Can anyone recommend a good book on this battle? One with lotsa pictures and not too much Russian text if any. Done a search and found about a 1000 books but where would you start!!!
Also I’d like to find a picture type of book showing battle damage and destroyed WW2 armour.
Any thoughts appreciated.[swg]
If you want to really understand a battle, it’s always best to read at least two books on it. For Kursk, I’d recommend Glantz’s book, The Battle of Kursk. It’s currently the definitive book, but Glantz is pro-Russian in his histories of the eastern front – sort of like Shelby Foote was toward the Confederacy (which doesn’t make his Civil War tome any less fantastic). For instance, the Russians are often accused of exaggerating the scope of the battle, particularly Prokhorovka.
Then, read Newton’s book, Kursk: the German View. This is written from the German perspective, so you will get some balance and you can come to your own conclusions. It’s a slightly tougher read than Glantz though.
For a folio style survey of the battle, check out the Osprey book, Kursk 1943, by Mark Healy. It has lots of maps and photos and paintings of the troops, but compared to the other two books it’s really just a fairly quick summary.
Hey there …I’m currently building a dio which i named " Building the Citadele" so I have info but I think that more helpful would be a movie the problem is that it’s 200mb …But it’s good one so If you find out a way that I can sent it to you it will be a pleasure to help
P.P. well maybe it’s a problem but its in Russian…whith bulgarian subtitles but it’s a movie so …it’s up to you
Have fun [:)]
Well the facts are that at Prokhorovka 500 German tanks fought nearly 800 Russian tanks, there are many war time photos and videos…Oh and by the way at “Mamajskij Kurgan” there is still small magnetic anomaly becouse of the buried destroyed tanks and other war stuff.
I usually go through Military History section of Barns and Nobles bookstore and they usually have lots of books covering WWII stuff. I found lots of pictures that I needed from there and I purchase those books that I can use.
Just got a book called Kursk: the critical 24hrs, or something of the sort. It’s a brief overview, plenty of pics. May want to check it out to start with.
Well, one of the best books I’ve read on Kursk is an old one long out of print. It is called “The Tigers are Burning” by Martin Caiden He goes into a lot of detail about the batrtle, and the preparations on both sides before it started. I don’t know if it is even possible to get that book anymore but it was a fantastic and comprehensive read to me. I’d loive to get a new copy myself since mine has been gone for decades.
ay my borders, they have a book called the photographic story of kursk. needless to say, it has some great pictures.
Duke, Sounds like a good book. I went to… http://www.abebooks.com …and checked for it. They have a bunch of them, both the hardcover and paperback editions. The prices start as low as $1. Can’t beat that…I ordered a copy.
Tanky, Is the book you mentioned, “Images of Kursk: History’s Greatest Tank Battle, July 1943” by Nik Cornish? I see Amazon has used copies of that one for around $7.
yeah, i forgot what the title was exacrly, sorry. I have looked through it, and it is wonderful! lots of great pictures.
Great…that sounds good. I put my order in for a used one.
I have just oredered the Cornish book Images of Kursk: History’s Greatest Tank Battle off the Abe site. Many thanks for the suggestions.
Hi…
I agree with the two books you mentioned. Yes, Healy’s book is just an overview.
Probably the best book on the subject that I have read is Kursk 1943 A Statistical Analysis by Niklas Zetterling and Anders Frankson. No photos, but VERY detailed information on all aspects of the battle.
Another good photo study is Operation Citadel by Jean Restayn. I would also recommend the RZM series on the Waffen-SS at Kursk, a five-volume set of excellent photos.
Hope this helps,
Steven C. Johnson
PS I wouldn’t waste my time on Caidan’s book, unless you want a cheap read that isn’t terribly accurate and is very biased toward the Soviet viewpoint.
As stated, “The Tigers are Burning” is a good read, though probably not definitive. I just got a new copy of Glanz’s book for $7 at a used bookstore (Score!). If you are looking for dio or modeling ideas, go here:
http://www.isidore-of-seville.com/kursk/9.html
Lots of cool pics it looks like from the Russian perspective, not all Kursk thought (I don’t think it snows in July, even in Russia. Probably Stalingrad or Operation Uranus pics). The destroyed Ferdinand on page 12 of photo set 1 is an interesting picture.
Here’s lilnk to some commentary regarding Kursk. He has some nice data tables with numbers of vehicles and the relation of tanks to SP’s and support vehicles for both sides. Also some nice pro and con to the printed info available regarding the campaign. Definately some good reading.
Thanks for the thread Mike, that was interesting.