Leaping Horseman Books in Pymble, New South Wales, Australia | Publisher

Leaping Horseman Books

Locality: Pymble, New South Wales, Australia

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25.01.2022 24.10.1920 - 28.10.2020. Heinrich Buschhoff, one of the last living panzer officers who served at Stalingrad, and one of the 6000-odd men of 6. Armee to survive captivity, passed away last week, just 4 days after reaching the 100 milestone. He lost his wife, aged 95, just a few months earlier. When my friend Oliver visited the Buschhoff farm back in 2014, 94-year-old Heinrich was still working outdoors physical work out in the fields at the head of his family. Over the c...ourse of a 5-hour interview, various sons and grandchildren came in to listen to his stories. It was apparent they were a close-knit family. Herr Buschhoff's Stalingrad experiences with Panzer-Abteilung 103 were used in our book "Panzerkrieg Volume 1". To honour his fallen comrades, he requested that instead of flowers, donations be made to the Volksbund, the German equivalent of the War Graves Commission. IBAN DE23 5204 0021 0322 2999 00 Spendenkonto Trauerfall Heinrich Buschhoff See more

25.01.2022 Does anybody own a copy of this book? Seeking a little bit of info from it. Thanks.

24.01.2022 The scale of fighting on the Eastern Front is almost inconceivable. While main offensives played out, intense combat burned for weeks, months and even years in secondary sectors. One of the best examples is the "Rzhev meat-grinder". While conducting online research, an auto-translation of a Russian-language website generated this statement: "The front near Rzhev devoured people and resources like an insatiable monster." (Images are representative only)

23.01.2022 Alright, any knowledgeable vehicle experts out there who can identify the make and model of this unusual 6-wheel truck? Pay attention to the very unusual rear end. Never seen a vehicle like it before.

22.01.2022 Anybody know what the metal zig-zag thingy is on the side of this lorry? Photo from early July 1941.

20.01.2022 Alright gang, time for everybody's favourite game. Is the guy on the left the same as the other one (two pics of him)?

18.01.2022 A rare beast that became extinct at Stalingrad: "Dicker Max" (Fat Max), or to use the proper nomenclature, 10.5cm K18 Pz.Sfl.IVa. Just two prototypes were made and assigned to Panzerjäger-Abteilung 521. One accidentally caught fire during the early stages of Barbarossa and was a total loss, but the other pictured here fought until the end of 1941 and after a rebuild at Krupp during the first half of 1942 returned to Russia in time to participate in the Operation Blue summer offensive. It was quite successful, as evidenced by the kill tally on the barrel. It would be interesting to know where its life ended in the Stalingrad pocket. Perhaps some of our Russian friend can spot clues in the photo.

15.01.2022 It's not often that examining photos produces a true WTF moment, but it's just happened. Early February 1942, freezing cold conditions, a once motorised unit now relies on ponies and sleighs, and while moving to a new sector, one of the soldiers takes along something totally unexpected. Best to let the photo do the talking.

14.01.2022 Anyone who made Tamiya models in the 1970s and 1980s will remember "Kohlenklau" (Coal thief) from 3./Panzerjäger-Abteilung 561. Its commander was Unteroffizier Helmut Kohlke (German Cross in Gold and Honour Roll Clasp both awarded on 16.10.1942).

14.01.2022 Apparently our books are handed down by the gods themselves. https://youtu.be/f3eOKrXmoPU?t=1425

14.01.2022 Some excellent detective work by Alex Skvorin has revealed that the photo of a German prisoner was taken in Stalingrad during the September fighting. A rare photo indeed.

14.01.2022 Serendipitous discovery after downloading an incorrectly named file: a detailed report with many photos of the German destruction of Orel's important buildings and bridges prior to abandoning it. An interesting sidenote is the list of buildings excluded from destruction: the city museum, the city library, the city archive, churches re-opened after the German capture of the city, the buildings of the Turgenyev Museum, as well as occupied civilian hospitals, the clinic for children with tuberculosis and the orphanage. The objective of the destruction was to deny anything of use to the Red Army, including large buildings in which to house their troops. The full report is presented here: Written report (3 pages); List of destroyed targets (7 pages); Photo report of the destruction (21 pages).

13.01.2022 We here at Leaping Horseman Books would like to congratulate Werner Gösel on his 100th birthday. Co-editor of Gösel's book, Christian Bauermeister, spoke with Herr Gösel, who was in a great mood having assembled all his family around him on this momentous day. Herr Gösel is still mentally acute, content with his current state, enjoying life and interested in learning about current Sturmartillerie research and projects.

13.01.2022 The immediacy and impact of colour images from WW2 never fails to astound. A surprisingly large number have come to light in the past few years. Here we see destroyed panzers in Italy. Anyone care to have a guess at the unit?

