This well-researched book, The Battle for Grozny Volume 1, is part of the Europe at War Series, which contains 46 titles to date. The author, Efram Sandler was born in the former Soviet Union and is a former combat veteran of the Israeli Defense Force Armored Corp. He has authored or co-authored eight books of this amazing series.

In the mid-1990s, the south-central region of the former Soviet Union was in turmoil. The Republic of Ichkeria had declared independence and influence from Chechnya was growing stronger. The Kremlin and Boris Yeltsin, Russian President from 1991-1999, grew increasingly concerned over controlling oil and gas pipelines, which Dzhokhar Dudadev, leader of Chechen opposition, had seized. Yeltsin eventually launched a large-scale military operation on December 9, 1994.

This book is filled with an amazing amount of interesting detail. The sources are directly from veteran accounts of both sides. There are extensive photos which assist in reconstructing the events. The color aircraft and armor profile plates are surely an asset to model builders who are interested in this region of the world and time period.

The contents within are:

• Russia and Chechnya – a Historical Overview
• Caucasian Wars of the 19^th Century
• Soviet Times – Revolution and Civil War
• German Offensive on Grozny, 1942
• Deportation and Post-War Period
• Arming Chechnya
• Armed Forces of Ichkeria
• November Rain – the First Armored Assault on Grozny
• Building the Force
• Moving to War
• First Clashes
• The Way to Grozny
• Approaching Grozny
• Moving into the City (December 30 – 31, 1994)

The 1990s was a unique time period when so many European and Central European countries obtained freedom and democracy when the Soviet Union broke apart. But none of it came easy. This is very evident in the accounts of December 31, 1994, which this book documents expertly. It was one of the worst single nights in all of Russian military history.

This book – and all the books of the Europe at War series – are without a doubt an asset to any modeler’s library. I highly recommend it!

Thank you to Casemate Publishers for providing the copy and thank you to IPMS /USA for the review copy.