Werner Haupt

This book by Werner Haupt was published originally in German, and then translated into English in 1996. The book deals with the German offensive towards Moscow in the summer of 1941 (by Army Group Center). The focus of the book deals exclusively with the AGC attack towards Moscow. The author does a decent job of retelling the actions of AGC during the summer and autumn of 1941. He then goes on and describes operation Typhoon (the codename for the last ditch attempt by the Germans to take Moscow in 1941). The author uses a spattering of primary source material to back up his narrative. Overall he does a fairly good job of describing the actions of the units involved, although there were times where the translation was a bit sketchy. The author also, on many occasions, simply got information incorrect. He occasionally would list the wrong commander of a Germany Army, or the wrong position of certain Generals. The mistakes were fairly obvious. The maps in the book were some of the worst ones I have seen in a WWII book. Granted this book was probably published in Germany back in the 70's or 80's, when computer graphics were not well known. There were a couple of decent maps, but 90% of the maps were bad, especially in comparison to todays maps. Overall this is not too terrible of a book, but recent scholarship on the Eastern Front, and on Moscow in particular are light years ahead of this book (i.e. Zetterlings book on Moscow and Stahel's book on Moscow). I would only purchase this book if you are really serious about the Eastern Front/Moscow, otherwise buy the Zetterling or Stahel book (just to name two really good ones).… (más)

The book is a very detailed account of Army Group North, from its beginnings in 1941, shortly before Operation Barbarossa to its end in the Kurland Pocket in 1945 at the wars end. Werner Haupt delivers much detail in theis account of the north section of Operation Barbarossa and the retreat back with Operation Bagration. The book contains many references to what units where involved in the conflicts throughout '41-45, their location and what days. The book contains nine appendixes with much information for the detail oriented researcher or history buff. The book was originally written in the german language, and the many appendixes and bibliography are not translated. My only critique of the book is I wish there were more maps, and more detail for the maps provided within the book.… (más)