13.01.2022 The importance of using every source to research and write a book cannot be stressed enough. Sometimes photos come with captions scrawled on the back, but most times they do not, so it is up to the researcher's knowledge and ability to fill in the blanks. We recently had one such case. A series of photos showed a Hauptmann leading the Panzerspäh (armoured recon) company of Auf.Abt.29 during the opening stages of Operation Typhoon, the advance upon Moscow, in mid-November 194...1. A man by this rank commanding this company could not be found in any source, such as war diaries, transfer announcements, and promotion and casualty lists. The breakthrough came when a generous collector, Bill Brooks, provided scans of a Soldbuch to a man in the same unit. Each page was scoured to find a signature of this mysterious Hauptmann, and sure enough, there it was... It took a while to decipher, but it seemed to be "Kurzai". A very unusual name. Fortunately, a personnel file still existed and a copy soon came into our hands. It proved that the previously unidentified Hauptmann was indeed Erich Kurzai. His tenure with Auf.Abt.29 was so short that it did not even rate a mention in his main career highlights, but mention was found in one document. His photo and signature match perfectly. Please remember that when you purchase one of our titles, a lot of time and effort has gone into determining the date and location, as well as who appears in it. One of the great pleasures in this kind of work is adding names to previously anonymous faces. See more

12.01.2022 Another first-class then & now comparison by Alex using one of our photos. Half-tracks of 16. Panzer-Division at Khutor Berezovskiy west of the Don, July/August 1942.

12.01.2022 A serendipitous then & now comparison, though not very exciting, I'm afraid. While using Yandex maps to find/confirm the location of a series of photos, a modern photo uploaded by a Russian user showed almost the exact spot where this heavy MG was set up. Thanks to this otherwise unremarkable modern snap, the WW2 photos can now be accurately captioned. Also, by cross-checking with aerial photos and maps, we now know what the MG-34 was being lined up on: a creek on the opposite bank, where encircled Red Army troops may try to escape. This is the Dniepr River in late July 1941 and the German troops are facing west (north-west, in the case of this gun).

11.01.2022 Nothing more needs to be said. ;) Cover concept will be posted shortly.

11.01.2022 Check out the optics on this bad boy! And does anybody recognise the Knight's Cross winner?

09.01.2022 Specific question for the uniform experts out there: What type of armband is being worn by these motorcyclists? They belong to a motorised recon battalion during Barbarossa.

09.01.2022 A divisional cemetery of 24. Panzer-Division is currently being excavated on private property in Stalingrad (aka Volgograd).

06.01.2022 When researching for a book, one often looks at the same photos dozens of times, and each time a new detail is discovered or certain faces become familiar. Although his name is not known (yet), the front-line service of this Obergefreiter from Aufklärungs-Abteilung 29 can be followed during the opening weeks of Barbarossa. With access to casualty lists, this man could be identified, but with COVID closing most archives in Germany for the foreseeable future, it will be a while before his name and ultimate fate is revealed.

06.01.2022 The fighting on the Eastern Front is renowned for its brutality and the staggering number of casualties generated. Every now and then, however, we come across figures that verge on the unbelievable: here are the losses for 1st Guards Army suffered during the unsuccessful Kotluban offensive against the German blocking position between the Don and Volga Rivers, north of Stalingrad. This is for a 2-week period (15-30 September): Officers: 850 killed, 2348 wounded and 400 missing; NCOs: 2135 killed, 5924 wounded and 1252 missing; Men: 7391 killed, 24343 wounded and 6009 missing; Altogether: 10,376 killed, 32,615 wounded and 7661 missing, a total of 50,652.

06.01.2022 What do we reckon, troops... is this the same man? Photos are taken about 2 years apart (left one in the Soviet Union July 1941, the studio portrait in June 1943).

05.01.2022 Seeing as so many were interested in our recent post about the identification of a German officer, we thought it might be illuminating to show how this type of research develops by trying to ID another nameless individual, this time a Red Army commissar (political instructor). Here's what is known. These 5 photos were taken on 5 August 1941 in the sector of 29. Infanterie-Division while it was holding the eastern face of a pocket east of Smolensk. Mid-afternoon, a captured c...ommissar recognisable by the red star with hammer-and-sickle on both sleeves was brought in on the pillion seat of a motorcycle-sidecar and then interrogated. The infamous "Commissar Order" means he was almost certainly executed afterwards. By scouring the war diary of 29.Inf.Div. (mot), we found what we believe is mention of this commissar: Captured by Auf.Abt.29 after intense fighting: 3 officers, 1 commissar, 36 men. Killed: 1 commissar, 1 division intendant, 1 divisional doctor, 2 senior lieutenants, 10 lieutenants, 1 doctor, 1 uniformed woman, 9 men." And that is all we know. To attempt to ID him, we must start with a broad search what Soviet army / division / regiment was present and then narrow down the parameters (combat reports and casualty lists). Progress in this case will be shown in the photos and accompanying captions, and updated regularly. If you feel you can help, especially our Russian friends, please do so. At the outset, we feel we will come up with a short list of candidates, yet be unable to give a name to the face, but that is often how this type of historical detective work goes. See more

05.01.2022 Looks more like an Indiana Jones movie set than true history: in this evocative colourised image, a GI stands inside the Völkerschlachtdenkmal (Monument to the Battle of the Nations) in Leipzig, 18 April 1945.

04.01.2022 Can anyone identify this unit emblem? It belongs to a Luftwaffe Flak unit attached to 29.Inf.Div. (mot) note their small crossed riding crops insignia during Barbarossa.

01.01.2022 Somewhere along this stretch of road leading to Smolensk are the graves of eight soldiers from the Falke-Division. To date their remains have not been disinterred by the Volksbund. In order to prevent the graves from being robbed by "black diggers", no further information can be shared.

01.01.2022 Some great then & now shots from Operation Zitadelle, July 1943.