Download or read book Armored Bears Volume Two written by Veterans of the 3rd Panzer Division and published by Stackpole Books. This book was released on 2013 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First major treatment of the 3rd Panzer Division in EnglishCovers the division's battle on the Eastern Front from 1943 through the end of the warThe division had nearly 50 Knight's Cross winners by the end of the warNumerous photos of soldiers and their tanksBased on the daily logs of the division and recollections of its commanders and soldiers

Download or read book The Panzer Legions written by Samuel W. Mitcham, Jr. and published by Stackpole Books. This book was released on 2007 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hitler's tank divisions were his most lethal weapons during World War II. From success to failure, in victory and defeat, each division played a role in Hitler's campaign against the Allies. Examines vehicles, armor quality, manpower, and leadership and includes a comprehensive index of individuals, units, battles, and campaigns First guide to chronicle the history of each division from its inception to its destruction Includes a career sketch of every panzer divisional commander

Download or read book Ghost Division written by A. Harding Ganz and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2016-02-01 with total page 417 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nicknamed the "Ghost Division" because of its speed and habit of turning up where its enemies least expected, the German 11th Panzer Division wreaked havoc in the East and West in World War II, playing a pivotal role in some of the biggest engagements, including Barbarossa, Stalingrad, Kursk, and the West.

Download or read book Smashing Hitler s Panzers written by Steven Zaloga and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2018-10-26 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this riveting book, Steven Zaloga describes how American foot soldiers faced down Hitler’s elite armored spearhead—the Hitler Youth Panzer Division—in the snowy Ardennes forest during one of World War II’s biggest battles, the Battle of the Bulge. The Hitler Youth division was assigned one of the most important missions of Hitler’s Ardennes offensive: the capture of the main highway to the primary objective of Antwerp, the seizure of which Hitler believed would end the war. Had the Germans taken the Belgian port, it would have cut off the Americans from the British and perhaps led to a second, more devastating Dunkirk. In Zaloga’s careful reconstruction, a succession of American infantry units—the 99th Division, the 2nd Division, and the 1st Division (the famous Big Red One)—fought a series of battles that denied Hitler the best roads to Antwerp and doomed his offensive. American GIs—some of them seeing combat for the very first time—had stymied Hitler’s panzers and grand plans.

Download or read book Das Reich written by Max Hastings and published by Quarto Publishing Group USA. This book was released on 2013-06-15 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A world-renowned British historian recounts the actions of one of Hitler’s most elite armor units in one of World War II’s most horrific months. June 1944, the month of the D-Day landings carried out by Allied forces in Normandy, France. Germany’s 2nd SS Panzer Division, one of Adolf Hitler’s most elite armor units, had recently been pulled from the Eastern Front and relocated to France in order to regroup, recruit more troops, and restock equipment. With Allied forces suddenly on European ground, the division—Das Reich—was called up to counter the invasion. Its march northward to the shores of Normandy, 15,000 men strong, would become infamous as a tale of unparalleled brutality in World War II. Das Reich is Sir Max Hastings’s narrative of the atrocities committed by the 2nd SS Panzer Division during June of 1944: first, the execution of 99 French civilians in the village of Tulle on June 9; and second, the massacre of 642 more in the village of Oradour-sur-Glane on June 10. Throughout the book, Hastings expertly shifts perspective between French resistance fighters, the British Secret Service (who helped coordinate the French resistance from afar and on the ground), and the German soldiers themselves. With its rare, unbiased approach to the ruthlessness of World War II, Das Reich explores the fragile moral fabric of wartime mentality. Praise for Das Reich “A gripping blend of narrative and investigation.” —Evening Standard “This classic account of WWII is a microcosm of the global conflict. Hastings brings to life the horror that the 2nd SS Panzer division, Das Reich, inflicted upon the citizens living in a bucolic corner of France.” —Dennis Showalter, author of Patton and Rommel and Hitler’s Panzers

