Jump to content

Tanker Books/Novels


glcanon

Recommended Posts

  • Members

Well, you probably have the two best books that are out there (at least in English language). I couldn't say if there were books of similar quality in Hebrew or Arabic. The Eve of Destruction is an excellent book, but with no special focus on the tank battles at tactical scale. No Victor, No Vanquished has the benefit and drawback of being written relatively short after the war itself (only about three to four years distance before it went into print in 1978 originally). The memory was still fresh, but access to sources was limited. Again, it doesn't focus on the tactical level.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For the Sinai 67 campaign, get "Tanks of Tammuz" by Shabtai Teveth. He spent the war in Tal's division and his account is gripping. Starts with the history of the IDF Armored Corps and also has a bit about the storming of the Golan Heights. Plus it was published a year after the war, so his telling feels very fresh and not distant.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For the Sinai 67 campaign, get "Tanks of Tammuz" by Shabtai Teveth. He spent the war in Tal's division and his account is gripping. Starts with the history of the IDF Armored Corps and also has a bit about the storming of the Golan Heights. Plus it was published a year after the war, so his telling feels very fresh and not distant.

Thanks for the tip. Despite it has no M-60 it is surely an interesting subject for me. However on a first search I was unable to get a digital edition for my kindle so it seems I would have to get a hard copy of it.

I was counting to have it avalaible for my hollidays next week. :confused:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
  • 1 month later...
  • 3 weeks later...

I just finished reading Panzer Operations by Erhard Raus, one of the leading panzer generals of World War Two. I posted a review on Amazon here if you’d like to read it: http://www.amazon.com/gp/cdp/member-reviews/A13A22BNUB8WJ/ref=cm_pdp_rev_title_1?ie=UTF8&sort_by=MostRecentReview#RFO49VREZACS0

It's a worthy complement to Guderian's Panzer Leader and Von Mellenthin's Panzer Battles but distinct because of its focus on tactical rather than operational or strategic considerations. Reading it makes you realise just how stretched German front line units were from almost the first moments of Operation Barbarossa. I’d definitely recommend it to anyone interested in German armoured tactics during World War Two.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For anyone interested in the minor to micro tactical details of tank employment by the WH and W.SS, "Panzer Tactics" by Wolfgang Schneider is an interesting read. Picture-heavy, but they're all good ones and not too commonly published.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For anyone interested in the minor to micro tactical details of tank employment by the WH and W.SS, "Panzer Tactics" by Wolfgang Schneider is an interesting read. Picture-heavy, but they're all good ones and not too commonly published.

I agree this title provides a great initiation to armoured tactics, particularly for those without a military background. I haven't found a publication (other than military field manuals, which can be hard to source) that explains armoured tactics at the platoon level better than this one. The first three chapters on Offensive Operations, Defensive Operations and Unit Movements are particularly useful. I'd recommend it for anyone new to armoured warfare simulations.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

It depends on what you're after. I had hoped that the book would have illustrated the Wehrmacht's armored doctrine based on actual operations orders. The book claims to do that, but fails IMO to the extent that it cites both the field manuals and puts in the one or other facsimile of an OpOrd, but makes virtually no connection in between. The book is just a collection of photos with tanks in them. 20% less photos would have allowed for 200% more text, and it is not always true that an image says more than a thousand words. There are too many bad primers on tank warfare already that focus too much on the actual equipment and its minor variations, and too few books that disseminate the doctrine development and the actual tactics when the doctrine was applied in the field.

A much better example, though with focus on US armor, is Harry Yeide's book "The Infantry's Armor". Even Otto Carius' "Tigers in the Mud", though with a fundamentally different focus and intent, is more useful in that respect. Guderian's "Die Panzerwaffe" certainly is very useful, but it lacks the contrast between doctrine and reality. By necessity it emphasizes the doctrinal/theory element.

Anyway, I'm not an WW2 expert, and most interested in contemporary armor and its role on the modern battlefield, so your mileage may vary.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Very good. Are there English and German translations of the book, and have you read the English one if so? I haven't read it in a while, I'll reread it soon, but from what I remember and a quick flicking through the book is that there was some decent tactical material in there so long as one was willing to accept that it largely stopped at the company level. It certainly wouldn't have met your expectations - I had simply hoped that it would show me what the panzers did at the minor level that apparently gave them such an enormous superiority over everybody else, and while I still don't fully understand (apparently the Allies really, really sucked at tanking) why they had the superiority they evidently did, it achieved that aim. It didn't market itself - at least not my copy - as an examination of the Wehrmacht's doctrine.

