Best General Belarus & Ukraine Travel Guides
From the desperate fight to prevent a burning reactor core from irradiating eastern Europe, to the self-sacrifice of the heroic men who entered fields of radiation so strong that machines wouldn’t work, to the surprising truth about the legendary ‘Chernobyl divers’, all the way through to the USSR’s final show-trial. Andrew Leatherbarrow lives with his fiance and their two children in Lancashire, England.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Great read and viewpoint on the Chernobly incident."
"(Not a whole bunch of scientific technical terms and info, but written for the average person) engrossing and verry interesting."
"Very interesting summary written by a Scottish fellow who was fascinated with how it happened, how it unfolded, who was involved, and the long-term consequences of the disaster, roughly equivalent to 440 nuclear weapons going off."
"Very well-written and interesting account of the Chernobyl accident, along with the author's account of his visit to Chernobyl, Pripyat and Kiev."
"The author really puts the actual "accident" in perspective and the fact he extensively sites his sources is impressive."
"I liked this book a lot."
"Loved hearing and following along with the book."
"The book was more about a young man's photography journey to Chernobyl and his interactions with others in his tour group."
In the photographs of the survivors and their homes, Shore visually explores their collective experience as seen through quotidian details, and leaves open the question as to how the history of the Holocaust informs the viewer's reception of the portraits. His capturing of the minutiae of life, the seemingly unimportant, and doing so – radically – in colour, singled him out from the traditional documentary photographers of the everyday. He has influenced generations of photographers – from Thomas Struth and Andreas Gursky, to Nan Goldin and Wolfgang Tillmans.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"It's a huge understatement to say that the photos and accompanying text in this book are very poignant."
Hinze's accounts are indispensable to any study of the decline and collapse of the German Eastern Front, and are published by Helion across three volumes - the great retreats across the Ukraine to the borders of Hungary and Rumania, and the evacuation of the Crimean Peninsula (Crucible of Combat), the fate of Heeresgruppen Nordukraine, Sudukraine and Sud-/ Ostmark in 1945 (this volume) and the battles of Heeresgruppe Nordukraine/A/Mitte ('To the Bitter End'). Hinze's maps, alone, would justify his works, for most of the unit histories, narratives and studies of individual battles lack maps illustrating their place in the larger geography of the war. Rolf Hinze, born in 1922 in eastern Germany, joined the 19th Artillery Regiment in Hanover in 1939.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"There are many detailed maps between the two books. Though this book has a little more Soviet detail, there could certainly be more; this might be an issue for some. The Germans do pull off a number of successful local counter-attacks that delay the Soviets but its too late in the war to reverse the retrograde movement or even stop the enemy's advance as the Soviets push the Germans beyond Rumania, Hungary and into Austria. As a veteran of the war, Mr Hinze clearly has empathy for the German cause, showing pride of German accomplishments and remorse for German defeats. There are 60 fewer pages in this book than in "Crucible" but when you consider there are 36 fewer maps and no photo gallery in the new book, the level of operational details are comparable between the books with a slight advantage to "Desperation" in Soviet coverage. The author provides important historiography that when added to the more popular history to the north, will give students a better overall understanding to the end of the war and if you have such an interest of this time and place, these books should be a part of your core library alongside books by Georg Maier and Rudolf Pencz which adds a more personable touch."
"details of final battles of ww2."
"Well researched and written."
"If you are looking for a book with personal stories of the soldiers involeved, this is not the book for you."
"A great book written with great detail on unit movement in this sector towards the end of WW2."
"Excellent account of the often ignored final 10 months of the war on the Eastern Front from the German perspective - lots of good maps and a good translation into nicely readable English."
"Remember that Hinze wrote this study BEFORE Soviet archives were open, so any criticism of him on that score is negligent of the prevailing access to hard data on the Red Army and its operations."
"ago when I first heard about this book I was very excited about it, a book specifically focused on the battles in the critical years 1944-1945, very little covered by historians. The book is divided in 29 main chapters (each with many subchapters) describing the battles in South Ukraine, Romania (Bessarabia operations included), Hungary (Budapest, Debrecen, operation Spring Awakening, etc), former Czechoslovakia and, finally, in Austria (particularly the battle for Vienna). Throughout the book the author is devoting his energy in showing the fate of German soldiers in these theaters of operations, thus readers shouldn't expect to find too many references about other forces involved. But much more can be added to the story: the incapacity of German forces to stop Red Army (the front in 1943 was held only with German units, so nobody can blame the weak Axis Allies for their failures), the improper behavior of German troops, only promises with modern equipment, stealing from Allies, arrogance, the hasty withdrawal of the most German panzer reserves, etc. NOT even one Soviet/Romanian/Hungarian book is cited, another proof that Hinze's book is just one-sided study and fully subjective. I cannot rate this book with more than two stars but I can promise that is the last book by Rolf Hinze."
Best Kiev Travel Guides
The combination of Russian assault and German counterattack had created the preconditions for the next two Soviet winter offensives; the Korsun'-Shevchenkovskii operation and the Rovno-Lutsk operation. Based on the unpublished records of the German 1st and 4th Panzer Armies, and supplemented by comprehensive mapping and order of battle data, this book provides an authoritative, detailed, day-by-day account of German operations as they developed in response to the Soviet offensive. This first volume describes events until 9 January 1944, during which period the German forces were pushed back forcibly under the weight of the Soviet offensive, and includes 140 detailed daily situation maps in color to allow the reader to follow operations as they developed day by day. "Barrett does a superb job detailing the course and outcome of this important Soviet offensive from the German perspective.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"This book provides a very thorough and detailed account of that campaign using archived action reports from German units (Army, Corps and Division) that were involved. There is little account from the Russian side in this book although the Russian units involved are identified (through German action reports I'm sure). Since the Russians outnumbered the Germans in the first phase of this battle - they attacked with over 800,000 soldiers and 2000 tanks against the German total of less than 200,000 and 400 each - the Russians would probe for weak spots and then drive major armor units through the created hole."
"With other titles, I might be hunting down some obscure village on a map, but this series gives you a nice book of them. Barratt breaks it down into an overview, before taking the reader into the actions of each Korps and its component divisions on a given day. One thing that became something of bore after awhile was the repetitive use of certain phrases to describe defensive success or failures. So no accounts of infantry fighting for frozen trenches or Panzers charging into battle against superior Soviet tank strength. However, if you really want a study of an important, but little known, campaign from the perspective of German Korps and Armee level leadership, then you may want to pick it up."
"A single, color, map of the entire area would be a great help."
"Many maps with godd pictures showing different units engaging russians units."
"It is more of an in depth study that uses two volumes: a text book and a map book."
"Perfect!!!!!!!"