First published in Great Britain in 2012 by Osprey Publishing,

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Print ISBN: 978 1 84908 578 6

PDF ebook ISBN: 978 1 84908 579 3

ePub ebook ISBN: 978 1 78200 302 1

Index by Sharon Redmayne

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Acknowledgments

I wish to thank Nik Cornish, Ian Barter, Steven J. Zaloga, Stephen “Cookie” Sewell, Dr Christian Leitzbach and the staff of the Bundesarchiv for their help with this project.

Dedication

In remembrance of CPT John P. Gaffaney and the 11 other soldiers killed in action by a terrorist attack at Fort Hood, Texas on November 5, 2009.

Artist’s note

Readers may care to note that the original paintings from which the battlescene color plates in this book were prepared are available for private sale. All reproduction copyright whatsoever is retained by the Publishers.

All enquiries should be addressed to:

Peter Dennis, “Fieldhead,” The Park, Mansfield, Nottinghamshire NG18 2AT, UK The publishers regret that they can enter into no correspondence upon this matter.

Editor’s note

All measurements in this book are given in metric. For ease of comparison, readers should refer to the following conversion chart:

1 mile = 1.6km

1yd = 0.9m

1ft = 0.3m

1in = 2.54cm/25.4mm

1 gallon (US) = 3.8 liters

1 ton (US) = 0.9 metric tons

1lb = 0.45kg

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Glossary
ABTU	Avto-Brone-Tankovoe Upravlenie (Automotive and Armored Vehicle Directorate)
AP	Armor Piercing
APC	Armor Piercing Capped
APCR	Armor Piercing Composite Rigid
APHE	Armor Piercing High Explosive
GKO	Gosudarstvennyj komitet oborony (State Defense Committee)
HEAT	High Explosive, Antitank
Heereswaffenamt	Army Weapons Department
HE-FRAG	High Explosive–Fragmentation
OKH	Oberkommando des Heeres (High Command of the Army)
OKMO	Opytniy Konstruktorsko-Mekhanicheskiy Otdel (Experimental Design Mechanical Department)
PaK	PanzerAbwehrkanone (Antitank cannon)
Truppenamt	Troop Office
UMM	Upravlenie Motorizatzii i Mekhanizatzii (Office of Mechanization and Motorization)

Comparative ranks

English	Russian	German
Major general	General-Major	Generalleutnant
Colonel	Polkovnik	Oberst
Lieutenant colonel	Podpolkovnik	Oberstleutnant
Major	Major	Major
Captain	Kapitan	Hauptmann
Senior lieutenant	Starshiy leytenant	Oberleutnant
Lieutenant	Leytenant	Leutnant
Junior lieutenant	Mladshiy leytenant	n/a
Sergeant (US)	Serzhant	Unteroffizier
Corporal	Yefreytor	Obergefreiter
Lance-corporal	Yefreytor	Gefreiter
Private	Krasnoarmeyets Soldat	Schütze

Key to military symbols