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Author: Jason D. Mark
The gripping book about a panzer division and its battles in the shattered streets of Stalingrad. In Death of the Leaping Horseman: 24. Panzer-Division in Stalingrad, the untold story of 24. Panzer-Divisions savage fighting on Stalingrads outskirts and in the devastated ruins of the city itself is revealed in a detailed day-by-day account. Beginning in the heady days of the victorious march toward Stalingrad in August 1942, the book follows the Division into Stalingrads suburbs as it is slowly and inexorably sucked into the fiery crucible that was Stalingrad. Panzer losses and casualties increased daily until finally, after three months of draining combat, the Division was reduced to a battle group consisting of a couple of panzers and a few hundred men.
? 560 pages on high-quality paper
? A5 format
? Softcover
? 210 photos
? 86 aerial photos and maps
? 10 appendices
? Index
Photos
The book contains 210 photos drawn from official archives, private collections and the veterans themselves, most of them never being seen before. The veterans' photos are particularly noteworthy for their uncompromising honesty in depicting the violent face of war.
Maps
The course of the Division's combat actions can be followed on 86 aerial photos and maps. All the maps and overlays for the aerial photos were specially commissioned for this book. Some maps were also sourced from divisional war diaries.
Biographies
The book contains a biography for every officer that served with the Division from June 1942 to January 1943 and contains details of their military careers such as promotions, decorations and transfers, and personal information such as date and place of birth, non-military interests and their eventual fates.
Eyewitness Accounts
Woven throughout the text are gripping eyewitness accounts gathered from various sources: from regimental histories, from diaries, from letters and from interviews with the veterans themselves. The unemotional language of official war diaries is brutally contrasted by these accounts.
Text
The story of the Division's battle in Stalingrad is based upon the official war diaries of 6. Armee, 4. Panzer-Armee, XXXXVIII. Panzerkorps, 79. Infanterie-Division and 24. Panzer-Division itself. Written in a detailed day-by-day style, each combat action of the Division is fully explored utilising every piece of available information, and is finished off with comprehensive lists of casualties, decorations and enemy losses.
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