Where the Iron Crosses Grow

The Crimea 1941-44

By: Robert Forczyk

Narrated by: Michael Prichard

The Crimea was one of the crucibles of the war on the Eastern Front, where first a Soviet and then a German army were surrounded, fought desperate battles, and were eventually destroyed. The fighting in the region was unusual for the Eastern Front in many ways, in that naval supply, amphibious landings, and naval evacuation played major roles, while both sides were also conducting ethnic cleansing as part of their strategy - the Germans eliminating the Jews and the Soviets purging the region of Tartars.

From 1941, when the Soviets first created the Sevastopol fortified region, the Crimea was a focal point of the war in the East. German forces under the noted commander Manstein conquered the area in 1941-42, which was followed by two years of brutal colonization and occupation before the Soviet counteroffensive in 1944 destroyed the German 17th Army.

©2014 Robert Forczyk (P)2015 Tantor

Good but wordy

The story and the region are great. What should be left out was the spelling out of each and every title, caliber of gun, and affiliation to platoon, company, regiment, or battalion. A nice map as well.

An informative work!

This book centers on the little discussed Crimean front during the also under studied, in the West, Russian Front of the Second World War.

I would say this is not for someone just beginning to study this subject, but for someone with a decent grasp on the history already. This work expands one's knowledge on the subject.

One might say overly detailed and perhaps tedious at times, however, I didn't think so.

Besides the general WWII aspects covered, some general history of the region is also discussed.

Great unknown history!

Excellent history relevant to today s news. Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxx xxx xxx xx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx

Hard work

80% Of the book is like a dump of a detailed event log of the Crimean wars. Hard to get through. Very few stories of what happened on the ground, earning those iron crosses.

Very detailed

It is a very thorough historical account. It would benefit from supporting maps and tables, because it can be tough to process statistics and events for places you are not intimately familiar with.