My life has taken so many twists and turns in the past 3 years. Yet I return, in the hope of finding clues to the eternal question.

That question being: how goes the Kursk book?

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Originally posted by WWII=interest:
So Chris, how is the Kursk book coming?

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I am supposed to be seeing the galleys in March. So it is well underway (and most importantly out of my hands). Don't have a publication date yet, but hope to see it later this year. Publisher maintained the book I wrote, so it is large with lots of maps and gives the complete story of the German offensive in the south.

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Havent heard about it in quite sometime.......

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It got delayed a little bit while we finished up some maps. Was supposed to be out last year. I've been afraid to tout it too much until I have an actual publication date as the book has had delays since about 2003. But the completed book, with all maps, photos, graphics, etc. is in the hands of the publishers.

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BTW, still looking forward to it

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Thank you for your patience. Unfortunately the real world has conspired to delay the release of the book multiple times.

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Originally posted by Mk 1:
Ah, to return to the pages of my youth.

My life has taken so many twists and turns in the past 3 years. Yet I return, in the hope of finding clues to the eternal question.

That question being: how goes the Kursk book?

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Sorry, just answered the wrong post...the same question from 2003. Anyhow, the answer is in the email above, the galleys are being worked on by the editor and I expect to see them in March. Book should be out later this year. It is the book I wrote, for better or worse. Larger than most.

Thanks for waiting. It is finally happening.

[This message has been edited by Chris Lawrence (edited 01-03-2012).]

The book is 1660 pages. I don't have a word count, but it is bigger than War and Peace, except there is no peace. Sorry it took so long getting out. Hopefully, it will be worth it.

The description of the book is here: http://www.aberdeenbookstore.com/BookingRetrieve.aspx?ID=253516

I already preordered the book, but have two more questions as what to expect (I originally asked these questions on axis history forum, but some friendly person wrote to me that one can ask eher directly):

- Does the book contain detailed tactical/operational analysis (as opposed to mere description of the fighting), including, e.g., comparisons of force structures, unit organisation, battle orders, training, combat methods, command systems, communications, role and importance of different arms or weapons, air support, supply and logistical systems, armor maintenance and repair capabilities, and how all this affected the way the battle was fought or its result?

- Does the book contain detailed tactical maps, e.g. divisional or corps sectors, day-by-day (I would guess yes, based on just the number of maps mentioned in the teaser)?

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- Does the book contain detailed tactical/operational analysis (as opposed to mere description of the fighting)....

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Yes, but not in depth on every subject you listed, and not always with a clear conclusion. In many cases we have made observations, and I leave the conclusions to the readers. In some cases, we provide the observations from people who were present, and leave the conclusions to the readers. I even included Col./Dr. Fyodor Sverdlov's rather caustic comments on Zhukov, even though they were probably not intended for publication.

But there is a clear combat performance difference between the German and Soviet forces, and we do address this. We also did an analytical comparison between the performance of the 48th Panzer Corps and the SS Panzer Corps.

On the other hand, the book is not an analysis of the difference between the German and Soviet armies, and this is not a prominent part of the book. It is a history of the battle. Still there is probably more analytical and statistical material in this book than in most military histories.

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- Does the book contain detailed tactical maps, e.g. divisional or corps sectors, day-by-day (I would guess yes, based on just the number of maps mentioned in the teaser)?

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We ended up using their maps. So inserted into the book and scattered throughout the text are the maps done by the two Germans armies, the 48th Pz Corps, the daily maps for the SS Panzer Corps and Corps Raus. We also obtained the situation maps from many of the Soviet tank and mechanized corps. These are also liberally inserted into the text. Finally, we put in as fold-outs 24 1:50000 scale topo maps from 1942. So, if one wants to actually follow the narrative from village to hill to gully, the maps are there to do that.

Even then, there are a few gaps. There is a shortage of maps for the fighting in the III Panzer Corps are as we did not have good maps from the Germans and there were no Soviet tank corps in the area. There is also a shortage of maps that address combat below the division level, as simply, no one created such maps.

In response to an earlier question on the Axis History Forum:

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(Though not specifically mentioned in your post, am I right in guessing you compare Soviet armour losses to German claims as well?)

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We do report for each day the losses suffered by each side in each division-level fight, including the armor losses. The German armor losses are derived from German records, the Soviet armor losses are derived from Soviet records. We also do some direct comparisons of Soviet armor kill claims to German armor losses and both German and Soviet air claims to Soviet and German air losses. We also tried to check the air claims of individual aces to the actual air losses. We did have access to Soviet unit records.