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