Download or read book Panzers East and West written by Dieter Stenger and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2017-09-01 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Organized and trained during 1943, the 10th SS Panzer Division saw its first action in the spring of 1944 during the relief of an encircled German army on the Eastern Front. Several months later, in response to the Allied invasion at Normandy, the division returned to the West in mid-June 1944. Here the division engaged in a series of armored attacks and counterattacks against British and American forces. The 10th SS briefly held off a few enemy thrusts but gradually had to fall back to Falaise, where the division escaped the Allied encirclement with no tanks and only a fraction of its men. The 10th SS Panzer Division next defended against the Allied parachute assault during Operation Market Garden in September 1944. Depleted and now a division in name only, the 10th SS fought in Alsace before Hitler sent it to the Eastern Front again. There, east of Berlin, the division participated in the final battles to enable the escape of German soldiers and civilians from Soviet captivity.

Download or read book Essential Tank Identification Guide written by Jorge Rosado and published by . This book was released on 2005-07-01 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Illustrated with detailed artworks of German tanks and their markings with exhaustive captions and specifications, The Essential Tank Identification Guide: Wehrmacht Panzer Divisions 1939-45 is the definitive study of the equipment and organization of the Wehrmacht's 28 fullstrength armored divisions. Organized chronologically by division and formation date, the book offers a complete guide to the Panzerwaffe, from the establishment of the 1st Panzer Division in 1935, to the hasty formation of the 130th Panzer (Lehr) Division in early 1944. The book describes in depth the various models of tank in German service during the war with each individual armored division, with listings of the unit commanders and any famous tank aces. Each divisional section is further broken down by campaign, accompanied by orders of battle, a brief divisional history of the campaign, and any specific unit markings. With information boxes accompanying the full-color artworks, all drawn to the same scale for easy comparison, The Essential Tank Identification Guide: Wehrmacht Panzer Divisions 1939-45 is an essential reference guide for modelers and enthusiasts with an interest in the armored divisions of the Wehrmacht.

Download or read book Pictorial History of the US 3rd Armored Division in World War Two written by Darren Neely and published by Pen and Sword Military. This book was released on 2021-03-23 with total page 531 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Archival photos detailing the US Army division’s efforts during WWII, featuring accounts of the T-26 Pershing tank and its first use in combat. The Third Armored Division, famously known as the “Spearhead Division," had an illustrious combat career in WW2. One of only two “heavy armored” divisions of the war, the 3rd Armored joined the battle in the ETO in late June of 1944, was bloodied almost immediately and was at the front of the American advance through the hedgerows of Normandy and the rapid advance through France into Belgium by September 1944. The 3rd was one of the first units to breach the vaunted Siegfried Line and then fought a series of back and forth battles with the German army in the Autumn of 1944 as the weather conditions and determined tenacity of the German defenders produced an Autumn stalemate. The 3rd was rushed to the Ardennes front in December of 1944 in response to Hitler’s winter offensive and they famously fought battles at the defense of Hotton, Grandmenil and then pushed the Germans back to the border after vicious battles in places like Ottre, Lierneux, Cherain and Sterpigny. The early days of the Bulge battles would find the lost unit of Col Samuel Hogan’s 400 men who were surrounded for days and fought their way back to friendly lines. After a brief rest and being outfitted with 10 of the T-26 Pershing tanks, the 3rd was at the spearhead of the 1st Army advance into Germany, across the Rhine and into the Harz mountains and the liberation of the Nordhausen concentration camp. This final campaign would see the highpoint of the famous Cologne tank duel between a Pershing and German panther, made famous by the recent book Spearhead by Adam Makos. Then, just a few weeks later the beloved commander of the division, Major General Maurice Rose, was tragically shot by a German tank commander when trying to surrender Paderborn, Germany. The 3rd would end the war at the tip of the American advance into Germany before the war ended. “An armored division is more than just its tanks, and the author makes that clear by including numerous images of the unit’s infantry, reconnaissance artillery and support troops performing their duties. This book provides a wealth of details of how the men of this division lived and fought during the war.” —WWII History “Sometimes a pictorial history is a hundred times better than a textual history, and that’s certainly the case with the US 3rd Armored Division.” —Books Monthly

Download or read book The Combat History of the 23rd Panzer Division in World War II written by Ernst Rebentisch and published by Stackpole Books. This book was released on 2012-03-21 with total page 544 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Complete history of a German tank division that fought exclusively on the Eastern Front.

