Where the Iron Crosses Grow cover art

Where the Iron Crosses Grow

The Crimea 1941-44

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Where the Iron Crosses Grow

By: Robert Forczyk
Narrated by: Michael Prichard
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About this listen

The Crimea was one of the crucibles of the war on the Eastern Front, where first a Soviet and then a German army were surrounded, fought desperate battles, and were eventually destroyed. The fighting in the region was unusual for the Eastern Front in many ways, in that naval supply, amphibious landings, and naval evacuation played major roles, while both sides were also conducting ethnic cleansing as part of their strategy - the Germans eliminating the Jews and the Soviets purging the region of Tartars.

From 1941, when the Soviets first created the Sevastopol fortified region, the Crimea was a focal point of the war in the East. German forces under the noted commander Manstein conquered the area in 1941-42, which was followed by two years of brutal colonization and occupation before the Soviet counteroffensive in 1944 destroyed the German 17th Army.

©2014 Robert Forczyk (P)2015 Tantor Eastern Europe Germany Military Russia War Eastern Europe Imperialism Holocaust Air Force Soviet Union European Union

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All stars
Most relevant  
The pronunciation of artillery and infantry in dialogs is really old school out dated but otherwise a good listen

Good listen and history repeating itself again?

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This book is a fascinating read full of well researched facts however the robotic style of the narrator seriously detracts from the books merits.

should have bought the actual book

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Extremely in depth and well researched, a good geographical familiarity with Crimea is an absolute must before you start listening

Very academic military work

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Interesting story but overfilled with too much tech detail about weapons and formations which I think took something away from the storytelling of the events.

Story suffered.

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Well written and most enjoyable, the narrator really does a excellent job. I will have to read more books by this author.

Excellent

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What did you like best about Where the Iron Crosses Grow? What did you like least?


I was occasionally confused by following the ebb and flow of the campaigns.

What about Michael Prichard’s performance did you like?

What I liked best was the excellent pronunciation of Russian and German places, equipment and names. It makes such a difference to enjoyment of an audible book. I speak fluent German and the German was all perfect.

Interesting theater of WW2

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This book is a very detailed history of the Crimea, at times a bit too detailed with numerous abbreviations. An excellent book for a military researcher or university student but not for a casual reader.
I enjoyed the book albeit the reading style was a bit ‘robotic’. Not at all like Case Red or Case White and as such it is my least favourite of Robert Forczyk’s books to date.

A Very Detailed History

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Any additional comments?

The narration of this book is so bad I could not listen to it. I've come back to it 3 times but it sounds like it's being read by a Robot. An awful performance that's ruined what is probably a good book.

Worst Audiobook Ever

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What disappointed you about Where the Iron Crosses Grow?

the lack of feeling

What didn’t you like about Michael Prichard’s performance?


Any additional comments?

This book is historically correct and extremely detailed.
Every engagement noted with the exact name and number of the units engaged being entered in the text.
Unfortuantely, the incessant repeatition of unit Id's detracts so much from the narrative, it's like reading a table of football scores.
A book for the "train spotters" rather than for those wishing to read about the actions of the decorated soldiers.

Not for my "read again list."

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Awful, unbalanced, propaganda obviously taken entirely from German sources. Any minor success of the Wehrmacht is reverently praised and any failed attack is glossed over, while desperate Soviet defence is offhandedly written off as ‘poorly organised’ (of course it would be) or simply passed over without comment even though it ultimately proved successful. This is simply another tedious version of countless books in the well trodden Western tradition of holding the losers of World War II in inexplicable awe. This is not accurate history. That aside, the storytelling is almost non-existent, the prose terse and boring, and the forced ‘introduction’ and ‘epilogue’ are transparent in their attempts to gain modern-day relevance. I would return this book if it wasn’t available for free in Audible Plus, and I certainly won’t read it again.

Germanocentric propaganda

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