Hell's Gate
The Battle of the Cherkassy Pocket: January-February 1944
by Douglas E. Nash
Mem. Ed. $47.99
Pub. Ed. $69.95
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Bonus Content
Hell's Gate
Virtually unknown in the English-speaking world, the Battle of Cherkassy (also known as the Korsun Pocket) is still fresh in the minds of a generation of Russians and Germans. It was at Cherkassy where the last German offensive strength in the Ukraine was drained away. To the 60,000 German soldiers who were encircled there at the end of January 1944, this was one of the most brutal, exhausting and morally demanding battles they had ever fought. Thirty-four percent of them would not escape.
Douglas E. Nash’s Hell's Gate is a riveting account of this desperate struggle, analyzed on a tactical level through maps and military transcripts, as well as on a personal level, through the words of the men who experienced it firsthand.
Hardcover: 420 pages
Publisher: Casemate Publisher & Book Dist. ( March 01, 2002 )
Item #: 43-8795
ISBN: 9780965758437
Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 11.0 x 1.05 inches
Product Weight: 62.0 ounces
Interesting
October 21, 2009
One thing that surprised me was the degree of tactical superiority the Germans retained this late in the war. It reminds me of Arab-Israel combat. Time and time again, panzer, even infantry units smashed Soviet counterattacks, inflicting very lopsided losses on T-34, infantry and cavalry units. IMO though, the German decision to commit elite panzer forces to relieve the troops entrapped in the Korsun pocket was foolish. Muddy conditions combined with Soviet resistance to wreck those elite formations. The Germans should have conserved their panzer forces for the spring or summer, when they could've been employed to greater advantage. The entrapped units should have been ordered to break out on their own, in late January, while they still had the bulk of their initial strength. Considering the resourcefulnes of Lieb and many subordinate commanders, this might have been possible.
Reviewer: Tim D
A Must Have Book for the WWII Historian or Student
October 15, 2009
I repeat this is a must have book for the WWII Historian and/or Student of history. We Westerns all know and have read many books about the battle of Stalingrad, but little is known or told to us truthfully about the battle of Cherkasy (Korsun Pocket). This is the true account of how the Germans avoided another Stalingrad with the Russians. What really makes this book work is all the personal interviews from the "average" German soldier and hearing what they endured. Great reading with tons of photographs, stories and maps of each phase of the battle. Well worth the money!!!
Reviewer: John H
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