The Korsun Pocket

The Encirclement and Breakout of a German Army in the East, 1944

Niklas Zetterling, Anders Frankson

• Publisher: Casemate
• Year: 2008
• ISBN:
  9781612000718
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: World War II
• Index: History

"Compelling prose, abundant tactical detail, lots of maps... If you're hungering for a good WWII East Front battle book, look no further." —Russ Lockwood, Magweb.com In January 1944, around the village of Korsun (near the larger town of Cherkassy on the Dneiper), a disaster happened. Six divisions of Germany's Army Group South became surrounded after sudden attacks by the 1st and 2nd Ukrainian Fronts. The Germans' greatest fear was the prospect of another Stalingrad, the catastrophe that had occurred precisely one year before. Due to both weather and ferocious resistance, the German drive to rescue their trapped divisions stalled. It soon became apparent that only one option remained for the beleaguered defenders: breakout. Without consulting Hitler, on the night of February 16 Erich von Manstein ordered the breakout to begin. Led by the strongest formation within the pocket, SS Wiking, the trapped forces surged out and soon rejoined the surrounding panzer divisions who had been fully engaged in weakening the ring. Stalin was left with little but an empty bag, as Army Group South—this time—had pulled off a rescue. In The Korsun Pocket, Niklas Zetterling, a researcher at the Swedish Defense College since 1995, and Anders Frankson have provided a highly detailed and often breathtaking account of one of the most dramatic battles of World War II. From grand strategy to soldiers' voices on the ground, including expert statistical analysis, the action and the stakes of the battle at Korsun are made vividly clear. "Thoroughly researched and well written." — Globe at War "Military history at its very best... very readable and fascinating." — War Books Out Now

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Preface
• Prologue
• Chapter 1 Background: The War in the East
• Chapter 2 The Battles on the Dnepr
• Chapter 3 Planning, Preparation, and Readiness
• Chapter 4 The Condition of the Armies
• Chapter 5 Konev Attacks
• Chapter 6 The Soviet Breakthrough
• Chapter 7 Vatutin’s Attack
• Chapter 8 The Korsun Pocket
• Chapter 9 The Red Army Squeezes the Pocket
• Chapter 10 Von Vormann’s Counterattack
• Chapter 11 Hube Assembles a Rescue Force
• Chapter 12 Breith’s III Panzer Corps Attacks
• Chapter 13 8th Army, 4–10 February
• Chapter 14 Breith Tries Again
• Chapter 15 Stalin Invervenes
• Chapter 16 “Now or Never”
• Chapter 17 Time is Running Out
• Chapter 18 Breakout from the Korsun Pocket
• Chapter 19 Aftermath
• Notes on the Text
• Appendix I Orders of Battle
• Appendix II German Combat Units in the Battle
• Notes on the Appendices