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Hans von Luck was a busy man during WW2. He was in most of the major campaigns and battles of the war. On D-Day, he commanded a regiment in the 21st Panzer Division which was on the east side of the Orne river (the flank of the British side). When Pegasus bridge was taken (an incredible story by itself), it was his tanks that tried to retake it. His autobiography is a must read for WW2 buffs.
According to Hans von Luck, who worked with/under Rommel, basically the assassination was to end the war with the West/negotiate for peace, and then persuade the Allies to fight the USSR together to defeat communism.
https://www.amazon.com/Panzer-Commander-Memoirs-Colonel-Library/dp/0440208025
This video is a very good summarised version of David Stahel's book Operation Barbarossa and Germany's Defeat in the East first chapters.
Jeg har læst "Frozen Hell" inspireret en del af Ukraine krigen. Den er god.
https://www.amazon.com/Frozen-Hell-Russo-Finnish-Winter-1939-1940/dp/1565122496
Bogen er kendt som en af de bedste engelske fremstillinger af vinterkrigen mellem Finland og USSR. Parallelerne til Ukraine er slående. Sovjet overfalder en mindre nabo men tager på trods af en på papiret overlegenhed enorme tab og taber stor prestige.
Man ender med at vinde og påtvinge finnerne en hård fred, men Finland undgår at blive opslugt som balterne eller at blive trukket ind i Warsawa pagten som andre dele af østeuropa.
Den er værd at læse, det er nogle fuldkomne sindsyge slag som foregik i karelen i 1939. Nogle af slagene involverede tungere artilleribeskydning end under Verdun.
I thought Frozen Hell was good and was available for “free” on Kindle Unlimited.
If you want good overall view of Winter War and tactics, this seems to be good book to start:
https://www.amazon.com/Frozen-Hell-Russo-Finnish-Winter-1939-1940/dp/1565122496#customerReviews
I have not read it, but reviews like it being kind of overall book telling about troops and tactical viewpoint.
The World Encyclopedia of Tanks & Armoured Fighting Vehicles: Over 400 Vehicles And 1200 Wartime And Modern Photographs https://www.amazon.com/dp/0754833518/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_fabc_266B41PND0T3R6Z94T7M
Tank: The Definitive Visual History of Armored Vehicles https://www.amazon.com/dp/1465457593/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_fabc_60BT6M7FF6CP3D0ZZMVE
“Tank Fright” was considered to be a major factor in the success of Blitzkrieg early in the war. It was felt that French, Belgian, Dutch (and though rarely stated) British infantry had panicked and retreated from defensible positions because they felt helpless in the face of tanks. This was also a major problem for the Soviets and Italians in 1941.
We now know this wasn’t the case, that German tanks were often much worse than British or French, could be disabled by field artillery or even some infantry weapons, but a great deal of energy was spent trying to convince soldiers to stand and fight armour. You can see that in the messaging of the film - you, Joe Infantry, can fight Panzers!
It is, I’ll say, extremely optimistic about the effectiveness of the Boys AT by 1942, but answers that by stating all the ways it can still disable or damage AFVs. The point is to make the infantry feel they have a chance.
Actually, even today, Infantry Anti-Tank weapons are not particularly effective. In WW2, all armies fielded mines, grenades, AT Rifles, whatever - not because they destroyed enemy armour often, or even very much - but because they made the infantry feel like they could. There are exceptions, the Javelin is a nice piece of technology, but a US Army Company is not expected to win against the Russian Motor Rifle Tank Regiment running them down in Poland or Ukraine - they are expected not to panic and run for the hills at the sound of engines starting before dawn.
If you want a great read about fighting in one, take a look at Brazen Chariots-
Just got my copy of https://www.amazon.ca/Demolishing-Myth-Prokhorovka-Operational-Narrative/dp/1906033897 to find it had a number of blank pages. at least they were in the last 3rd of the book so I can still read most of it while the replacement comes.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Panzer-Destroyer-Memoirs-Army-Commander/dp/1844159515 - Vasiliy Krysov goes into detail about an incident where three Red Army sergeants raped a 23 year old German woman and got no punishment because "The Germans did it too".
