The Last Citadel by David L Robbins, is a fictional book based on historical events surrounding the epic tank battle at Kursk Russia in 1943 during World War II. The German forces were bogged down by the Russian winter, the Russian victory at Stalingrad, and then the subsequent spring rains and mud. In the summer of 1943, the Germans had assembled a huge force to attack Russia and regain lost ground. This would lead to the biggest tank battle in history and also provides a dynamic backdrop to this book.

There are 4 main characters that drive this story. The first is a Spanish officer, Captain Luis Ruiz de Vega, who serves in the Liebstandarte SS Panzer Division. He was wounded in the Battle of Leningrad and is but a shadow of his former greatness. The following 3 are all from the same Russian Cossack family. Dimitri Berko, a private who drove the T-34 in the Soviet 3rd Mechanized Division. He is commanded by Sergeant Valentin Berko, Dimitri’s son, and Katya Berkovna, Dimitri’s daughter, a night bomber with the Red Air Force’s famous female bomber squadrons, called Night Witches by bombing Germans. The 3 main story lines follow De Vega being assigned to escort the German Army’s newest super panzer, the Tiger 1 Panzerkampfwagen VI, by train to the front lines and ensure the Tigers are delivered intact. He then begins to crave action to command one of the Tiger tanks in the Battle of Kursk. He soon realizes how the Tiger is more effective in battle. With Demitri and his son Valentin on the same T-34, there’s a lot of father/son tension along with the tank battles that follow. The author keeps all the separate entities in what appears to be 3 different stories revolving around the build up to the tank battle at Kursk. Each character has their own well-detailed backstories that unfold through flashbacks, flashbacks, and boastful narratives during breaks in the fight.

The best aspect of this book is the historical accuracy and details of the Tiger tank and the Battle of Kursk. This book was very close to being non-fiction in the level of detail, but also in some very fascinating character development. After reading about the amount of research done by David L Robbins, I knew how realistic this book was. He had spent 3 weeks on the Kursk battlefields in the middle of summer feeling the heat and sun of the Russian steppes. He also trained on how to derail a train using explosives while partisan Russian fighters were trying to stop the Tiger tanks from being sent into history. He also spent time reviewing video accounts of first-hand battle accounts from German and Russian tankers. He was given “hands-on” training on equipment ranging from small arms to tanks at the Aberdeen Ordinance Museum in Maryland and then driven around in a restored T-34 in Virginia. David L Robbins certainly did his homework for this book and you will feel it when you read it. This is a must read for any Tiger 1 fan and any WWII fan in general.