War in the Wild East : The German Army and Soviet Partisans

Rating:
Summary: a excellent perspective of the counterinsurgency in the East
Review: Sherpherd has written an excellent perspective of German military operations against insurgents on the Eastern Front. The case study of the 221st Sercurity Division in Shepherd's book were forced to rely on tactics that depended less on violent actions and more on propaganda and working with the local population due to the lack of manpower in the division. However the neighboring 203rd Security Division comitted more atrocities because it was closer to the front and had to compete with the SS in order to curry favor in the high command. The only weakness of Shepherd's book is that he leaves out perspectives by Soviet partisans and whether or not they support his view of the 221st Security Division. I would highly reccomend this book for anyone who wants a new view of conterinsurgency operations on the Eastern Front.