From Kursk to Stalingrad Case Blue 1942 / Von Kursk bis Stalingrad Fall Blau 1942

Panzer Pioneer Battalion 40 / Panzer Regiment 24 / 24th Panzer Division - German / English, 410 pages. On June 28, the major German summer offensive of 1942 begins in the southern section of the Eastern Front. The objectives of Operation «Fall Blau» are the Volga, the Caucasus and the capture of the Soviet oil fields. Involved right from the start: Panzer Pioneer Battalion 40 of the 24th Panzer Division. Recently re-motorized in France, the battalion is transferred to the operational area of Army Group South in May. East of Kursk, the offensive begins for the division under the command of the 4th Panzer Army. Supporting Panzer Regiment 24, the battalion was always in the lead. At the beginning of July, the Don was crossed for the first time and the city of Voronezh was almost completely captured. Immediately afterwards, the fateful change in the planning of the summer offensive took place. The conquest of Stalingrad was the new objective. The new mission: back across the Don and advance into the Great Don Bend. The 6th Army and 4th Panzer Army operate together here, followed by the victorious encirclement battle at Kalach on the Don at the beginning of August. South of this, the battalion crossed the Don again as part of the 24th Panzer Division and advanced through the Kalmyk Steppe towards Stalingrad. From here, the attack on the southern part of Stalingrad began in early September. But the division's losses were already enormous. This illustrated book with 12 maps and more than 340 photos - many of them previously unpublished - shows the entire march of Panzer-Pionier-Bataillon 40 and Panzer-Regiment 24, starting in the Kursk area from July 1942 to the suburbs of Stalingrad in September 1942.