A highly illustrated and essential reference guide organized by campaigns within each theatre.

Vol. III of IV.

A new study of the German Panzer forces that stood between the Allies' D-Day beachhead and victory in World War II – how they compared, how they were organized, and how they fought. The German tank forces in Normandy in June–August 1944 had the advantage of fighting on the defensive side, as well as comprising of some of the most powerful and advanced tanks used by any side in the war. Yet success in tank warfare depends on many things beyond technological superiority. This book describes the types of tanks, tank destroyers and assault guns used by the Panzer units in Normandy, how they fought on the Normandy battlefield, and why they were overwhelmed by the advancing Allies. It discusses the organization and equipment of the units, providing thumbnail sketches of basic organization and doctrine as well as statistical data on the types and categories of AFVs in German service.

In September of 1939, the world was astounded by Germany's ability to defeat Poland in less than a month. With the world still puzzled by the suddenness of this event, Denmark, Norway, Holland, Belgium, and France fell in rapid succession to the German onslaught, leaving Britain in shock. Greece and Yugoslavia were rapidly over-run during April of 1941, while German-Italian forces advanced rapidly in North Africa. Russia's turn was next, when German forces began pulverizing their forces in June of 1941. How had Germany achieved victory after victory, often against numerically superior enemy forces? The answer came in two words-Panzer and Blitzkrieg. When and how had Germany built its Panzer forces and trained them for the Blitzkrieg? When was each Panzer unit formed? What was their organization? Why were Panzer units disbursed among the Panzer-Divisions. leichte Divisions, and Armee-Korps? When were the various types of Panzers developed? What were their armament, armor protection, capability? How many of each type were produced? What tactics did they use? How successful were they in combat? This is the only book that provides detailed answers to these and other questions related to how German tankers fought in World War II. Tom Jentz found the answers to these questions bu digging through original records for the past tweny-five years. The content os this book is derived solely from these original records consisting of war diaries, reports, and technical and tactical manuals written during the war. The story is told as recorded by those responsible for decisions in developing the Panzertruppen and by those who fought in the Panzers. As work on this book progressed it became apparent that the story of the Panzertruppen was divided into two distinctly separate phases; offensive and defensive. This first volume presents the offensive phase up to October 1942. A second volume is planned that will cover the defensive phase to the end of the war. Tom Jentz is also the author of Germany's Panther Tank: The Quest of Combat Supremacy(available from Schiffer Publishing Ltd.).

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.