Panzer Tactics: German Small-Unit Armor Tactics 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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All Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

Excellent review of panzer tactics, 2008-10-28
This book is packed with rare photographs of panzers and german equipment in service through both the russian, western european, and some north african campaigns. the book format reads like a military technical manual but in more laymans terms and generalizations. A MUST HAVE FOR ANY TANKER LIBRARY.


1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

Good & not so good, 2008-04-07
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.


0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

Indispensable, 2007-10-27
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.


2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

Great Resource, 2007-10-25
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.


9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

Extremely valuable - material found nowhere else..., 2007-08-12
...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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