Download or read book Busting the Bocage written by Michael Dale Doubler and published by Fort Leavenworth, Kan. : U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. This book was released on 1988 with total page 92 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Ardennes written by Hugh Marshall Cole and published by . This book was released on 1994 with total page 772 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Soldiers to the Last Day written by Denis Havel and published by Fonthill Media. This book was released on 2019-12-08 with total page 404 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Soldiers to the Last Day: Rhineland- Westphalian 6th Infantry Division, 1935-1945 recounts the history of the German 6th Infantry Division from its formation in 1935 to its destruction at Babruysk in July 1944; then its resurrection and continued fighting until the end of the war. Among the first divisions established by the Wehrmacht, the 6th Infantry Division had one of the longest and bloodiest records of continuous combat of any division-Allied or Axis. Engaging in combat within weeks of the outbreak of WWII, the division fought to the last hour of the war. Based primarily on German sources, in particular the rare divisional and regimental histories and war diaries, and on personal accounts and letters of its soldiers, Soldiers to the Last Day presents the German view of the war from inside divisional headquarters and down to the individual Landser as the division marches across France in 1940, advances to the Volga during Operation Barbarossa, fights the brutal battles of Rzhev, Kursk, Babruysk; and makes last desperate attempts to defend the homeland in 1945. It is a tale of courage, determination, suffering, and in the end-betrayal.

Download or read book Panzer Gunner written by Bruno Friesen and published by . This book was released on 2019-06-15 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There are few memoirs available of German Panzer crews that focus on the climactic last 12 months of the war on the Eastern Front, 1944-45. What makes Bruno Friesen's account virtually unique is his family background: his parents came from a German-speaking Mennonite community in Ukraine, and were to all intents and purposes culturally German. To make matters even more complex, in 1924 his parents left the Ukraine for Canada, where Bruno was born. In March 1939 he and his brother Oscar found themselves on a ship bound for Bremerhaven in Germany. He barely spoke German, and had never been to Germany, nevertheless his father envisaged that a better life awaited them in the Third Reich. Needless to say, Bruno became caught up in the Second World War, and in 1942 was drafted into the Wehrmacht. The author provides a full account of his family background, and how, through these unusual circumstances, he found himself a Canadian-born German soldier. The bulk of the book is a detailed account of the author's training, and his subsequent service with 25th Panzer Regiment, part of 7th Panzer Division. As the title suggests, Bruno Friesen served as a gunner aboard, initially, Panzer IVs, before crewing the lesser-known Jagdpanzer IV tank hunter. The author provides a fantastic amount of information about these two vehicles, and how the crews actually fought in battle with them. This kind of 'hands-on' detail has almost never been available before, particularly such extensive information concerning the characteristics and combat performance of the Jagdpanzer IV. Apart from providing a large fund of information about specific German tanks and their combat performance, the author writes in great detail about the combat the experienced on the Eastern Front, including tank battles in Rumania, spring 1944, Lithuania in the summer of 1944, and West Prussia during early 1945. If one wants to know how German tank crews fought the Soviets in the last year of the war, then this book provides an outstanding account, containing material simply not found elsewhere. The author closes his account by reflecting on his postwar efforts to return to Canada, which eventually succeeded in 1950, and his subsequent life there. This book is not just a critique of armored fighting vehicles and tank warfare, it is above all a very human story, told in a lively, conversational and fluid manner, and is a remarkable contribution to the literature of the Second World War.

