of many jewels of trivia this book provides - the zoological difference in terminology for food:
Portion = rations for humans; Ration = fodder for horses.
Another topic is existing in Russia, e.g., veterinarian oversight of stealing and butchering cattle, the associated parasitic joys such as trichinosis and tapeworms, and cooties (bedbugs and lice). What more can one ask for from a book about soldiers at war?
Death, Remembrance, and POWs is the poignant final page of this chapter and lists two estimates of casualties, and shows how Landsers honored their fallen comrades.
A two-page Conclusion reviews the long-held conventional wisdom of Germany's defeat by the Soviets, then contrasts it with what we learned from the archives of the vanquished Soviet Union.
Photographs, Artwork, Graphics
Modelers, wargamers, historians and artists are certain to find something in this book for inspiration, and reference. A few that caught my attention are:
- SdKfz 10 towing a PaK 40 across a flooded area, followed by a sidecar motorcycle
- Loading supply wagons from a Soviet railcar
- Lineup of light trucks in temperate camouflage in a snowy landscape
- Writing home from a tench surrounded by steppe flowers
- Soldier scanning with binoculars for a target for his readied rifle grenade
- Lunch time!
Images are the main focus of this series and the visual content is strong. Most of the photos are black-and-white but there are some contemporary color photos. Not only are there scores of photographs, this book is well illustrated with wartime artwork; black-and-white drawings and the "pop" of color of paintings by German soldiers and propaganda personnel. The imagery ranges from studio-quality to amateur "grab shots". Recruiting posters, sourced from negatives, print material and motion pictures. A good gallery of modern color photographs presents uniforms, insignia, kit and weapons, modeled by the 304th Panzergrenadier Reenactment Group.
Graphics/Images
Conscription Duties of the German Citizen: 10 phases of military responsibilities in the Third Reich
Tables
Weapons:
- Small arms and light machine guns
- Crew-served weapons
Heer veterinarian services as understood by the U.S. Army
Kesselschlacht, August 31-September 26, 1941: four-map depiction of the gargantuan encirclement that destroyed the Soviet Southwest Front
Breakout from the Cherkassy Pocket with maps
German Elastic Defense 1933
Extended Strongpoint
German Squad Fighting Positions and Living Bunker
Text Boxes and Callouts
The Barbarossa Decree of may 13, 1941
Maps and Mapping
Fighting in the Russian Winter
Verwundetenabzeichen (Wound Badge)
Partisan Warfare
Truppennfuhrung (Leading Troops) manual
The Reality of Unit Strengths: using Grenadier-Regiment 7 in early 1945
Infantry Engineers
German Divisional Organization
Regimental organization
Corduroy Roads
On the March
The Panje Horse and Sledge
Feldpost - Field Post
Evacuation
Squad Organization and Equipment
Infantry-Tank Cooperation
German Company in Defensive Positions
Battalion Strongpoint.
Focus pages "On the March"
Signals sampling
German art and US Army illustration
Work, play, wash
Conclusion
Casemate's Casemate Illustrated series impresses me and The German Infantryman on the Eastern Front reinforces my positive opinion of the series. The wealth of imagery combined with descriptive text spotlighting topics I have wondered about for ages will definitely win a spot on my reference shelf. I believe that modelers of the Wehrmacht and the Eastern Front will find a cornucopia of reference material in this book, either as a stand alone reference, or the starting point for further study. For me, it has expanded my knowledge of some topic, and introduced me to others. Recommenced.
Please remember to mention to Casemate or retailers that you saw this product here - on Armorama.