On a Knife's Edge

From critically acclaimed Eastern Front expert Prit Buttar, this is the engrossing story of the often-overlooked German counteroffensive post-Stalingrad, and how it prevented the whole Axis front line from collapsing. The battle of Stalingrad was the turning point of World War II. The German capture of the city, their encirclement by Soviet forces shortly afterwards, and the hard-fought but futile attempts to relieve them, saw bitter attritional fighting and extremes of human misery inflicted on both sides. The war was not over. The surrender of General Friedrich von Paulus's army left Germany's eastern armies severely weakened, but the Red Army had suffered enormous losses as it overreached itself in trying to exploit its great victory. Germany would continue the fight, and the battles that took place in the winter of 1942/43 would show the tactical and operational skill of Erich von Manstein and the Wehrmacht as they attempted to avert total disaster. Drawing on first-hand accounts, On a Knife's Edge is a story of brilliant generalship, lost opportunities and survival in the harshest theatre of war.

Prit Buttar studied medicine at Oxford and London before joining the British Army as a doctor. After leaving the army, he worked as a GP, first near Bristol and then in Abingdon, Oxfordshire. He appears from time to time on local and national TV and radio, speaking on a variety of medical issues. He contributes regularly to the medical press. An established expert on the Eastern Front in 20th-century military history, his previous books include the critically acclaimed Battleground Prussia: The Assault on Germany's Eastern Front 1944-45 (Osprey 2010) and Between Giants: The Battle for the Baltics in World War II (Osprey 2013) and a definitive four-part series on the Eastern Front in World War I which concluded with The Splintered Empires: The Eastern Front 1917-21 (2017). He lives in Kirkcudbright, Scotland.

List of Maps Dramatis Personae Introduction Chapter 1: The Road to Crisis Chapter 2: The Hammer Falls: Uranus Chapter 3: A Paper-Thin Line Chapter 4: December: Winter Storm Chapter 5: December: Little Saturn Chapter 6: Now or Never Chapter 7: A Desperate Christmas Chapter 8: The Ostrogoszhsk-Rossosh Operation Chapter 9: The Struggle for Balance Chapter 10: February: Retreat from the Don Chapter 11: February: A War of Movement Chapter 12: February: The Swing of the Pendulum Chapter 13: Kharkov Chapter 14: Pause for Breath Notes Photography Bibliography Index About the Author