Product details
Biographical note
Prit Buttar studied medicine at Oxford and London before joining the British Army as a doctor. After leaving the army, he worked as a GP, first near Bristol and then in Abingdon, Oxfordshire. He is extensively involved in medical politics, both at local and national level, and served on the GPs' Committee of the British Medical Association.
An established expert on the Eastern Front in 20th-century military history, his previous books include the critically acclaimed Battleground Prussia: The Assault on Germany's Eastern Front 1944–45 (2010) and Between Giants: The Battle for the Baltics in World War II (2013) and a definitive four-part series on the Eastern Front in World War I which concluded with The Splintered Empires: The Eastern Front 1917–21 (2017). He now lives in Kirkcudbright in Scotland.
<i>The Reckoning</i> reinforces Prit Buttar's standing as a leading authority on modern warfare in Eastern Europe. If you find the scale and complexity of the Eastern Front battles daunting, pick up a copy, relax and let Prit Buttar lead the way... totally absorbing narrative.
Mike Peters, Chairman, International Guild of Battlefield Guides
The panorama of the WWII Eastern Front is so huge, it's often difficult to comprehend. Dr Prit Buttar has nailed it through his judicious blend of the strategic and tactical – commanders’ debates and soldiers’ experiences. At times this is Sven Hassell brought vividly to life. <i>The Reckoning</i> is well-balanced throughout, fair to both sides, employing the widest range of Russian and German sources I've ever seen. Long overdue, I am sure it will replace all previous accounts of Army Group South.
Peter Caddick-Adams, author and broadcaster
A masterful account of the war in the East.
The Armourer
<i>The Reckoning</i> is fabulously rich in primary sources, immersing the reader in the hopes, fears, and motivations of a vast array of personnel.
Military History Matters
'The Reckoning is vivid history, the tragic Eastern Front brought to life through the widest range of Russian and German sources I've ever read. Bravo.' – Peter Caddick-Adams, author and broadcaster
From critically acclaimed Eastern Front expert Prit Buttar, The Reckoning is a masterful re-evaluation of the fateful year of 1944, and how the Red Army irrevocably turned the tide of war until the final defeat within the heart of Germany itself was guaranteed.
The fighting throughout the Ukraine and Romania was brutal, with the German defence dogged and desperate. But for too long the Wehrmacht had relied on the superior combat prowess of its fighting men. What had not been taken into account, however, was that the Red Army would not only rely on its sheer size, but would fine-tune its fighting performance from its senior commanders right down to the individual soldier battling both fear and the elements to take each line, each trench, each inch of land.
Ultimately it is a story not of how the Germans lost, as is all too often told, but of how the Russians increasingly learned how to win.
List of Maps
Dramatis Personae
Preface
Introduction
1: The Protagonists
2: The Kirovograd Encirclement
3: Watutin and the Cherkassy-Korsun Encirclement
4: Another Stalingrad
5: Mud, Snow and Hill 239
6: Kamanets-Podolski: The Encirclement of First Panzer Army
7: Malinovsky’s Offensive
8: The Wandering Pocket
9: The Crimean Peninsula
10: The End of the Leash
11: Preparing for Summer
12: The Lviv-Sandomierz Operation
13: The Disintegrating Axis
14: The Approaching Endgame
Notes
Bibliography
Index
<i>The Reckoning</i> reinforces Prit Buttar's standing as a leading authority on modern warfare in Eastern Europe. If you find the scale and complexity of the Eastern Front battles daunting, pick up a copy, relax and let Prit Buttar lead the way... totally absorbing narrative.
Mike Peters, Chairman, International Guild of Battlefield Guides
The panorama of the WWII Eastern Front is so huge, it's often difficult to comprehend. Dr Prit Buttar has nailed it through his judicious blend of the strategic and tactical – commanders’ debates and soldiers’ experiences. At times this is Sven Hassell brought vividly to life. <i>The Reckoning</i> is well-balanced throughout, fair to both sides, employing the widest range of Russian and German sources I've ever seen. Long overdue, I am sure it will replace all previous accounts of Army Group South.
Peter Caddick-Adams, author and broadcaster
A masterful account of the war in the East.
The Armourer
<i>The Reckoning</i> is fabulously rich in primary sources, immersing the reader in the hopes, fears, and motivations of a vast array of personnel.
Military History Matters
'The Reckoning is vivid history, the tragic Eastern Front brought to life through the widest range of Russian and German sources I've ever read. Bravo.' – Peter Caddick-Adams, author and broadcaster
From critically acclaimed Eastern Front expert Prit Buttar, The Reckoning is a masterful re-evaluation of the fateful year of 1944, and how the Red Army irrevocably turned the tide of war until the final defeat within the heart of Germany itself was guaranteed.
The fighting throughout the Ukraine and Romania was brutal, with the German defence dogged and desperate. But for too long the Wehrmacht had relied on the superior combat prowess of its fighting men. What had not been taken into account, however, was that the Red Army would not only rely on its sheer size, but would fine-tune its fighting performance from its senior commanders right down to the individual soldier battling both fear and the elements to take each line, each trench, each inch of land.
Ultimately it is a story not of how the Germans lost, as is all too often told, but of how the Russians increasingly learned how to win.
List of Maps
Dramatis Personae
Preface
Introduction
1: The Protagonists
2: The Kirovograd Encirclement
3: Watutin and the Cherkassy-Korsun Encirclement
4: Another Stalingrad
5: Mud, Snow and Hill 239
6: Kamanets-Podolski: The Encirclement of First Panzer Army
7: Malinovsky’s Offensive
8: The Wandering Pocket
9: The Crimean Peninsula
10: The End of the Leash
11: Preparing for Summer
12: The Lviv-Sandomierz Operation
13: The Disintegrating Axis
14: The Approaching Endgame
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Product details
Biographical note
Prit Buttar studied medicine at Oxford and London before joining the British Army as a doctor. After leaving the army, he worked as a GP, first near Bristol and then in Abingdon, Oxfordshire. He is extensively involved in medical politics, both at local and national level, and served on the GPs' Committee of the British Medical Association.
An established expert on the Eastern Front in 20th-century military history, his previous books include the critically acclaimed Battleground Prussia: The Assault on Germany's Eastern Front 1944–45 (2010) and Between Giants: The Battle for the Baltics in World War II (2013) and a definitive four-part series on the Eastern Front in World War I which concluded with The Splintered Empires: The Eastern Front 1917–21 (2017). He now lives in Kirkcudbright in Scotland.