THIS CAMPAIGN WAR BOOK IS WELL DETAILED ABOUT HISTORY'S CONFLICT ON THE TACTICS AND STRATEGIES OF BOTH OPPOSING FORCES.

VERY NICE BOOK.

This is an expensive book (listing for $19.95), but it is a thin paperback (96 pages), with lots of photographs. I found myself wishing for more words, descriptions, analysis, stories.

The book itself is chock full of facts, but there is little human interest, and the facts are rarely expounded on. If you are looking for an quick and dirty history of the campaign, then this is the book for you. I kept wishing that the author had expanded on some of the snippets that he refers to, they are tantalizing.

The author put as much information into limited space as he could, but it reads more like a book report than a book.

The original plans for the Barbarossa Operation did not call for the seizure of the Crimean Peninsula. Things changed quickly when on July 13, six Soviet bombers based in the Crimea attacked the Romanian oil fields in Ploesti. Within a week, 11,000 tons of precious fuel went up in flames. Hitler and the German Army Staff soon viewed the Crimean Peninsula as an aircraft carrier aimed directly at their strategic oil reserve.

Starting at the end of October 1941, Army Group South switched direction and moved south to capture the Crimea by a "coup de main". After a series of daring counter attacks, the Soviets were able to frusturate the German plans. As the winter of 1941-42 set in, both armies prepared for a new campaign in the Crimea and the eventually seige of the Sevastopol naval base. "Sevastopol 1942" is an account of that siege which proved to be the last major German victory in World War II.

With The Osprey Campaign Series, it is usually hit or miss. At there very worst, books in the series end up being poorly written and mind numbing in their fastidious recounting of dull operational details. Fortunately, Robert Forczyk is a strong writer with a good command of the German and Russian language secondary sources. He understands the conventions of the Osprey Campaign Series and gives his readers a clear, concise retelling of one of the great sieges of the Second World War. On a personal note, I appreciate Dr. Forczyk's honest assesment of Van Manstein's character and generalship. Too often in Eastern Front books written for enthusiasts, authors create a portrait of Von Manstein that borders on hero worship.

Another excelent book with a new cover art, splains every movement of the german, romenian and russian armies, show detailed maps and graphics.

Good for beginners and experts.

Robert Forczyk's latest effort is a solid example of the Osprey campaign series. It is an interesting coincidence that a previously ignored campaign has, in the space of a few months, gotten two good studies, the other being in Robert Citino's "Death of the Wehrmacht" which covers it as part of the overall German effort in 1942. Citino goes for the broad strokes, Forczyk for the details.

Forczyk starts with an excellent discussion of the background to the campaign; the section on opposing plans is short but hits the high points; the section on the commanders is disappointing. Forczyk devotes a lot of space to Manstein's involvement in Nazi war crimes. It is certainly important to mention this, but it is not the main focus of the book. The matter is referred to in the narrative whenever appropriate and is covered again in the conclusion; this is overkill in a book with a tightly constrained page count. The two German corps commanders get adequate coverage, but lower level commanders and Soviet commanders get shortchanged. The section on opposing armies is very good, focusing on the German assault pioneers as well as the eclectic collection of heavy artillery used, the Rumanian army (surprisingly good but under-equipped) and the quality of the Soviet infantry (mixed but determined). The order of battle is very complete, including non-divisional artillery, although not the type and number of guns each had. Much of this information is scattered throughout the book, but that makes it difficult to find.

The narrative is a bit plodding compared to his last book, "Moscow 1941", but that may have more to do with the nature of the fighting (narrowly confined infantry battles rather than sweeping panzer operations) than the quality of the writing. He does get bogged down in the details: is it necessary to know how many and what type of shells were fired at each target in the preliminary bombardment, or the miss distance of each round fired the gigantic "Dora" railroad gun? More valuable is the detailed day-by-day descriptions of the fighting. The maps are excellent and help enormously in understanding what was going on, although a map covering the middle period of the fighting would have helped a lot.

My main complaint is a personal one: I would have liked to see more about the campaign that led up to the siege. Shocking, that a book about the siege of Sevastopol actually focuses on the siege of Sevastopol. I can hardly fault Forczyk for that.

The conclusion is short and not very satisfactory. The Nazi executions following the fall of the city are mentioned. Forczyk asserts that the fighting left the 11th Army incapable of further action, although the figures of 20-30% losses in the attacking divisions hardly bears that out. He should at least have mentioned that most historians believe German losses were significantly higher than they claimed.

It would also have been valuable to actually draw some conclusions. How could the Germans fight their way into what has been called the strongest fortress in the world in 1942, without a significant numerical superiority? Citino quotes Mainstein that the Luftwaffe "pulled the infantry forward." Forczyk mentions air attacks in support of the ground operations several times, but draws no conclusions. He does make the points (in the narrative) that the heavy artillery so laboriously collected was mostly ineffective, that German casualties among junior officers were very high, and that the failure to effectively blockade Sevastopol allowed the Soviets to bring in large numbers of troops and supplies. It would have been useful to know why so much of the limited supply of ammunition was wasted on a preliminary bombardment that any World War 1 artillerist could have told Manstein would be ineffective; what effect the shell shortage had on the later fighting; or the effect of the loss of so many junior officers had on the combat-effectiveness of the 11th Army both during and after the siege. On these sorts of questions, Forczyk is silent.

