Where the Iron Crosses Grow cover art

Where the Iron Crosses Grow

The Crimea 1941-44

 Preview

Get 30 days of Standard free

$8.99/mo after trial ends. Cancel anytime
Try for $0.00
More purchase options
Buy Now for $29.00

Buy Now for $29.00

About this listen

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 Eastern Europe Germany Military Russia War Soviet Union Imperialism Holocaust Air Force European Union
All stars
Most relevant
more info an history than you could ever research. loved it. really jat an amazing book

awesome

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Worth it if you like this stuff. Well narrated, be ready for plenty of detail as you would expect from a book like this. Seems very well resaerched, comming from a novice such as myself and it will take me a while to process a lot of information.

historical/ political context leading up to WW2

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This book can be quite dry as the author uses wartime records to assemble a statistics heavy account of war in the Crimea.

That said, it is comprehensive and fascinating if you are passionate about the subject.

The postscript is perhaps the most passionate passage of the book and can be read on its own as a primer for 21st century Russian history.

Overall very good. I learned a lot.

Diligently Researched

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A highly detailed account of the German conquest of Crimea in 1941-42 that ruins itself with a great deal of technical 'stuff' and largely unexplained frequently used acronyms.
A keen student of the Russian-German war 1941-45 I have read a great many narratives and memoirs written by repected researchers and veterans on both sides of the conflict. I embarked on this one to get a more complete understanding of the fighting for control the Crimean Peninsula than l already have. True the author delves into many aspects of the battles, the occupation of Crimea by the German army and the treatment of ethnic minorities by both beligerents but i think i will ponder over the meaning of the acronym AOK17 for a long long time.
It is one of many that actually spoil this narrative for those not particularly interested in the minutae of military terms.
The narrator lets the side down by his attempted pronunciation of German military terms and designations --- some of which he 'makes a meal of'.
If you are going to publish a book for the English speaking audience i think it is quite sufficient to list German,or any other terminology in a glossary at the beginning or end of the narrative, not to attempt to pronounce them throughout the book.

Author seems to have an obsession with acronyms

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.