Thanks for the recommendations. One of my own, right up your alley for what you were hoping Panzer Tactics would achieve: Tank Tactics: From Normandy to Lorraine. Roman Johann Jarymowycz. Looks at the theory, and then what actually happened once that doctrine made it to the battlefield.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

I've been looking for a definitive history of the ground war during Operation Desert Storm from an operational perspective - particularly the famed "Hail Mary pass" - for a while now and just came across 'Jayhawk! The VII Corps in the Persian Gulf War' (see http://www.amazon.com/Jayhawk-VII-Corps-Persian-Gulf/dp/0756728630/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1321074577&sr=8-1).

Has anyone read it and can you recommend it?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Speaking of DePuy, I have a PDF here of his conversation with Wehrmacht generals Balck and von Mellenthin circa 1980 on how to defeat the Bolshevik Hordes/Red Menace/Red Hordes/Godless Heathens (tm, registered trademark Western World, Incorporated). The full title is GENERALS BALCK AND VON MELLENTHIN ON TACTICS: IMPLICATIONS FOR NATO MILITARY DOCTRINE

by General William DePuy (U.S. Army Ret.), BDM Corporation, December 1980.

Reproduced and edited by Reiner K. Huber Universitaet der Bundeswehr Muenchen, December 2004.

Is anybody interested? My understanding is that it's available for free distribution. It may be included in what Koen made available above.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Rather well translated into English, I felt. I don't have the original transcripts or anything approaching fluency in German ("Uh... nein, ich bin nicht KGB?"), so it isn't like I compared the two. The translation appears fluid, rather than stilted, so it doesn't look like people were having difficulty communicating ideas to each other. Nothing (edit: appears to have) got(ten) lost in the mix, is what I'm trying to say.

Gibson, if you PM me your e-mail address I can send it out like that; probably easiest. Standing offer to anybody who's interested.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

I don't know if anyone has pointed this book out in this thread or not, can't be bothered looking through it all.:)

I just finished this one:

Armored Thunderbolt: The U.S. Army Sherman in World War II

http://www.amazon.com/Armored-Thunderbolt-U-S-Sherman-World/dp/0811704246/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_5

A great book about the US armored force in WW2. Maybe the best ever written on the Sherman tank. If you've ever wondered why the US army landed at Normandy with Sherman's, this is the book that explains it all. The people, the doctrine, the machine.

I say maybe the best ever because its the first book I've read on the subject that pulls it all together. Your not bogged down with details on the various models, and technical details of the Sherman tank.(like the R. P. Hunnicutt Sherman book) While there are a lot of details, this book is more about the people, and the doctrine of the US army during WW2.

Plus its just 23 bucks. A book like this on German armor would be well over 100. Its a huge book, with over a 1000 photographs. A must have IMO.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I said over 1000 photos, while it does have a lot, not sure if it has a thousand. I keep confusing it with this one, which I purchased at the same time, by the same author:

http://www.amazon.com/Armored-Attack-1944-European-Theater/dp/0811707695/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_b

Yeah, I think you will like it. My library is full of books like this one on German armor. Good books on the US armor are not nearly as numerous. The book I just linked too is pretty good as well. Like the Reviewers state, its more of a large collection of photos than anything else. But, again, even a book like that on German stuff would cost x4 more.

I also got this one at the same time:

http://www.amazon.com/BLOOD-STEEL-MYTH-II-SS-Panzer-Korps-Prochorowka/dp/0974838942/ref=pd_sim_b_5

Haven't had time to read it yet though. Its another Large, full of photos, and maps type book. Looks like a good one. I picked it up because its supposed to be controversial. Apparently through his research, the current "told" history on the "epic battle of Prochorowka, the climax of the battle of Kursk" is nothing more than soviet propaganda. And it really never happened.

So I can see why its considered controversial.

Edited by RogueSnake79
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I also got this one at the same time:

http://www.amazon.com/BLOOD-STEEL-MYTH-II-SS-Panzer-Korps-Prochorowka/dp/0974838942/ref=pd_sim_b_5

Haven't had time to read it yet though. Its another Large, full of photos, and maps type book. Looks like a good one. I picked it up because its supposed to be controversial. Apparently through his research, the current "told" history on the "epic battle of Prochorowka, the climax of the battle of Kursk" is nothing more than soviet propaganda. And it really never happened.

So I can see why its considered controversial.

Yes, that's an important book. We here in Sweden have been fortunate enough to have had access to several similar "mythbusting" books about Kursk, published over the past decade. It's nice that someone is finally picking up this thread and spreading it to a wider global audience.

There is also this book, dealing with the same topic:

http://www.amazon.com/Demolishing-Myth-Prokhorovka-Operational-Narrative/dp/1906033897

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...