Bohumír Kudlička

When I first received this book I was wondering whether there was some worthwhile analysis to go along with the pictures and color art, and the answer is very much yes, as the authors work through each of the operations conducted by the division and the ebb and flow of its combat performance. Apart from rising above being an essentially conscript organization largely populated by men who didn't want to be in its ranks, much of division's performance came back to the ability of the commander. As well respected as Artur Phleps (the unit's first commander) might have been the suspicion was that he was a better administrator then anything else, whereas Otto Kumm trained up a fairly efficient force, but still not one really capable of going toe-to-toe with the Red Army once the Soviet operations in the Balkans began. There is also no glossing over the division's propensity for atrocity, even by the standards of a campaign that was unusually dirty.… (altro)