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FORTRESS THIRD REICH
By Joe and Wanda Kaufmann and Robert Yurga

Fortress Third Reich is the last in the series of book about fortifications written by American historian Joe Kaufmann with help by her wife Wanda and with illustrations by Robert Yurga.

Piles of books have already been written about the second world war, but due to it's dynamic character they all centered around the tactics and battle operations. But this is 370 pages long and very complete study devoted mostly to fortifications alone.

The book follows the military recovery of Germany after it's defeat in the First World War until the end of the Second World War and describes both fortifications built on the German soil, such as West wall and East Wall, and those built in the conquered countries, such as Atlantic Wall or Bear and Tiger line. It also describes some rather special variation, such as submarine bases and V1 and V2 launching bases and even Hitler's bunkers.

It also lists fortifications in the conquered countries that were modified and used by Germans. For our part of Europe this part is especially interesting. Not only it mentions ex-Yugoslav and ex-Italian fortifications used anew by Germans. For the first time in English language literature it describes makeshift bunkers built by the occupying forces, from German bunkers constructed to protect the railway lines to Italian bunkers and barbed wire encircling Slovenian capital of Ljubljana. To my best knowledge this is the first time they are mentioned in English language fortification literature.

There are 140 contemporary and present day photographs and 80 very illustrative plans and maps drawn by the Polish technical illustrator Robert Yurga. Some of his sections are a real delight.

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FORTRESS THIRD REICH
(Utrdba Tretji rajh)

Gre za zadnjo od vrste v seriji knjig o utrdbah, ki jo je napisal ameriski zgodovinar Joe Kaufmann ob pomoËi svoje zene Wande in za katero je ilustracije naredil Robert Yurga.

O drugi svetovni vojni je bilo napisanih ze ogromno knjig, ki pa so se sprico njenega dinamicnega znacaja posvecale slejkoprej zgolj strategiji in bojnim operacijam. To pot pa imamo pred sabo 370 strani dolgo studijo, ki obravnava predvsem utrdbe.

Knjiga spremlja obdobje od zacetka ponovnega vzpostavljanja nemske vojaske moci po prvi svetovni vojni do konca druge svetovne vojne, zajema pa tako utrdbe na nemskih tleh, kot sta Vzhodni in Zahodni zid, kot utrdbe, ki jih je Hitlerjeva soldateska gradila na osvojenih ozemljih, na primer Atlantski zid ali Medvedja in Tiger linija. Pa tudi utrdbe posebnega tipa, kot podmorni¼ke baze in izstrelisca raket V1 in V2 ter celo Hitlerjeva zaklonisca.

Obravnavane pa so tudi utrdbe v zasedenih dezelah, ki so jih Nemci prilagodili lastnim potrebam. Ta del je se posebej zanimiv za nas del Evrope. Ne omenja le starojugoslovanskih in italijanskih utrdb, ki so jih med vojno uporabljali tudi Nemci. Prvic se v angleski literaturi tu pojavijo tudi bunkerji, ki jih je okupator gradil na nasem ozemlju, od nemskih bunkerjev za zascito zelezniskih prog do italijanskih bunkerjev okrog Ljubljane. Kolikor vem, je to prvic, da so te nam sicer zelo domace stavbe omenjene v angleskojezicni utrdbeni literaturi.

V knjigi je 140 sodobnih in danasnjih fotografij utrdbenih objektov in vec kot 80 izjemno preglednih nacrtov in zemljevidov, ki jih je vecinoma izrisal poljski tehnicni ilusrator Robert Yurga. Nekateri njegovi prerezi so zares izvrstni.

Za nas je knjiga najlazje dosegljiva preko www.amazon.com, kjer si lahko preberete se vec ocen.