Entrapment deals with the enormous offensive efforts of the Soviet 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts to capture the capital of Hungary before the end of 1944 and thus to clear their way to Vienna. It also describes the desperate efforts of Hitler to retain his last significant European ally and thus to prevent the Red Army from reaching Vienna and seizing the vital oil fields in South-western Hungary.
The Soviet offensive against Budapest began at the end of October 1944; with the impending Yalta conference Stalin wished to capture the city as rapidly as possible. Fierce fighting ensued, with the suburbs penetrated by early November. By 26 December the city was encircled, but despite massive Soviet efforts it remained in Axis hands at the end of 1944, and continued to resist until February 1945.
This book is an informative read with a fresh view of the events in question. The author has utilised a large quantity of previously unpublished Soviet and German documents discovered in the archives of Germany, Russia and the USA. This allows the story to be told from the perspective of both sides of the conflict. The text is supported by a number of photographs, maps, references, tables and detailed appendices, including orders of battle.
Author Biography
Kamen Nevenkin was born and lives in Sofia, Bulgaria. His interest in the Second World War dates back to his early childhood, but it was only in the year 2000 when he decided to turn professional. In the years that followed he devoted himself to hard work, mastering languages, studying and collecting a wealth of archival materials. The latter included several onsite visits of the military archives in Freiburg, Germany. The first result of all these efforts was a reference book dedicated to late-war German Panzer divisions, 'Fire Brigades'. The book received excellent reviews all over the world and became an instant hit with fans of military history. Over the past couple of years, Kamen Nevenkin has focused his research exclusively on the battles on the Eastern Front in 1944-1945. Despite the narrowing of the focus of his research, he remains faithful to the principles he had followed while writing 'Fire Brigades', namely - working with archival documents, ignoring the myths imposed on the public for decades and adopting a bias-free approach to the themes he is researching. In his work, he is guided by the principle of the balanced approach and by his belief that since there are two sides in a battle, the viewpoints of both opponents should be made known to the public. His language skills include English, Russian, German, as well as some other East European languages.
