Indispensable | Panzer Tactics: German Small-Unit Armor Tactics in World War II

Great Resource | Panzer Tactics: German Small-Unit Armor Tactics in World War II | Wolfgang Schneider

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	• Panzer Tactics: German Small-Unit Armor Tactics in World War II Wolfgang Schneider Stackpole Books, 2005 - 368 pages average customer review:based on 7 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

All You need to Know

As a noted authour of German military formations and History, Wolfgang Schneider has gone one step further and written a very well researched and interesting book on German small unit armor tactics.
The book interestingly is divided into sections that deal with such topics as Unit movements, Command and Control, Logistics and maintenance,combined Arms operations and both defensive and Offensive operations.
It is well documented with maps and examples dealing with the various topics including armour battles where these tactics were used to great effect to prove the point.
It is filled with numerous photographs of german armour, on the march in battle or at rest which accompany the examples mentioned.
I found this book fascinating reading and gives a very very good insight into german armoured thinking throughout the war.
The authour of other notable books such as Tigers in combat and Das Reich Tigers means you know you are geting a book that is a great accompaniment to any history of german panzer units.

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Indispensable

and very illustrative book to comprehend the details of panzer tactics, which decide the success on the battlefield. Good eye opener before taking up some WWII memoirs!

Great Resource

This is a great resource book. It goes into tremendous detail about how Panzers were deployed and used in WWII. It is well writted and easy for the non professional soldier to understand.

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Extremely valuable - material found nowhere else...

...at least in my own ever-growing collection. We have the experiences of a Guderian, von Mellenthin, or Manstein, self serving as they sometimes may be, but at all these decades remove the view of the actual panzer crewman starts to get a little hazy. This book remedies this by way of hundreds of photographs that I don't believe are published in any other popularly available work. The CAPTIONS to these are of value! (For example: "Proper spacing is 100 meters - these Pz IIIs are too close!).

Each chapter begins with a concise exposition of the topic (Offensive operations, Defensive operations, Unit Movements, Command and Control, Logistics and Maintenance, etc.) from the point of view of the experienced veteran. A number of reproductions of the actual training materials for panzer crew from the period are included. The author takes pains to show how, during actual operations over the course of the war, panzer crew were repeatedly forced to improvise, departing from rigid adherance to the doctrine in these materials. Also included are a number of sketch maps of various operations at the smaller unit level, to further illustrate the principles. I believe a number of these are from actual after-action reports, hand drawn by the officers involved.

But it's the photos that are of the most value. These bring to life all the gritty little details of the panzer crew's existence, which was at times boring, terrifying, exhausting, freezing, burning, bleeding, and at most times thoroughly miserable. Life in a tank in WW II was hard. Operating them with enough skill to accomplish impossibly difficult missions with any chance of survival was even harder. This book goes some way towards showing how the Germans did it.

If you are a modeler or wargamer, mark this one down as a MUST HAVE.

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Good & not so good

Great b&w photos, and the maps are interesting although would be more useful if translated. The Panzer tactics shared are nothing more than what good common sense would dictate in a combat situation. This book is on the pricey side for what you get. I would recommend Otto Carius' "Tigers in the Mud" or Michael Whitmann as more interesting subject matter regarding Panzer tactics.

* Ultimate inside view of the blitzkrieg in World War II

* Diagrams, maps, and schematics illustrate key principles

* Hundreds of rare photos show Panzers and crews in action

Wolfgang Schneider has written the definitive account of German small-unit armor tactics. Using period training manuals, after-action reports, countless interviews with Panzer veterans, and his own experiences as an armor commander in the modern Germany Army, Schneider describes World War II Panzer tactics, coupling his narrative with scores of illustrations that highlight armor concepts. Schneider covers the major types of small-unit operational art -- offensive and defensive -- and also discusses road marches, reconnaissance, command and control, working with other arms of service, life in a tank, armor training, gunnery, and the future of armor. The book provides useful insight into armor tactics for both the layman and the armor enthusiast.

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