William E. Hiestand

Examines and analyses how the Soviet tank forces that fought at Stalingrad were rejuvenated in the months leading up to the battle, and the role they played in this iconic campaign. The Stalingrad campaign was a major turning point of World War II. The German Sixth Army’s 22 divisions and 250,000 troops were encircled and destroyed, while the Soviet 62nd Army’s desperate defense of the city and the suffering of the starving German troops receives much justifiable attention. Here, Soviet armor expert William E. Hiestand draws attention to the less-covered element of the battle: the reborn Soviet tank and mechanized corps that delivered the death blow to Hitler’s hopes. He explains how in summer 1942, the Soviet tank forces were failing to reach their potential; despite being equipped with superb T-34 and heavily armored KV-1 tanks, the Red Army’s newly formed tank corps were unable to integrate their armored thrusts with supporting infantry and artillery, and their disjoined attacks were repeatedly shattered. By November 19, however, Soviet organization, command and control, training, and tactics had matured, allowing the Fifth Tank Army to launch the decisive penetration through the Romanian Third Army. Packed with rare archive photos and superb profiles of the tanks involved, this book shows that it was at Stalingrad that the Red Army’s armored spearhead evolved into a force that could dominate the Eastern Front.

A history and analysis of the fierce air war over the huge battlefield of Kursk, where the Soviets for the first time fought the all-conquering Luftwaffe to a standstill.The battle of Kursk was the last opportunity for the Luftwaffe to fully support a large-scale offensive, and was the Soviet air forces’ first success in battling their opponents to a standstill during summer months. Aiming to gain a success to stabilize the Eastern Front for the summer, Hitler ordered a concerted attack intended to cut off and destroy Red Army forces holding the Kursk salient. It turned into the greatest tank clash of the war. In this book Soviet military expert William E. Hiestand explains how the complex air war over Kursk played out. With both sides deploying new aircraft specifically designed for destroying tanks, massive engagements took place above the clashes of armor. It was a simultaneous struggle to attain air superiority while bringing their Stukas, Hs 129s, and Il-2 Shturmoviks down for repeated low-level attack runs in the face of enemy fighters and antiaircraft fire. But the campaign also involved strategic bombing behind the front lines, attacking airfields and rail junctions. Offering a day-by-day examination of the air forces’ actions, this book reveals the scale and intensity of the combat over the Kursk salient, the great turning point of the Eastern Front campaign.

This fully illustrated study examines the bloody battle between the US Army''s M18 tank destroyer and Germany''s formidable Panther tank at Arracourt in September 1944.In response to Germany’s Blitzkrieg victories of 1939–41, the US Army created a dedicated tank-destroyer force intended to encircle and destroy the massed attacking armored divisions. Fast, relatively well-armed, but weakly armored, the M18 was designed from the start as a tank destroyer, unlike the M10 and M36. By September 1944, the German Army’s armored divisions fielded the Panther tank alongside the PzKpfw IV. In this book, William Hiestand notes that the Panther’s combination of long-range firepower, impressive armour, and good mobility won it a fearsome reputation, but shows how the M18 proved to be a very able opponent when the two types clashed on a foggy September morning during the battle of Arracourt. Fully illustrated with specially commissioned artwork and mapping alongside archive photographs, this lively study examines the origins, development, strengths, and limitations of the two AFVs as well as their crews’ training, doctrine, and combat effectiveness. It also provides a detailed account of the momentous battle between the US 704th Tank Destroyer Battalion and the German Panzer-Brigade 113 at Arracourt, where the two types clashed in a surprising encounter that challenges our preconceptions about armored warfare in World War II.