The book “The East Pomeranian Offensive, 1945: Destruction of German Forces in Pomerania and West Prussia” is a fully illustrated account of the offensive that took place before the Soviets pushed toward Berlin in 1945. Before that final drive toward the Nazi capital, the Russians wanted to clear the areas in the northern part of occupied Poland and reach the Baltic Sea to ensure the northern flank of the Red Army was secured during their advance toward Berlin. The Soviet advance created a series of German encirclement's that had to be dealt with. Many of the encircled areas were heavily fortified, although the fast Russian drive forced the German to build some of these fortifications in haste, making them less effective. There were some key cities like Danzig and Kolberg (today’s Gdańsk and Kołobrzeg, respectively) that the Germans were determined to hold at all cost to ensure an uninterrupted route for supplying their troops by the sea remained in place. The northern Balic coast with Kolberg and other coastal cities was a part of the so called “Pomeranian Wall”, similar to the “Atlantic Wall” in France. The battles there were fierce with both sides determined to persevere. The Casemate Publishers’ book shines light on this period in WWII history.

The book included the following chapters:

1. Timeline of Events
2. Introduction: Collapse of Army Group North
3. German Forces
4. Soviet Forces
5. Preparations for Pomerania
6. Konitz-Koslin Offensive, February 24 – March 6, 1945
7. Danzig Offensive, March 6-31, 1945
8. Arnswalde-Kolberg Offensive, March 1-18, 1945
9. Altdamm Offensive, March 18 – April 4, 1945
10. Aftermath
11. Further Reading
12. Index

I really like the structure of the book and really appreciated the Timeline of Events pages which summarized the sequence of events up front, setting the stage for deeply exploring the details of the Pomeranian Offensive in the following chapters. Ian Baxter describes all aspects of the fighting in the area with specifics and relevant illustrations and period photographs, some not published before. The book also included color maps showing the positions and movement of the troops on both sides of the conflict. There are several color illustrations of the soldiers from different formations providing a nice touch to how these units dressed and what equipment they used. There are also color illustrations of some vehicles used by the fighting troops. Two chapters are dedicated to the leadership during the offensive, including German and Red Army commanders with their pictures and short biographic descriptions.

The B&W photographs make the reading even more interesting as they depict soldiers, equipment, armored vehicles and tanks, surroundings, and the effect of fighting on the civilian population. Each photograph has a description providing the context and a valuable explanation of the snapshot taken in time. Thanks to these very interesting photographs, history and modeling enthusiasts would benefit from the provided content and draw ideas for their modeling projects. I found it fascinating to read about the disproportionate numbers of soldiers and equipment between the fighting sides. I also really appreciated reading about the battle for Kolberg, a city known as Festung Kolberg or Kolberg Fortress. The Polish 1^st Army Tank Brigade and the 3^rd Polish Infantry Division took part in the bitter fighting for the city, which finally fell on March 18, 1945. The author describes an interesting German propaganda event which took place in the area. Only weeks before the fighting took place in March, the Propaganda Minister Joesph Goebbels released a movie called “Kolberg”, a color film depicting Gneisenau defending the city against the French in 1807. Over a hundred thousand German Wehrmacht soldiers were pulled from the front units to participate in the reproduction of the battle. Although a futile effort in the end, the movie was shown in movie theaters across Germany to encourage the fighting spirit in the nation.

A few observations: although the author of the book states up front that the geographic names are provided as they were during WWII and do not reflect the current usage, I sometimes found it difficult to orient myself around which place is being discussed in the book. I grew up in Poland, and I was very familiar with the Polish names of the Pomeranian region (Pomorze in Polish). Therefore, at least for me, it was occasionally challenging to place some of the German equivalent names on the map. Also, the provided maps, like the one on page 8 for example, could have a slightly larger font to be able to read the names of places and units with ease. Even with reading glasses, it can be a challenge. Another Soviet map on page 32 had the content expressed in Cyrillic alphabet only, which may make it difficult for some to read. Fortunately, I had Russian lessons during my youth and could handle that part with some ease. On the other hand, the Soviet map very well illustrated how their forces moved through the area, so I still found value in it.

This was my first book from the Casemate Publishers, and I was pleasantly surprised and delighted by the content and the wealth of information and illustrations. I am already eyeing some other titles offered by this company, and I am an enthusiast now. The topic of this book is somewhat close to me because I visited Kolberg (Kołobrzeg) when I was a boy and recall the long line of German fortifications along the Baltic coast as well as an evening lecture by one of the Polish soldiers who took part in the battle for the city. Ian Baxter’s book provided additional context and better understanding of the events that took place in Pomerania and West Prussia in the final months of WWII. I highly recommend this book to readers of the history and modeling community. I am looking forward to seeing more topics from this author and Casemate.

My sincere thanks go to Daniel Yesilonis from Casemate Publishers for providing this copy for a review and IPMS/USA for allowing me to review it. I thoroughly enjoyed exploring the content of this book.