The Stalin and Molotov Lines: Soviet Western Defences 1928-41 Paperback - 2008

Media reviews

"Surveys World War I Soviet Western defenses, considering plans to build fortifications and analyzing Stalin's steps to remedy faults in defenses." -California Bookwatch, November 2008

"This book tells the story of these Soviet defensive systems, their design, construction, and combat history. With excellent illustrations, it describes the standard types of construction and the weapons they contained. The text is a model of clarity, which puts the complicated history into a coherent narrative, and the maps, while not numerous, are effective. The book closes with suggestions for places to visit remains of the Russian defenses. This is one of the best-written books in the series, and is highly recommended even to those unfamiliar with Soviet fortifications." -Bolling Smith, Coast Defense Journal (November 2008)

"Author Neil Short covers the design and development of these [sites], some of which were simply machine gun, some of which had artillery and some that used old tank turrets ... The book will be especially useful to the modeler who likes to do dioramas as there are a nearly unlimited number of possibilities shown in these pages." -Scott Van Aken, modelingmadness.com (September 2008)

"[This book] has more details and information than any other book on the topic written in English, German or French. The author includes a history of the development of both fortified lines and describes the types of structures used from machine positions to the forts that consisted of several combat blocks. The photos and drawings provide good detail on these fortifications along with maps showing the fortified sectors... Both the history buff, and those especially interested in fortifications, will want this book in their library." -J.E. Kaufmann (September 2008)