Osprey will release a comprehensive account of the month-long Battle that set the scene for German strategic defeats both on the Eastern and Western Fronts.
In February 1944, the 1st Panzer Army under Generaloberst hube played an important role in the rescue operation of German troops trapped in Korsun Pocket. Hube’s troops were left materially weak, tired and vulnerable by the heavy losses they suffered during that operation. Zhukov’s 1st Ukrainian Front, and Konev’s 2nd Ukrainian Front, unexpectedly attacked the 1st Panzer Army on 4th March. They conducted a massive pincer attack. Hube’s army of 200,000 men was isolated in three weeks with their backs to the Dniester river. Hube’s destruction would have undoubtedly precipitated a German collapse in the Eastern Front, two months prior to the Allied invasion. Hube’s Army managed to escape Zhukov’s trap but it had lost much of its equipment. It was also no longer combat-ready. German forces in Eastern Europe were severely weakened and German armor in Western Europe was reduced to combat any Allied landings on French soil.
Amazon.com $ 25.00 The Kamenets–Podolsky Pocket 1944: Encirclement of Hube’s 1st Panzer Army