Steel Storm ─ Waffen-SS Panzer Battles on the Eastern Front 1943-1945

SS Steel Storm is an account of the battles of the Waffen-SS panzer divisions of the East from the recapture ofKharkov in early 1943, when I SS Panzer Corps prevented the total collapse of Army Group South, to the last desperate attempts to hold the Red Army before Berlin in 1945. During this period the Waffen-SS panzer divisions fought a string of battles that are arguably the finest defensive actions of modern warfare. They certainly bear comparison with Napoleon's campaign of 1814 or the First Battle of the Marne in 1914.

SS Steel Storm looks at the story from different angles: the use of offensive tactics during defensive battles: the deveopment of German tank and armored fighting vehicle technology; and Waffen-SS unit flexibility that was able to exploit changing tactical situations to the full. SS Steel Storm also explodes a number of myths that have sprung up since the end of World War II, such as the claim that the Waffen-SS panzer divisions were equipped with large quantities of Germanys best tanks.

With the aid of full-color maps plus 170 photographs of Waffen-SS soldiers and tanks in the field, this hardcover reference book provides a unique account of a little-known, but crucially important aspect of Germany's war on the Eastern front.

Tim Ripley is a full time author and photojournalist who has covered NATO and United Nations operations in many of the world's trouble-spots, including Croatia, Bosnia, Kosovo, and Iraq. He is also a keen student of military history and has written numerous books on hardware, tactics, and campaigns, including Bayonet Battle, Operation Deliberate Force, Jane's Pocket Guide to Modern Military Helicopters, and Land Power: the Coalition and the Iraqi Armies. He currently lives in the north of England.