Military Model Scene

Title: The Crimean Offensive 1944
Author: Ian Baxter
Publisher: Casemate
ISBN: 978-1-63624-435-8

The Russian Battle for the Crimea, another title in the Casemate Illustrated series. A 128-page soft-cover book.
This one starts with a timeline of key events, starting from the initial German invasion of Russia, Operation Barbarossa, through the capture of the Crimea by German forces but then moves on, after other German defeats on the Eastern Front, their 17th Army was cut off within the Crimean peninsula. While this gave then time to prepare their defences, the Soviets also allowed them relative peace for a time, as they were essentially in a large POW camp, and looking after themselves. Only later, from the end of 1943 and into 1944 did they turn their attention to retaking this southernmost part of Ukraine. The book tells the story of their assaults, from the north, and from the East, across the Kerch strait. Romanian and German forces were gradually pushed back, grouping around Sevastopol. Despite an initial directive from Hitler that there should be no evacuation by sea, that was actually what happened in the end, and thousands of German troops did manage to escape. The story is spread over 6 main chapters, and the pages are regularly interspersed with profiles of equipment, weapons and commanders of both sides.
The heart of the book of course for this series is made up with the excellent collection of archive photos which are used throughout. Most come from Soviet sources, so have not been widely seen before. The weather, especially the winter snow and mud is a significant feature and well illustrate the conditions which both side had to fight in. The equipment in use varies from small arms and uniforms, through horse drawn transport and trucks, through to the assortment of armoured vehicles and artillery, all the way up to the huge Schwerer Gustav railway gun. Plenty of handy references in here for modellers and ideas for dioramas thanks to some great detail. My only sadness with this book was the realisation that now this region, along with the rest of Ukraine, is having to face war in their country all over again.
Thanks to distributors, Script Books, for the review copy.

Robin