Jacket burb

Red Star Under The Baltic is the graphic memoir of a Soviet submariner during his years at sea in the Baltic during the Second World War. Not only is this a superb record of the appalling conditions endured on these basic craft, but a very human account detailing the comradeship and tensions among the crew as they operated in the most life-threatening conditions.
Written in the first person, the author vividly describes the many actions that he and his comrades were involved in. Many of these were successful and Korzh witnessed numerous engagements and sinkings of German shipping. However, it was by no means a one-sided contest and there were some horrifyingly close calls. The comparatively shallow waters of the Baltic were less than ideal for submarine warfare. Perhaps the most dangerous and dramatic moment came when his submarine became entangled in netting. After frantic efforts, they just managed to extricate themselves before being depth- charged. Another constant threat was of mechanical malfunction.
This book will have strong appeal to all those with an interest in the naval history of the Second World War. It is extremely rare to have a totally authentic Russian
account, which has been superbly translated into English. There are strong echoes in this thrilling memoir of the classic German U-boat story Das Boot with its non-stop action and constant underwater danger.

THE AUTHOR
Born in 1912 in the small Russian village of Melguny, Viktor Korzh graduated from the Naval Training College in 1938 as a submariner engineer. His wartime experiences are the subject of this book which was first published as Reserve of Strength in 1966. After the War he remained involved with the Submarine Service as a researcher and instructor, retiring in 1960 as a Captain First Rank.
Married with two children, Viktor Korzh died in St Petersburg in 1993.
TRANSLATORS AND EDITORS
Born in Rochester, Kent in 1931, Clare Burstall has tv, degrees from the University of London; a First Class BA Honours degree in French (1953) followed by a BA Hons i Psychology (1963). She also has a PhD in Psychology and holds Honorary Doctorates from the University of Hull (DSc) and from De Montfort University (DE4).
In 1964 she was appointed project leader at the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER), to evaluate the teaching of French in British primary schools. First appointed Deputy Director of the NFER in 1972, she became Director in 1983. Since early retirement in 1993 D Burstall has been translating from Russian into English in partnership with Dr Vladimir Kisselnikov. She has lived in Lahti, Finland since 1999.
Born at Sverdlovsk in 1941, Vladimir Kisselnikov is a graduate of the University of Precision Mechanics and Optics, Leningrad (Electromechanics, 1963), Leningrad Stat University (Philology, 1972) and the Aircraft and Air Space Instrumentation University, Leningrad (Doctoral degree in Engineering, 1974). After a number of years working on State defence projects, he has been a university teacher and researcher, since 1972, producing numerous scientific publications and patented inventions. He has translated fifteen works from English into Russian and is now in partnership with Dr Clare Burstall.
Dr Kisselnikov lives in St Petersburg and is married with two children.
Jacket design: Jon Wilkinson