East Front Drama 1944 German view of Operation Bagration

In June 1944, the Russian Army launched "Operation Bagration", the largest offensive in military history—eclipsing even D-Day in its enormity. In a matter of days, a hole hundreds of miles wide was torn in the German front and Army Group Center was destroyed, with more than 300,000 casualties—the most costly German defeat of WW2. East Front Drama is a meticulous examination of how the German forces on the Eastern Front, under the direction of Hitler’s favorite Field Marshall—Walter Model—recovered from this shattering defeat. Rolf Hinze is one of Germany’s leading military historians and has covered this little known topic in meticulous fashion with detailed unit movements, analysis of command decisions and superb maps.

On 22/23 June 1944 the Soviets launched “Operation Bagration” -- on the anniversary of Operation "Barbarossa" -- against the forces of Heeresgruppe Mitte. The Soviet forces on the attack axis consisted of 2 tank armies, 8 armored/mechanized corps (for a total of more than 4,000 tanks) and 168 rifle (infantry) divisions. These forces were supported by 31,000 guns and mortars and more than 5,000 aircraft. The Germans were outnumbered by more than 3:1 in troops at the point of attack; 3.5:1 in artillery and 5:1 in aircraft.

Due to the strategically inept grouping of German elements in “fortified” cities and the nonsensical “hold fast” order, the Soviets had advanced some 200 kilometers within a week and torn a gap of 400 kilometers in the German lines. The German casualties numbered more than 200,000. On 28 June 1944, Field Marshal Model took over command from the overtaxed and incapable Field Marshal Busch.

Rolf Hinze’s book is a meticulously researched account of how the Germans under Model organized an astounding recovery from the initial massive assault; retreating in more-or-less good order and eventually slowing down the Soviet offensive operations, although the Soviets outrunning their supply lines was also a significant factor. The author documents the movement of the German formations and units (often to company level) aided by 37 detailed maps, and the appendices include various orders of battle for Heeresgruppe Mitte.

Rolf Hinze

Hardcover 360 pages, 100 photographs, 50 maps.

Book Code:  FE0019