Download or read book The Tank Killers written by Harry Yeide and published by Casemate. This book was released on 2005-01-19 with total page 357 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A fantastic read . . . Whether your interest is armour or history I would highly recommend this book” (Military Modelling). The tank destroyer was a bold—though some would say flawed—answer to the challenge posed by the seemingly unstoppable German Blitzkrieg. The TD was conceived to be light and fast enough to outmaneuver panzer forces and go where tanks could not. At the same time, the TD would wield the firepower needed to kill any German tank on the battlefield. Indeed, American doctrine stipulated that TDs would fight tanks, while American tanks would concentrate on achieving and exploiting breakthroughs of enemy lines. The Tank Killers follows the men who fought in the TDs, from the formation of the force in 1941 through the victory over the Third Reich in 1945. It is a story of American flexibility and pragmatism in military affairs. Tank destroyers were among the very first units to land in North Africa in 1942. Their first vehicles were ad hoc affairs: halftracks and weapons carriers with guns no better than those on tanks, thin armor affording the crews considerably less protection. Almost immediately, the crews began adapting to circumstances, along with their partners in the infantry and armored divisions. By the time North Africa was in Allied hands, the TD had become a valued tank fighter, assault gun, and artillery piece. The reconnaissance teams in TD battalions, meanwhile, had established a record for daring operations that would continue for the rest of the war. The story continues with the invasion of Italy and, finally, that of Fortress Europe on June 6, 1944. By now, the brass had decreed that half the force would convert to towed guns, a decision that dogged the affected crews through the end of the war. The TD men encountered increasingly lethal enemies, ever more dangerous panzers that were often vulnerable only to their guns, while American tank crews watched in frustration as their rounds bounced harmlessly off the thick German armor. They fought under incredibly diverse conditions that demanded constant modification of tactics, and their equipment became ever more deadly. By VE-Day, the tank destroyer battalions had achieved impressive records, generally with kill-loss rates heavily in their favor. Yet the army after the war concluded that the concept of a separate TD arm was so fundamentally flawed that not a single battalion existed after November 1946. The Tank Killers draws heavily on the records of the tank destroyer battalions and the units with which they fought, as well as personal stories from veterans of the force.

Download or read book The German Armored Division written by Military Intelligence Service and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2015 with total page 60 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Originally published: Washington, D.C.: War Department, 1942. Military Intelligence Service, Information Bulletin No. 18.

Download or read book The 4th Armored Division in the encirclement of Nancy written by Christopher Richard Gabel and published by . This book was released on 1986 with total page 27 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1944, the 4th Armored Division played a central role in one of the more remarkable campaigns in American military history-Third Army's pursuit across France, which was capped off by the encirclement and capture of Nancy. In the course of this campaign, the 4th Armored Division practiced a mode of warfare that has since become known to the Army as AirLand Battle. Inasmuch as the encircle ment of Nancy is one of the few historical examples that shows American mechanized forces waging war in accordance with the tenets of AirLand Battle, anyone seeking a deeper appreciation of today's doctrine would do well to study this campaign carefully. The 4th Armored Division in the Encirclement of Nancy originated at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College as an introductory class for a course on modern division-level operations. It is a companion piece to The Lorraine Campaign: An Overview, September-December 1944, published in February 1985.

Download or read book The 7th Panzer Division in France and Russia written by Russel H. S. Stolfi and published by Pen & Sword Books. This book was released on 2014 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This excellent study was commissioned by the U.S. Marine Corps from the distinguished academic and military historian Russel Stolfi. This groundbreaking work is more than just a Divisional history. The whole basis of Rommel's exceptional handling is summed up in Stolfi's masterful conclusion 'Rommel had a bias for action.' The book traces the actions of the 7th 'Ghost' division in France during 1940 and the early part of the campaign in Russia during 1941. This powerful work brilliantly illustrates Stolfi's commanding insight into the genius of Rommel as a Divisional commander. Long out of print, this new edition brings back into circulation a classic piece of military history writing for a new audience.