As kings become pawns (book review: Cloutier, P. Three kings: axis royal armies on the Russian front 1941 [text] / P. Cloutier. - Charleston, sc : Createspace Independing Publishing Platform, 2015. - 160 p.)

The publication is a review of the American historian P. Cloutier’s book devoted to the participation of such satellite states of Nazi Germany, like Hungary, Italy and Romania in the war against the Soviet Union. Based on a wide complex of historical sources and literature, P. Cloutier managed to reconstruct a holistic history of the Hungarian, Italian and Romanian armed forces in the Eastern front from June to December 1941. The reasons and background of the participation of Hungary, Italy and Romania in the military efforts of Nazi Germany, as well as the objects pursued by their military and political leaders is analyzed. The main stages and series of events of combat using of military units and formations of the representatives of these countries, mainly in the southern sector of the Eastern front are examined. The author rightly shows that from a quantitative point of view, the contribution of the Hungarian, Italian and Romanian armed forces was considerable. However, due to a number of reasons, this contribution is not of high quality. The German command, in whole, poorly assessed their combat qualities, preferring to use the Hungarians, Italians and Romanians together with the units and formations of the Wehrmacht. P. Cloutier’s concept, source base, facts, the scientific apparatus and methodology allow us to conclude that his monograph is a major contribution to the historiography of the World War II.