I’m currently researching the Battle of Stalingrad for an upcoming Stalingrad documentary,
and a while ago I purchased The Death of the Leaping Horsemen Book on Kindle by Jason D.
Mark. The book details the exploits of 24th Panzer Division from the 12th of August to
the 20th of November 1942. And today, I’m going to review the book.
A quick background to the division - The 24th Panzer Division was one of the spearheads
of Fourth Panzer Army, which drove towards the southern part of Stalingrad. It was formed
in 1941 from the 1st Cavalry Division. In fact, it’s the only German panzer division
to be converted from a cavalry division, which is why the division was allowed to keep its
cavalry yellow instead of adopting panzer pink. The division fought very successfully
at first, forming the southern pincer of Paulus’s plan to take the city of Stalingrad. It thrust
through the southern part of Stalingrad in a rapid advance. Unfortunately, thanks to
Zhukov, the northern pincer wasn’t able to thrust down, and so the 62nd Army was never
encircled. This forced Paulus to conduct frontal assaults on the city, which 24th Panzer Division
took part in. It slowly bled to death, ending up finally in the Krasny Oktyabr factory - the
infamous Red October factory, just prior to Operation Uranus.
The book is split into days, each day focusing on what 24th Panzer Division got up to. It
details movements, reports, orders, and comments by people from the division. It also shows
a casualty list at the end of each day, saying how many officers killed or wounded, so many
men killed, wounded or missing, and how many of the wounded stayed with their units. It
lists the numbers of operational panzers, giving you some reference as to how the division
was being eaten away by attrition. The book therefore, is not a narrative. And it’s
only interested in the division, not the wider picture. If you have no knowledge about Stalingrad,
or haven’t got other books or maps to hand, you’re not going to understand much of the
context. Here’s an example of the text: “With the armoured Stoßgruppe at the front
echeloned rearward to the left, the Division would break through the enemy front in the
area 3km west of Tebektenerovo after artillery preparation, then gain Farm
Nr. 1 as the first attack objective, the hills east of 174.0 as the second attack objective,
the brook sector hard north-east of Sety as the third attack objective and Point 130 (6km
north-west of Blinikov) as the fourth attack objective. The Division took a calculated
risk and ordered its unit to thrust through to the daily objective without regard to the
open west flank. The 2. Romanian Division, partly employed in the defense, would secure
Farm Nr. 1 after the successful attack and take over protection of the open west flank
of Korps. Reconnaissance and preparations were made more difficult by the fact that
the Romanian Division and regiment commanders could not give faultless information about
the course of the forward line and picture of the enemy.”
28th August 1942 As you can see, it’s very factual, but also
quite dry. This therefore isn’t a book you can just pick up and read from cover to cover,
like for example, Beevor’s Stalingrad. Beevor reads almost like a novel, while Mark’s
book is more of a reference piece than anything else. Which, to be fair, is great if that’s
what you’re looking for - a reference. As part of this reference, Jason D. Mark treats
us to a series of clear and concise maps, which really do allow you to follow the action
quite well. Contrast this to some of Glantz’s maps, and you can see the difference in quality.
The pictures provided are also fantastic, which you’ll not find elsewhere. In terms
of the maps and the pictures, I wish more history books were like this. I don’t have
a physical copy of the Death of the Leaping Horsemen, but I do have two other books by
Jason D. Mark and you can see that the quality of the paper and the print is top notch. They
are some of the nicest history books I own, and at least for me, I do think they’re
worth the price tag. I do wish more of Mark’s books were on Kindle though, especially ones
that are out of print, because the Death of the Leaping Horsemen kindle version is great,
and I’d like to have more on there too. Sadly, while Mark does provide great levels
of detail, he’s basing his information on German reports, facts and figures. This information
isn’t always great. For example, Mark isn’t able to list how many panzers were away for
repair, which would have been handy to contrast to the number of available panzers. This means
the number of operational panzers fluctuates daily. One day there could be zero command
tanks, the next day there’s three… Mark does offer an explanation halfway through
the book - “It is simply not possible to tell from
German panzer figures how many panzers were knocked out because at the same time as panzers
were being knocked out, repaired panzers became active and were included in the number of
operational panzers.” (15th September 1942)
Mark. Probably for the same reasons, he doesn’t
list the number of men currently in the division each day, although does produce a chart every
so often, but again, not daily. It’s hard to know exactly how many troops were actually
in the field, unless you sit there with a calculator, and even then, you don’t know
how many wounded are trickling back to the front. Given the level of information in the
book, I can only assume this is a fault with the German statistics.
However, the book itself is not without its flaws. My main criticism of the book is that
it ends on the 20th of November 1942. This is when the Soviet Operation Uranus counteroffensive
begins, and the encirclement of the Sixth Army is about to happen. Why this is the end
of the book, I’m not sure, because the remnants of 24th Panzer Division continue to fight
on until the 2nd of February 1943. In fact, it is Lenski (the new divisional commander)
who persuades Strecker in the northern Stalingrad pocket to surrender on the night of the 1st
of February. Perhaps it’s because there’s no more records available? Or perhaps not
in the detail required to continue the work? As far as I’m aware, there’s no explanation
from Jason D. Mark at the end of the text - although I may have missed it. As it is,
it feels like you’re about to find out who the murderer is when everything fades to...
Overall, the Death of the Leaping Horsemen is a great history book. It is top-quality,
and, in terms of this quality, I wish more history books were like this. The volume of
information is very high, and it’s perfect for anyone who wants to piece together every
inch of the battle - like me. But if you’re new to the topic, or you’re just wanting
a narrative, it’s probably best to choose some other books first before coming to this
one. Without the context, you will not get the significance of 24th Panzer Division’s
role in the battle of Stalingrad. I couldn’t have done this review if I hadn’t
purchased the book in the first place. The support I’ve received from my Patreons has
enabled this to happen. They bought the book for me - and a load of others too. As I say
all the time, these guys are awesome! The more books I have, the more book reviews,
documentaries, and various other history videos I can do. So please consider supporting me
if you can, you’ll find the link to my Patreon page below in the description. Thanks for
watching, thanks for supporting, bye for now.