Germany's opening run of victory in World War II was only made possible by the panzer forces that Heinz Guderian (1888-1954), the father of modern tank warfare, had created and trained, and by his audacious leading of those forces from 1939-1941. Guderian's breakthrough at Sedan and lightning drive to the Channel coast virtually decided the Battle of France. The drive he led into the East came close to producing the complete collapse of Russia's armies, but at the end of 1941 Guderian was dismissed for taking a timely step back instead of pandering to Hitler's illusions. He was recalled to service only when Germany's situation had become desperate, and was eventually made Chief of the General Staff when it had become hopeless.

The dramatic story of Nazi field commander Jochen Peiper’s military career, war crimes trial, and 1976 murder. Jochen Peiper would likely never have been heard of outside Germany if not for the infamous massacre of US Army POWs near Malmedy, Belgium, during World War II, with which his name has been forever associated. Shunned and despised in the years following Germany’s surrender, Peiper is nevertheless praised by many for his military acumen. This meticulously researched book explores Peiper’s youth, his career with the SS, the now famous trial of the officers and soldiers of the Leibstandarte, who were accused of war crimes, and Peiper’s murder in France over thirty years later. “One of WWII’s most interesting combat leaders . . . a fascinating story.” —Armor Includes maps and illustrations

Includes the World War Two On The Eastern Front (1941-1945) Illustration Pack – 198 photos/illustrations and 46 maps. General Heinz Guderian’s revolutionary strategic vision and his skill in armored combat brought Germany its initial victories during World War II. Combining Guderian’s land offensive with Luftwaffe attacks, the Nazi Blitzkrieg decimated the defenses of Poland, Norway, France—and, very neatly, Russia—at the war’s outset. But in 1941, when Guderian advised that ground forces should take a step back, Hitler dismissed him. In these pages, the outspoken general shares his candid point of view on what would have led Germany to victory, and what ensured that it didn’t. In addition to providing a rare inside look at key members of the Nazi party, Guderian reveals in detail how he developed the Panzer tank forces and orchestrated their various campaigns, from the break through at Sedan to his drive to the Channel coast that virtually decided the Battle of France. Panzer Leader became a bestseller within one year of its original publication in 1952 and has since been recognized as a classic account of the greatest conflict of our time. [Print Edition]

A stunning look at World War II from the other side... From the turret of a German tank, Colonel Hans von Luck commanded Rommel's 7th and then 21st Panzer Division. El Alamein, Kasserine Pass, Poland, Belgium, Normandy on D-Day, the disastrous Russian front--von Luck fought there with some of the best soldiers in the world. German soldiers. Awarded the German Cross in Gold and the Knight's Cross, von Luck writes as an officer and a gentleman. Told with the vivid detail of an impassioned eyewitness, his rare and moving memoir has become a classic in the literature of World War II, a first-person chronicle of the glory--and the inevitable tragedy--of a superb soldier fighting Hitler's war.

Kenneth Macksey’s highly regarded biography of Generaloberst Heinz Guderian gives clear insight into the mind and motives of the father of modern tank warfare. Panzer General shows Guderian as a man of ideas equipped with the ability to turn inspiration into reality. A master of strategy and tactics, he was the officer most responsible for creating blitzkrieg in World War II. Guderian built the Panzerwaffe in the face of opposition from the German General Staff and personally led the lightning campaigns by tanks and aircraft that put a large part of Europe under domination by the Third Reich. Kenneth Macksey, a tank man himself for more than twenty years, reveals the man as a brilliant rebel in search of ideals and a general whose personality, genius, and achievements far transcended those of Rommel. As well as throwing light on the crucial campaigns in Poland, France, and Russia, this biography illuminates the struggles within the German hierarchy, both in the military and in the Nazi Party, for control of the Panzer forces. Based on information from the extensive family archives, Panzer General demonstrates why Guderian was so admired by some while denigrated by others.

Drawing from post-war reports commissioned by U.S. Army intelligence, World War II historian Steven H. Newton has translated, compiled, and edited the battle accounts of one of Germany's finest panzer commanders and a skilled tactician of tank warfare. Throughout most of the war, Erhard Raus was a highly respected field commander in the German-Soviet war on the eastern front, and after the war he wrote an insightful analysis of German strategy in that campaign.The Raus memoir covers the Russian campaign from the first day of the war to his relief from command at Hitler's order in the spring of 1945. It includes a detailed examination of the 6th Panzer Division's drive to Leningrad, Raus's own experiences in the Soviet winter counteroffensive around Moscow, the unsuccessful attempt to relieve Stalingrad, and the final desperate battles inside Germany at the end of the war. His battlefield experience and keen tactical eye make his memoir especially valuable for scholars, and his narrative is as readable as Heinz Guderian's celebrated Panzer Leader.

The armoured reconnaissance units were the spearheads of Hitler's Panzer divisions, moving stealthily ahead of the tanks to locate the enemy. Otto Henning's armoured car unit of the elite Panzer-Lehr-Division fought throughout the campaigns in the West in 1944 and 1945, arriving in Normandy a few weeks before D-Day and finally surrendering in the Ruhr pocket in mid-April 1945. Henning describes the difficulties that reconnaissance forces such as his faced in the close terrain of the Normandy bocage and the threat posed by the Allies complete control of the air. He experienced first-hand the devastation wrought by the Panzer Ace Michael Wittmann's lone Tiger tank against the British 7th Armoured Division at Villers Bocage, as well as ensured the chaos and demoralisation of the Germans retreat across France. After the Battle of the Bulge and the final fighting in western Germany, Henning surrendered and endured terrible conditions in a prisoner-of-war camp until he escaped in 1947. This is a fascinating and often harrowing account of the final campaigns in Western Europe.

WWII began with a metallic roar as the German Blitzkrieg raced across Europe, spearheaded by the most dreaded weapon of the 20th century: the Panzer. No German tank better represents that thundering power than the infamous Tiger, and Otto Carius was one of the most successful commanders to ever take a Tiger into battle, destroying well over 150 enemy tanks during his incredible career.

Military Memoirs Reading List 2014.

A richly illustrated memoir by highly decorated Wehrmacht soldier—“recommended to anyone with an interest in the Panzerwaffe in the Second World War” (Recollections of WWII). After serving as a gunlayer on a Pz.Mk.III during Barbarossa, Richard Freiherr von Rosen led a Company of Tigers at Kursk. Later he led a company of King Tiger panzers at Normandy and in late 1944 commanded a battle group (12 King Tigers and a flak Company) against the Russians in Hungary in the rank of junior, later senior lieutenant (from November 1944, his final rank.) Only 489 of these King Tiger tanks were ever built. They were the most powerful heavy tanks to see service, and only one kind of shell could penetrate their armor at a reasonable distance. Every effort had to be made to retrieve any of them bogged down or otherwise immobilized, which led to many towing adventures. The author has a fine memory and eye for detail. Easy to read and not technical, his account adds substantially to the knowledge of how the German Panzer Arm operated in the Second World War. “The author has a fine memory and eye for detail . . . It adds substantially to the knowledge of how the German Panzer Arm operated during the Second World War.”—Military Vehicles Magazine “The images accompany the story well. Richard Von Rosen, wounded several times and fighting a good part of the war on the eastern front, was certainly a lucky soldier, and we are also lucky to read these pages . . . highly recommend to all fans of memories of the Second World War.”—Old Barbed Wire Blog