Red Wind Continues: The Soviet Offensive on the Southern Flank, November 1944-May 1945

By Kaloyan Matev

Six armies clash across three borders in late World War II, detailing persistent land battles, units, and tactics through extensive archival research and rare photographs.

The 1944-1945 winter witnessed a relentlessly fierce battle for Hungary, as the gateway to Wien and the southern territories of the Deutsches Reich. The Soviet Second Ukrainian Front advanced too slowly and, despite the heavy casualties, failed to complete its tasks within the specified time. The Third Ukrainian Front was sent to help after fulfilling brilliantly its earlier tasks (see 'Red wind over Balkans', Helion, 2019).

Red Wind Continues depicts the persistent fights between three Axis forces (Germans, Hungarians and Croats) and three Allies forces (Soviets, Tito's Yugoslavians and Bulgarians) during WWII last months - quite an unusual battle of six armies on three borders.

The contact between the Western and Eastern Allies in Southern Austria in May 1945 is featured too. Although the Soviet 57th Army never had a moment's difficulty in dealings with the British 8th Army, the hidden whiff of the future conflict is felt.

Red Wind Continues focuses on land-based war actions with special attention on Panzertruppen and the Soviet tank and mechanized units. The book benefits from detailed daily statistics and analysis not done before.

The authoritative text is supported by over 600 black and white photographs (the majority of them previously unpublished), colour profiles showing camouflage, markings, colour unit insignia and colour battle maps.

This book results from the author's years of study of documents from the Russian Federation Central Archives of the Ministry of Defense and the Bulgarian State Military Historical Archives. Such a detailed study on the topic has not appeared before, and the author's work is unlikely to be superseded.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1804516708
• ISBN13: 9781804516706
• Release Date: December 2026
• Publisher: Helion & Company
• Length: 688 Pages