Most histories of the northern sector of the Russian front concentrate
on the siege of Leningrad, and focus little attention on the heavy
fighting during the Wehrmacht's withdrawl into the Baltic countries.
Retreat from Leningrad begins where those books end, with the massive
January 1944 Soviet offensive which was designed not only to break the
siege completely but also to destroy Army Group North. Enjoying huge
superiorites in men and material, the Red Army attempted to crush two
German armies which lacked more than a handful of tanks, contained a
high percentage of unreliable foreign volunteers, and were hampered by
Adolph Hitler's inflexable no retreat strategy. This untold story is
recovered here in great detail, primarily as told by the German officers
who served as commanders and chiefs of staff for Army Group North and
its constituent armies. Their accounts were drafted soon after the war
ended at the request of the United States Army, but have languished in
poorly translated manuscripts until Professor Steven H. Newton
re-translated, corrected, and annotated them, as well as providing
subsatanial amounts of new material direct from the army group's
operational records. The result is the most comprehensive and detailed
operational study of sustained combat in the northern sector of the
Russian front ever published in English. Dr Steven H. Newton is
Associate Professor of History and Political Science at Delaware State
University. Trained as a military historian, he received his Ph.D. fromn
The College of William and Mary. His specalities include the German
Army, Eastern from combat in World War II, and the American Civil War.
Retreat from Lenigrad is his third book; he is also the author of German
Battle Tactics on the Russian Front, 1941-1945(also available from
Schiffer Publishing). Dr Newton is an active lecturer on Military
topics, who has appeared in Chicago, Philadelphia, and New York. He also
serves as a platoon sergeant in Army National Guard's Stonewall
Brigade(1st Brigade, 29th Infantry Division[Light]).
