Military Model Scene

Title:  From Moscow to Stalingrad

Author: Yves Buffetaut

Publisher:  Casemate Books

ISBN:  978-1-61200-609-3

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The latest of the Casemate Illustrated series produced in cooperation with the French publisher, Histoire et Collections, who first published this in French language back in 1995 as part of their Militaria series.  This new version is an English translation published under licence by Casemate Books.  This one looks at the early stages of the war on the Eastern Front, a time when there were successes and failures on both sides, though ultimately a time of Wehrmacht success.  It follows on from the successful defence of Moscow by Soviet forces, but then the Germans resumed their offensive in 1942 and advance eastwards.

The book starts with a timeline and the launch of a Soviet counteroffensive in the Southern sector.  Learning from their experience so far, the German army made a plan to move east, and secure the oil fields of the Caucasus.  Their operation, Case Blau, follows and their advance Towards the Caucasus.  There were successes for the Wehrmacht in capturing Kharkov and Sebastopol and they inflicted significant Soviet losses on the Kerch peninsular., which are illustrated among the many archive photos featured throughout the book.  Despite Soviet attempts to hold the Wehrmacht advances, the front was pushed further back, and the book ends with the advance of German troops into Stalingrad itself.  The story of that famous battle is left to follow in another book.

As well as the historical story of events during the period, the book also holds over 100 archive photos which give some excellent illustrations of the troops and the equipment used by both sides.  They are accompanied by more colour profiles of tanks, trucks and aircraft, profiles of senior commanders and a number of good, clear situation maps that help to illustrate the text.  The photos have lots of inspiration for military modellers, with both aircraft, trucks and AFVs.  There are diorama ideas aplenty.  Good to see an English translation of these fine books by Yves Buffetaut.

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Distributed by Casemate Books, who kindly provided my review copy.

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Robin