This book complements Citino's book very nicely: Citino covers the overall campaign better, with little detail on the actual siege, and he discusses the sort of issues Forczyk ignores; Forczyk has the excellent maps that Citino lacks, and covers the siege itself in depth and with a great many details. However, Citino's focus is on 1942 as a whole and the Crimea is just one chapter. Forczyk does a thorough and impressive job of telling the story of one of the great sieges in history, and does it in 96 pages. That's quite an accomplishment.

Robert Forczyk's Sevastopol 1942: Von Manstein's Triumph is Volume 189 in the extensive Campaigns series. German forces besieged Sevastopol for 250 days before overrunning it in July 1942. It was not liberated by the Red Army until May 1944. The intensive fighting destroyed the city, which was totally rebuilt in the 1950s. Forcyzk skillfully weaves together the story of the German campaign to seize the city, interspersing logistics, operational planning and military movements, leaders, and the terrain and weather into an excellent overview of the Sevastopol campaign.

As with all the Campaigns series, this book is lavishly illustrated with useful maps and color drawings of combat action, as well as dozens of period photographs, most of which have not been used in other works on the battle. The biographical material on General von Manstein portrays a relatively skillful commander whose flaws perhaps prevented even further military success. He looked down on subordinates and tended to lead from the rear, unlike his counterparts Rommel and Guderian, who possessed more of feel for the ongoing action. Forcyzk's prose flows well, keeping the reader informed while not bogging down in too much detail. As a result, this is perhaps the finest general overview of the Sevastopol campaign on the market.

Following the standard Osprey format for short books on specific campaigns, this book does a great job on the subject. The book covers the initial assault into the Perekop isthmus, the Soviet attacks across the Kerch straights to attempt to relieve the city and the Axis counter-attacks, through to the defense of the city. In addition to providing details on the ground combat, the air and sea contributions are also covered. The are several maps with good detail on unit dispositions, there is a detailed order of battle for May 1942 (the period of the final assault on the city), and a section covering the major commanders on both sides.

I've been interested in this particular campaign for a while and found the author provides sufficient background and details. I enjoyed the maps, as well as new information (to me) on the Soviet defense of the city. A truly epic campaign, Forczyk has done a fine job at advancing the historiography.

Robert Forczyk's Sevastopol 1942 followed the typical Osprey Campaign series format. However, I am pretty amazed how much information are packed in this short book. The author managed to write quite a lot and write it with clarity within the limited space afforded to him by Osprey.

The book clearly described the Sevastopol Campaign from late 1941 to summer of 1942 and the author made sure that both sides of the warring parties were well represented in his account. The photographs and maps that come with this book proves to be useful and helpful. I didn't see any major historical inaccuracy and if there was any minor ones, I really couldn't tell anyway. The book covered the entire Crimean campaign within the time frame and clearly highlights General Eric von Manstein's superior generalship as well as desperate Soviet efforts to forestall their defeat.

On the minor downside, I thought the author was bit too harsh on von Manstein's moral behavior and I find it somewhat surprising that he put von Manstein on the same level as Rommel in terms of ability. In my book, von Manstein is ten times the commander that Rommel ever was even if he wasn't a "soldier's general" type. It could be that the author was a victim of Osprey's hype when the backside of the book describe Sevastopol as "last major German victory of World War II". I believe that author knows the gross exaggeration of that note by the publisher.

But overall, this is fantastic book on the subject matter. The author's skill as a writer and as a historian shows when he didn't waste a single sentence writing this book. One of the Osprey's better Campaign series books.

Sevastopol has long been, and still is, one of the great battles of World War Two that has been overlooked by history. Unlike at Singapore, where a similar sized area succumbed to joint operations without a fight, the Soviets were determined to keep the foothold at Sevastopol. However the Germans had other ideas. Throwing in Rumanian and German divisions, as well as using air power and marines, they eventually ground down the Soviets and took the city, providing them with security for their southern flank in Russia and acting as a prelude to the opening of the 1942 campaign for Stalingrad and the Caucuses.

This wonderfull book details the campaign day by day and examines it from a military history point of view. A very readable account and one that many Second World War and Eastern front enthusiasts will enjoy.

Seth J. Frantzman

Sevastopol has long been, and still is, one of the great battles of World War Two that has been overlooked by history. Unlike at Singapore, where a similar sized area succumbed to joint operations without a fight, the Soviets were determined to keep the foothold at Sevastopol. However the Germans had other ideas. Throwing in Rumanian and German divisions, as well as using air power and marines, they eventually ground down the Soviets and took the city, providing them with security for their southern flank in Russia and acting as a prelude to the opening of the 1942 campaign for Stalingrad and the Caucuses.

This wonderfull book details the campaign day by day and examines it from a military history point of view. A very readable account and one that many Second World War and Eastern front enthusiasts will enjoy.

Seth J. Frantzman

Another Robert Forczyk's title "Sevastopol 1942: Von Manstein's triumph" for Osprey brings a story about siege of one of the most important soviet port towns in Black Sea region. The information is very well balanced and reader-friendly. Day-by-day situation, air and naval battles, order of battle etc. Additional plus goes to author for using soviet sources. It gives the chance to look at the campaign from a position of the Soviet historiography. Although the Soviet military-historical science never differed truthfulness and objectivity of the approach to described events, it did not become a hindrance to the author. The Robert Forczyk has done the scrupulous analysis of the campaign, and, as always, has kept within a Osprey format. The book is also supplemented with Howard Gerrard's paintings. Applauding this way. Both author and artist.