Armoured Warfare in the Battle for Budapest - Norbert Szamveber

 This review has been submitted to Military History Online

Title: Armoured Warfare in the Battle for Budapest
Author: Norbert Szamveber
ISBN: 978-615-5583-09-4
Publisher: Peko Books
Year: 2018
Hardcover
Pages: 879
Photos/Maps: 0/48 

As 1944 drew to a close, the Soviet forces encompassing the 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts, were driving on Budapest in an effort to knock Hungary out of the war. Commencing their offensive in October, 1944, the Russians ran into motivated and prepared Axis forces (primarily German and Hungarian), whose efforts ground down the anticipated quick drive into Hungary into a grinding slug match that lasted for more than three months before Budapest was finally surrounded. The Panzer and panzergrenadier units drew upon their deep experience to fight an effective delaying combat. The author is a historian and author of great repute in this period of the Second World War and has drafted a number of books relating specifically to Hungarian participation and armoured combat. This contribution traces the first phase of the Soviet Budapest operations; drawing upon mainly archival sources and primary source material from Russian, German and Hungarian sources.

The work itself is a daunting tome and not for the faint of heart. The 65 days of the campaign leading up to the encirclement of Budapest, is divided into into four distinct phases. Each day of the campaign is presented in an identical manner. The ten (average) pages of text explaining the events of the day each commences with the weather and temperature. Interspersed within the discussion are recollections drawn from diaries and letters relating individual experiences from the different adversaries. The challenge for the reader is the author’s emphasis on the tactical and operational focus of his narrative. A stupendous amount of information is presented but it is difficult to view it in context as there is no opportunity provided to take a strategic perspective of the front. Coloured maps are provided together at the rear of the book but none provide the ‘big picture’. The maps relate to tactical encounters described within the narrative and are of excellent quality but would have been of better utility co-located with the discussion itself. Additionally, nowhere in the narrative is there a connection made to a specific map; and certainly the lack of an overall front map is a drawback. The author also makes use of a plethora of sources and his footnotes denote a variety of primary and secondary references. Interestingly however, he provides no overall bibliography or index at the back of the book. 

Despite the above observations, this is a book of noteworthy quality and depth. The research behind the narrative is among the most comprehensive in English relating to this campaign. Following the completion of the daily entries, the author presents over seventy pages of tables on equipment, personal and armoured fighting vehicle stats. He also presents five essays on various elements of the campaign including command and control, units, and equipment of the opposing forces. These are not a dry rendition of statistics but are in fact the author’s analysis of these critical elements of the campaign.

Peko has published a book of very high quality; any student or historian interested in the Eastern Front would be well served to expand their library with a copy of this work. Szamveber has done his subject great honour with this history.