Nikolai Safinov, who was an infantryman in WWII and writes for IRemember.ru: "There were also cases of raping German women. I remember a widely known fact of a group rape when 33 soldiers raped a German woman. There were talks that after that news reached General Kotikov, the chief of the Political Department of the 61st Army, he shook his head especially wondering at those who were at the tail end of the line of rapists. Nevertheless, that criminal case had been dropped." No punishment.
Yurii Koriakin, Rifleman in the 10th Guards Rifle Division: A Politburo officer told him "Well, and concerning the woman question, you can treat the German women rather freely, but so it wouldn't look organized. 1-2 men can go, do what they need (that's exactly what he said: "what they need"), return, and that's all. Any kind of pointless damage to German men and women is inadmissible and will be punished."
"This conversation made us feel that he himself didn't know exactly what norms of behavior should've been followed. Of course, we were all under the influence of propaganda, which didn't differentiate Germans and Hitlerites in those times. That's why I know of a ton of cases when German women were raped, but not killed. Treatment of German women (we almost never saw men) was free, even vengeful. In our regiment the Sergeant Major of the supply company set up practically an entire harem."
This was literally a five minute Google search. You can research the individual accounts yourself; I don't have the time to do so to win an internet argument.
Thank you all, I am very interested in Alexander Pylcyn's book. A first-hand account of what it was like in a penal unit sounds very cool.
I will also be looking at tank rider.
Has anyone read Panzer Destroyer? This one seems very interesting as well.
Try reading Panzer Commander for a commentary on Rommel's leadership from the perspective of a subordinate in both France and Africa. The author was personally transferred from a staff position on the Eastern Front after the battle of Moscow by Rommel to North Africa after having served with him in France. Oh, and Infanterie Greift!
Also, once again, please read the details of all the aforementioned battles/operations. A single source is not enough to go by. By the multiple accounts of many 'elite' Panzer divisions, the Blitzkrieg was one of Hitlers favorite things to destroy units with. Namely the 21st Panzer Division in Africa with Rommel along with it.
David Stahel: Operation Barbarossa and Germany's Defeat in the East is a great study that shows the failure of Operation Barbarossa and how it doomed Germany.
There is a great part in the book Panzer Commander where Colonel Hans von Luck comes across an AA crew and their gun before a battle. When they refused to set up a defensive anti-tank position he took out his pistol and threatened their lives. They agreed to setup position and were a decisive factor in the battle. It is very likely the battle would have been lost had they not done so. A fine example of the use of AA as AT in an emergency.
I highly recommend anyone who's interested in the subject read A Frozen Hell.
What's really messed up is the Finns allying with Nazi Germany in WW2 (or The Continuation War to Finns) to regain the territory lost to the Soviets at the end of the Winter War.
1) David Glantz's book on Kursk is excellent, there is also going to be released a translated volume from a well known Russian historian soon, see: http://www.amazon.com/DEMOLISHING-MYTH-Prokhorovka-Operational-Narrative/dp/1906033897/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1281232808&sr=8-1
Zamulin has produced at least 4 books on Kursk and operations revolving around Kursk in Russian. Further, the translator always does an excellent job with his projects, of which I've read practically all. So this is a highly recommended book. There is also going to be released another volume, which I've done some proof reading on. I'm not yet sure when it'll be released, but I've seen the research, spoken to the author, and know it has been a monumental task for him (records from both the Soviet and German side and demolishing many of the myths that have been built up around this battle). So the best is yet to come.
2) A good question but I doubt I can be of much help since I haven't spent much time in Russia :(. In and around Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Volgograd I would figure would be the more interesting places. Sevastopol, Odessa, and Novorossiysk, are a few more options. I haven't been to Volgograd myself, but I have relatives who visited and they were very much awed by what they saw.