19/10/2023
MeatGrinder by Prit Buttar
The Battle for Rzhev Salient 1942-43
Latest Book review
Being there . . . . in the winter months of 1941 – 1942 when the inflexible, NAY, inexorable spirit of the ordinary Russian soldier or partisan, often men on skis, fought back in the RZHEV
SALIENT northwest of Moscow. Like the fighting in Stalingrad, it was so grisly, so murderous, and saw such vast losses on both the German and Soviet sides that the troops referred to the
deaths and destructions as the result of an invisible “meat grinder.” It was said by both military staff the horrors were so bad that they passed description. The counterattacks from each
side would barely drive a wedge into the held territory of the other. Due to the worst weather in Russia’s history and brave counterattacks, German or Soviet, the hardly successful side was
pushed back. The massive German armies were within sight of Stalin’s gates to Moscow. It was reported that often the Russian soldiers would link arms, then, primed with vodka and
screaming, “URRA! URRA!”, the line after line of fighters would charge German machine- gunners. The killing, so up close and personal bludgeoning and bayoneting, never seemed to
cease. At the time, the Germans held the edge. Hi**er honestly believed his troops could still take Moscow, Leningrad, Stalingrad, and the Caucasus. Captured oil and wheat would save his
armies, deny Stalin’s, and allow a stalemate to rest, regroup, reorganize, rearm, and return to fight in the spring. He would demonstrate to the world at war a new definition of “violent
agony”, one that was hitherto unknown – – that is, until the late Summer of 1942 when his ”military genius” mind began to reveal fatal cracks leading to countless errors and major
defeats. . . .
ONLY IN THE OSPREY WAY OF EXPLICATING THE LONG-FORGOTTEN STORY OF THE EASTERN FRONT OF THE DEPTH AND DEPRAVITY OF BATTLE – – THE RZHEV SALIENT PROTECTING
MOSCOW. BUFF, YOU NEVER HEARD OF IT AND NEITHER HAVE I. NOW, THANKS TO OSPREY’S RENOWNED WWII EASTERN FRONT HISTORIAN PRIT BUTTAR, WE HAVE A RIVETING, UNRIVALED, DETAILED STUDY OF THE HORRIFIC ATTRITIONAL “MEAT-GRINDING” COMBAT IN 1942-43. THAT FURNACE OF SEEMINGLY ENDLESS FIGHTING RIVAL EASILY SURPASSES
CASSINO IN INTENSITY . . .
“MEAT GRINDER – – The Battles for the RZHEV SALIENT 1942 – 1943”, by Prit Buttar. OSPREY
PUBLISHING, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc: 2022, 464 pages, 6 ½” x 9 ½”, hardcover, $35. Visit,
www.ospreypublishing.com.
Reviewed and HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommended by Don DeNevi
Though millions of men would fight and die there, the RZHEV SALIENT does not have the name recognition of Leningrad Moscow, and Stalingrad. It was simply a vast tract of forests and
swamps in the heart of Mother Russia. Thanks to Osprey, of course, but primarily Prit Buttar, author of “The Splintered Empires”, “On Knife’s Edge”, “Retribution”, “Battleground Prussia”,
“Between Giants”, and “The Reckoning”, all four mini-masterpieces, the acclaimed recognized expert of the experts, we have details of Hi**er’s renewed drive on Moscow, a chance to win the
war on the Eastern Front. Using both German and Russian first-hand reports and accounts, Prit examines the four major offensives launched by the Red Army against the salient, all of which
were defeated with heavy losses, exceeding two million killed, wounded or missing, until Hi**er ordered his troops and tanks to evacuate in March 1943. In addition, this solid, good writer-
researcher-historian examines how the Red Army ultimately learned from its colossal failures and how its analysis of these errors helped pave the way for the Soviet victory against Army Group Centre in the summer of 1944, leaving the road to the Fuhrerbunker in Berlin wide open. No question about it, every Prit Buttar-authored title deserves a place on your library shelf, buff – that is, if your intent is to learn and relive WWII on the Eastern Front because there is no
greater military writer on the subject than this man.
