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Armor and Blood
- The Battle of Kursk: The Turning Point of World War II
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 10 hrs
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Armor and Blood
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Publisher's Summary
While the Battle of Kursk has long captivated World War II aficionados, it has been unjustly overlooked by historians. Drawing on the masses of new information made available by the opening of the Russian military archives, Dennis E. Showalter at last corrects that error. This battle was the critical turning point on World War II's Eastern Front. In the aftermath of the Red Army's brutal repulse of the Germans at Stalingrad, the stakes could not have been higher. More than 3,000,000 men and 8,000 tanks met in the heart of the Soviet Union, some 400 miles south of Moscow, in an encounter that both sides knew would reshape the war.
The adversaries were at the peak of their respective powers. On both sides, the generals and the dictators they served were in agreement on where, why, and how to fight. The result was a furious death grapple between two of history's most formidable fighting forces - a battle that might possibly have been the greatest of all time. In Armor and Blood, Showalter recreates every aspect of this dramatic struggle. He offers expert perspective on strategy and tactics at the highest levels, from the halls of power in Moscow and Berlin to the battlefield command posts on both sides. But it is the author's exploration of the human dimension of armored combat that truly distinguishes this book.
In the classic tradition of John Keegan's The Face of Battle, Showalter's narrative crackles with insight into the unique dynamics of tank warfare - its effect on men's minds as well as their bodies. Scrupulously researched, exhaustively documented, and vividly illustrated, this book is a chilling testament to man's ability to build and to destroy. When the dust settled, the field at Kursk was nothing more than a wasteland of steel carcasses, dead soldiers, and smoking debris. The Soviet victory ended German hopes of restoring their position on the Eastern Front, and put the Red Army on the road to Berlin. Armor and Blood presents listeners with what will likely be the authoritative study of Kursk for decades to come.
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What listeners say about Armor and Blood
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Lemon
- 2021-08-31
Reply to FT/ review
Didn't find all that much of an overwhelming German bias in this book I'm any way that made them look good. Seeing as operation barbarosa was the biggest military operation in history and the Germans pushed back one of the biggest military powers in history as far as they did while being outnumbered and dragging on the conflict as long as they did I'd say it's a fair point of view that it was the Germans war to loose. Also worth noting is that the German military more or less pioneered modern infantry/ Armour tactics used by first world countries today and were advanced for their time, though people don't like to mention that cause they are the bad guys. Further there are hundreds of books that portray the soviets as the good guys and tells the story from their point of view. It's worth noting that before, during and after the war the soviet regime committed comparable to greater atrocities so having a book talk endlessly of war crimes on the Eastern front and ignor the strategy and objectivly look at battles from a military point of view would be 900 hours and the reader would learn nothing of military value, just how much suffering went on (alot).
The quote of "defending western civilization" is in reference to how the German front line soldiers felt from personal accounts. If you want to learn from German tactical successes and strategic failures than looking for a political apology isn't going to get you vary far (this is the equivalent thinking of "orange man bad" in the modern political climate). I find this all the time in reviews of objective books on war from people that have a narrative and require affirmation.
The Armour history this does leave something to be desired, keep in mind that it's not a 50 hour book. However su 152/155's were only produced to the tune of 1500 combined vehicles and kv1/2s to the tune of 5000 vs 84000 t34's so they definitely were the most common on the battlefield so that would be the rationalization for them being left out but more detail could have been used.
So in conclusion and if you've gotten this far, I'd say this book is a great look into the strategy and analysis of the strategy, tactics, generals and short comings of both sides of the conflict and I've learned lots from this book. If you're looking for a book that focuses on atrocities then keep looking but if you want to know the personal accounts and strategic moves that allowed a military outnumbered, outgunned and undersypplyed to consistently inflict more casualties and material losses than it received for the majority of the war and and still lose, and if you can put aside the fact that that nazi's were the bad guys (if you don't know this by now I don't know what to tell you) to take an objective look at the fighting than this is for you.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mark Rutledge
- 2019-11-26
Superior Presentation
A very interesting book on one of the most important battles of WWII. I liked the combination of operational details and larger overview perspectives that weaves back and forth in the narrative. The opening chapter reviewing the Wehrmacht and Red Army doctrines and philosophies is especially good. I enjoyed Robertson Dean's reading of the book. He managed the German and Russian names especially well. Probably the highest compliment I could give is that the audio book inspired me to order a physical copy.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Nick
- 2019-11-24
Very good
Very good book for any hardcore military fans. Although, it focuses quiet a bit more on the German side of things while dismissing a lot of soviet accounts.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Daniel Jones
- 2018-12-03
A Very Dense hour by hour telling of Kursk
I have never read a more in depth chronology of the Battle of Kursk. Division by division platoon by platoon, this history will regal you with pretty much every phase of what many consider the greatest tank battle of all time. That being said, this is not an audiobook one can put on while focusing on other tasks, this book requires devotion to follow all of the action. It's easy to be lost as the vast amount of information present to the listener can be overwhelming at times. Still, I enjoyed the mix of strategic and troop level thoughts. And the author presents the history without bias maybe slightly towards the Germans but there is more information there.
History buffs who want a complete telling of one of mankind's largest, most horrific and grandiose battles can do no better than this book.
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4 people found this helpful