Prit Buttar reveals the depth and depravity of the bitter fighting for the Rzhev Salient. He details how the long-ignored region held the promise of a renewed drive on the Soviet capital for the German Army - a chance to turn the tide of war. Using both German and Russian first-hand accounts, Buttar examines the four major offensives launched by the Red Army
Prit Buttar Livres
Prit Buttar est un expert reconnu du Front de l'Est dans l'histoire militaire du XXe siècle. Son œuvre explore les complexités de cette période charnière, offrant aux lecteurs un examen détaillé et perspicace de ses événements clés. Buttar apporte une perspective unique, façonnée par ses recherches approfondies, pour éclairer les dimensions militaires et humaines de ces conflits historiques.






Germany ascendant : the Eastern Front 1915
- 464pages
- 17 heures de lecture
The massive offensives on the Eastern Front during 1915 are too often overshadowed by the events in Western Europe, but the scale and ferocity of the clashes between Imperial Germany, Hapsburg Austria-Hungary, and Tsarist Russia were greater than anything seen on the Western Front and ultimately as important to the final outcome of the war. Now, with the work of internationally renowned Eastern Front expert Prit Buttar, this fascinating story of the unknown side of the First World War is finally being told. In Germany Ascendant, Buttar examines the critical events of 1915, as the German Gorlice–Tarnow Offensive triggered the collapse of Russian forces, coming tantalizingly close to knocking Russia out of the war altogether. Throughout the year, German dominance on the Eastern Front grew--but stubborn Russian resistance forced the continuation of a two-front war that would drain Germany's reserves of men and equipment. From the bitter fighting in the Carpathian Mountains, where the cragged peaks witnessed thousands of deaths and success was measured in feet and inches, to the sweeping advances through Serbia where the capital Belgrade was seized, to the almost medieval battle for the fortress of Przemysl, this is a staggeringly ambitious history of some the most important moments of the First World War.
Russia's Last Gasp
- 472pages
- 17 heures de lecture
In Russia's Last Gasp, now in paperback, Prit Buttar looks at one of the bloodiest campaigns launched in the history of warfare--the Brusilov Offensive, sometimes known as the June Advance. With British, French and German forces locked in a stalemate in the trenches of the Western Front, an attack was launched by the massed Russian armies to the east. The assault was intended to knock Austria-Hungary out of the war and divert German troops from the Western Front, easing the pressure on Russia's allies. Russia's dismal military performance in the preceding years was forgotten, as the Brusilov Offensive was quickly characterized by innovative tactics. Most impressive of all was the Russian use of shock troops, a strategy that German armies would later use to great effect in the final years of the war. Drawing on first-hand accounts and detailed archival research Buttar gives a dramatic retelling of final years of the war on the Eastern Front, with the Russian Army claiming military success at a cost so high that it was never able to recover.
On a Knife's Edge
- 456pages
- 16 heures de lecture
From critically acclaimed Eastern Front expert Prit Buttar, this is the engrossing story of the German resurgence after the battle of Stalingrad. Containing haunting first-hand accounts of the horrors of life on the front line, this gripping narrative reveals in startling detail the story of a bitter struggle for survival against terrible odds. The battle of Stalingrad was the turning point of World War II. The German capture of the city, their encirclement by Soviet forces shortly afterwards, and the hard-fought but futile attempts to relieve them, saw bitter attritional fighting and extremes of human misery inflicted on both sides. The surrender of General Friedrich von Paulus's army left Germany's eastern armies severely weakened, but the Red Army had suffered enormous losses as it overreached itself in trying to exploit its great victory. The war was not over. Germany would continue the fight, and the battles that took place in the winter of 1942/43 would show the tactical and operational skill of Erich von Manstein and the Wehrmacht as they attempted to avert total disaster. In this title, now available in paperback, a renowned expert on warfare on the Eastern Front reveals the often-overlooked German counteroffensive post-Stalingrad, and how it prevented the whole Axis front line from collapsing. Drawing on first-hand accounts, On a Knife's Edge is a story of brilliant generalship, lost opportunities and survival in the harshest theater of war
The Reckoning
- 496pages
- 18 heures de lecture
A detailed and engrossing account of the final year of fighting in Ukraine during World War II, making use of the extensive memoirs of German and Russian soldiers involved in the fighting, as well as partisans behind the German lines, to bring the story to life.
Collision of Empires
- 488pages
- 18 heures de lecture
Collision of Empires is the first major historical work on the Eastern Front during World War I since the 1970s and is the first in a four-part series from Osprey to mark the centenary.
The Splintered Empires : the Eastern Front 1917-21
- 480pages
- 17 heures de lecture
At the beginning of 1917, the three empires fighting on the Eastern Front were reaching their breaking points, but none was closer than Russia. After the February Revolution, Russia's ability to wage war faltered and her last desperate gamble, the Kerensky Offensive, saw the final collapse of her army. This helped trigger the Bolshevik Revolution and a crippling peace, but the Central Powers had no opportunity to exploit their gains and, a year later, both the German and Austro-Hungarian empires surrendered and disintegrated. Concluding his acclaimed series on the Eastern Front in World War I, Prit Buttar comprehensively details not only these climactic events, but also the "successor wars" that raged long after the armistice of 1918. New states rose from the ashes of empire, and war raged as German forces sought to keep them under the aegis of the Fatherland. These unresolved tensions between the former Great Powers and the new states would ultimately lead to the rise of Hitler and a new, terrible world war only two decades later.
A ground-breaking history of one of the greatest ever sieges. Masterfully brought to life by a leading expert using original Russian and German source material.
Retribution
- 480pages
- 17 heures de lecture
"Beginning towards the end of the Battle of Kursk, Retribution explores the massive Soviet offensive that followed Operation Zitadelle, which saw depleted and desperate German troops forced out of Central Ukraine. In this fascinating title, Buttar describes in detail the little-known series of near-constant battles in which a weakened German army was confronted by a tactically sophisticated force of over six million Soviet troops. As a result, the Wehrmacht was driven back to the Dnepr and German forces remaining in the Taman Peninsula withdrew into the Crimea. As the Germans withdrew, the horrors they had inflicted on occupied lands were gradually uncovered, from the "scorched earth" program to the mass deportations and executions of countless men, women and children. With an avenging Soviet army in pursuit, retribution was inevitable."--Amazon.com.
Battleground Prussia
- 482pages
- 17 heures de lecture
The terrible months between the arrival of the Red Army on German soil and the final collapse of Hitler's regime were like no other in the Second World War. The Soviet Army's intent to take revenge for the horror that the Nazis had wreaked on their people produced a conflict of implacable brutality in which millions perished.From the great battles that marked the Soviet conquest of East and West Prussia to the final surrender in the Vistula estuary, this handsome volume from Osprey recounts in chilling detail the desperate struggle of soldiers and civilians alike. These brutal campaigns are brought vividly to life by a combination of previously unseen testimony and astute strategic analysis recognizing a conflict of unprecedented horror and terrible suffering. Author Prit Buttar spins a mesmerizing tale accompanied by rare photographs and informative maps.
