POSEN '45 BASTION OF THE WARTHE

Description: POSEN '45 BASTION OF THE WARTHE compiled by Gunther Baumann, 480 pages, 45 maps, 48 photographs, and 14 documents. During 12–14 January 1945 the Russian Army broke out from the Vistula River and headed for the Oder River on the way to Berlin. It swept away the German defending units, which retreated in disarray. In an attempt to slow down the Russian assault, Hitler declared a number of key cities to be Fortresses. Posen was one of them. POSEN ’45: BASTION ON THE WARTHE is the account of the month-long siege of the city of Posen at the beginning of 1945. Declared to be a Festung (Fortress) by Hitler on January 20, its soldiers were to defend the city to the death. The defense of the city lay in the hands of a collection of 15,000 German and Latvian troops, supported by a few Sturmgeschütze, one Tiger I, two Panthers, one Hetzer, and a few SPWs. The first Russian units reached Posen on January 22 and cut it off from the rest of the German forces. During the next month of bitter fighting 36,000 Soviet troops and supporting units fought through a number of forts and fortifications that had been constructed in the late 1800’s, and across the city, until the last German fighters surrendered on February 23 in the Citadel. There followed a period of extreme brutality, where the German survivors were subjected to beatings and murders, as well as a gruelling propaganda march through the city, followed by hard labour in the Soviet Union, from which many did not return. This book tells the story of the organization of the defense, the collecting of retreating German soldiers, the vicious day-to-day urban fighting, the several breakouts and their fates, the surrender, and the aftermath. It is also an excellent collection of first-hand accounts from many soldiers that illustrates the brutal fighting in the city. Included in great detail is the part played in the fighting by the lone Tiger I, which moved from one critical spot to another until it was immobilized. The text is supported by a number of very detailed maps that allow the reader to follow the fighting street by street. All books are entirely in English unless noted otherwise. Winner pays $7.50 shipping within the US. I combine purchases and the rate goes way down after the first book purchased. International orders billed at cost. I will ship anywhere in the world. If you have any questions about payment options please contact me. I SHIP ANYWHERE ON THIS PLANET. Be assured, though I may not always have the lowest price, you will not get any cheap bookclub editions from me on ebay. I've been selling books for many many years and I can spot cheap bookclubs a mile away. Hand me a book and I'll tell you straight off if it's a bookclub edition. Sometimes it can be hard for most booksellers to know if it's a bookclub, like university press books. They don't normally put the price on the jacket for the publisher's edition, but most of them do use full or partial cloth binding, whereas the bookclub edition will be simply cheap board covers. Though let's face it, most of the publisher's editions these days aren't all that great in quality either, the bookclubs are even worse! Please look at my ebay store where many similar titles are available.

Price: 69.99 USD

Location: Littleton, Colorado

End Time: 2024-11-28T00:46:51.000Z

Shipping Cost: 7.5 USD