German Infantryman (3) Eastern Front 1943–45

Osprey Warrior #93

by David Westwood, Elizabeth Sharp (Illustrator)

This third volume of a successful mini-series examines the German Infantryman in the latter part of World War II. Despite being constantly in retreat, often short of equipment, sometimes hungry, cold and wet, and the overwhelming numbers of Soviet troops and armour facing him, the German Infantryman's resistance was always fierce, and although constantly moving back towards Germany, his defensive withdrawals cost the Russians dearly. During this period defensive tactics involved close artillery and tank cooperation, even at small unit level. Containing previously unpublished photographs and poignant first hand accounts, this book explores in superb detail daily life, duties and combat action.

Genres: Nonfiction

64 pages, Paperback

First published June 12, 2005

Reviews

[Creighton]

The German Infantryman book was a 3 part series on the German Heer published by Osprey. It began talking about the Wehrmacht (technically, the Heer, or German infantry army) in its beginnings, and that book was excellent. I liked how it explained the tactics, organization, and training of a Heer regiment. However, when it progressed to the second and third book, it talked mostly about the eastern front, which I felt was a bit of an injustice as the Germany army was active in North Africa, the Balkans, Italy, and France (despite this quasi-complaint, I have been focused recently, exclusively on the eastern front in terms of my studies). This book was pretty good, and while I liked it, I felt that it Focused only on one regiment only; diverting what should've been a more concise but enlarged look at the German infantryman in the eastern front.

I would recommend this book, but I would not use this as your only source of information on the German Heer.

[Michael Dorosh]

Poor show. Photos look like they were picked up in the bargain bin of a flea market, author has poor grasp of subject material, text is scattered, colour plates seem to have little to do with the subject in cases, as does the cover. Not up to the current standard established by Osprey with its newer titles - which is getting progressively higher all the time. Disappointing.

[Murf]

Good short overview of the average landser's life on the eastern front during the years of constant retreat for the German Army. The descriptions of the small scale tactical actions in the varied terrain of the Eastern Front are very interesting, and show how much planning, effort, manpower and logistics go into even the smallest of unit actions.