Rolf Hinze - With the Courage of Desperation: Germanys Defence of the Southern Sector of the Eastern Front 1944-45

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Published by Helion & Company 2013

Designed and typeset by Farr out Publications, Wokingham, Berkshire
Cover designed by Farr out Publications, Wokingham, Berkshire
Printed by Gutenberg Press Limited, Tarxien, Malta

This English edition Helion & Company 2012. Translated, edited and revised by
Frederick P. Steinhardt, MS, PhD.

Originally published as: Mit Dem Mut der Verweiflung. Das Schicksal der Heeresgruppen
Nordukraine, Sdukraine, Sd-/Ostmark 1944/45. German edition Verlag Dr. Rolf
Hinze 1993. All rights reserved.

Maps by Friedrich-Wilhelm Nennhaus, Hans-Jrgen Thies.

The opinions expressed in this book are solely those of the author and do not necessarily
reflect those of the publishers, or the translator/editor.

ISBN: 978-1-906033-86-6
EPUB ISBN: 978-1-909982-50-5

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

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Contents

List of maps

Start of the Soviet Counter-Offensive on 16 March 1945.

Key to map symbols, map glossary

Map glossary

The following is a glossary compiled by the translator to help the reader with German legends and notes in the bodies of the maps which are not translated.

Translators notes

D r. Hinze wrote this history for a German audience, many of whom were alive at the time of the events described. In the process of translating and editing I have made corrections where needed, but also added material where a modern English or American reader might lack familiarity with relevant geography, history or events. Some minor additions are merely part of the text. Where an addition did not fit smoothly into Dr. Hinzes text, or it seemed important to make it clear that the material was not part of the original text, it is presented as a translators note.

The reader should be aware of the translators choices in dealing with the following:

Where the general term Panzer was employed in reference to undefined armour, as where a Soviet attack was supported by armour, and the word Panzer then referred individual armoured fighting vehicles without specifying if they were tanks or assault guns, I have translated Panzer as AFV or AFVs. Only a few references indicate whether the Russian vehicles referred to were tanks or assault guns and, in general, the Russians employed both types, so I chose to use the later English language term, AFV to indicate that both tanks and assault guns were probably involved.

I have retained the German Kampfgruppe for German combat groups, since the German term is generally used, both, as in English usage, for a balanced team of combat elements created for a particular task, and also, unlike the English usage, in referring to battered remnants of divisions that no longer have sufficient strength to justify being considered divisions.

Another German term which has found its way into worldwide usage is Schwerpunkt, literally center of gravity, as a physicist or engineer would use it, but, in military usage, referring to the point of main effort.

In a few cases, where a term is marginal, so far as its entry into English usage, but where it does have a special usage or familiarity that is not entirely carried over in a translation, I have translated it into English, but added the bracketed German original, such as, in describing a system of deeply organized trenches, with deeply-dug tunnels [Stollen]. In this case, the term, Stollen, would be familiar to students of World War I, but probably not to the general reader.

The only unit designation that calls for explanation is that of battalions, or Abteilungen, as the case may be, of regiments. The author used a variety of informal designations for