Author: Leo Kessler Publisher: Benchmark Publishing ISBN: 1311380361 Category : Fiction Languages : en Pages : 168
Book Description
In Wotan's First Mission, von Dodenburg tackles the inpenetrable Fort Eben Emael. SS Assault Regiment Wotan was preparing for a mission so secret that it was known just by its codename, Zero. Only The Vulture, Major Horst Geier, knew that the objective was the key Belgian fortress guarding the junction of the River Meuse and the Albert Canal. It was the most impregnable stronghold in Europe and had to be taken, regardless of the cost in human lives, if Hitler's handpicked SS Panzer troops were to turn the flank of the Maginot line and force the phoney war to explode into the Blitzkrieg... Leo Kessler is a pseudonym of the late Charles Whiting. Over three million of his books have been sold worldwide.
Author: Dieter Stenger Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield ISBN: 0811765903 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 401
Book Description
Organized and trained during 1943, the 10th SS Panzer Division saw its first action in the spring of 1944 during the relief of an encircled German army on the Eastern Front. Several months later, in response to the Allied invasion at Normandy, the division returned to the West in mid-June 1944. Here the division engaged in a series of armored attacks and counterattacks against British and American forces. The 10th SS briefly held off a few enemy thrusts but gradually had to fall back to Falaise, where the division escaped the Allied encirclement with no tanks and only a fraction of its men. The 10th SS Panzer Division next defended against the Allied parachute assault during Operation Market Garden in September 1944. Depleted and now a division in name only, the 10th SS fought in Alsace before Hitler sent it to the Eastern Front again. There, east of Berlin, the division participated in the final battles to enable the escape of German soldiers and civilians from Soviet captivity.
Author: Yves Buffetaut Publisher: Casemate Publishers ISBN: 1612005268 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 173
Book Description
“Certainly my first recourse from now on when looking at the SS panzer divisions. Give yourself a treat and buy a copy ASAP if tanks are your thing” (Army Rumour Service). The Das Reich Division was the most infamous unit of the Waffen-SS. Originally a paramilitary formation raised to protect the members of the Nazi Party, it was founded in 1934 as the SS-Verfügungstruppe. During the invasion of Poland, the unit fought as a mobile infantry regiment. After the Battle of France, the SS-VT was officially renamed the Waffen-SS, and in 1941, the Verfügungs-Division was renamed Reich, later Das Reich. By the time Das Reich took part in the battle of Moscow, it had lost sixty percent of its combat strength. It was pulled off the front in mid-1942 and sent to refit as a panzer-grenadier division. Returning to the Eastern Front, Das Reich took part in the fighting around Kharkov and Kursk. Late in the year, it was designated a panzer division. In 1944, the unit was stationed in southern France when the Allies landed in Normandy. The following days saw the division commit atrocities, hanging one hundred local men in the town of Tulles in reprisal for German losses, and massacring 642 French civilians in Oradour-sur-Glane, allegedly in retaliation for partisan activity in the area. Later in the Normandy fighting, Das Reich was encircled in the Roncey pocket by US 2nd Armored Division, losing most of their armored equipment. Das Reich surrendered in May 1945. “Another fascinating piece of military history from the opposite point of view . . . this doesn’t purport to be an illustrated history of the Reich, but it damn well is!” —Books Monthly
Author: Max Hastings Publisher: Quarto Publishing Group USA ISBN: 161058824X Category : History Languages : en Pages : 298
Book Description
A world-renowned British historian recounts the actions of one of Hitler’s most elite armor units in one of World War II’s most horrific months. June 1944, the month of the D-Day landings carried out by Allied forces in Normandy, France. Germany’s 2nd SS Panzer Division, one of Adolf Hitler’s most elite armor units, had recently been pulled from the Eastern Front and relocated to France in order to regroup, recruit more troops, and restock equipment. With Allied forces suddenly on European ground, the division—Das Reich—was called up to counter the invasion. Its march northward to the shores of Normandy, 15,000 men strong, would become infamous as a tale of unparalleled brutality in World War II. Das Reich is Sir Max Hastings’s narrative of the atrocities committed by the 2nd SS Panzer Division during June of 1944: first, the execution of 99 French civilians in the village of Tulle on June 9; and second, the massacre of 642 more in the village of Oradour-sur-Glane on June 10. Throughout the book, Hastings expertly shifts perspective between French resistance fighters, the British Secret Service (who helped coordinate the French resistance from afar and on the ground), and the German soldiers themselves. With its rare, unbiased approach to the ruthlessness of World War II, Das Reich explores the fragile moral fabric of wartime mentality. Praise for Das Reich “A gripping blend of narrative and investigation.” —Evening Standard “This classic account of WWII is a microcosm of the global conflict. Hastings brings to life the horror that the 2nd SS Panzer division, Das Reich, inflicted upon the citizens living in a bucolic corner of France.” —Dennis Showalter, author of Patton and Rommel and Hitler’s Panzers
Author: Norbert Számvéber Publisher: Helion and Company ISBN: 1910294144 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 304
Book Description
Waffen-SS Armour in Normandy presents the combat history of SS-Panzer Regiment 12 and SS-Panzerjäger Abteilung 12 in the Battle for France from June to the end of August 1944 based on transcriptions of their original unit war diaries from the Military History Archives in Prague. Both armored units belonged to the 12.SS-Panzer Division Hitlerjugend. SS-Panzer Regiment 12 was fully equipped with Panzer IV and Panther tanks. The main AFV of SS-Panzerjäger Abteilung 12 was the Jagdpanzer IV L/48 tank destroyer. The structure of the volume is partly source publication (documents of SS-Panzer Regiment 12) and partly study (the deployment of SS-Panzerjäger Abteilung 12). The text was written and footnoted by the author based upon original wartime files in Prague that have remained almost unknown. The book starts with the story of the units' establishment and training in 1943/1944, including, for example, the shipments of equipment, orders of battle and tactical numbers of the tanks. After this introduction, a highly detailed daily chronology of the combat actions is provided, from 12.SS-Panzer Division traveling to the Caen sector to Operation Totalize and the withdrawal to the Seine River. Documents from SS-Panzer Regiment 12 presented in the book include the following: combat reports, list of knocked-out enemy tanks, German personnel and tank losses, combat orders, summary of acquired combat experiences and others. This is an impressive look at tactical-level events and command decisions, highlighting the armored combat tactics that were able to stop Montgomery's Army Group from breaking through the German lines near Caen for two months. The study includes a number of detailed maps and excellent photos. In addition, the book has benefited from the contribution of rare information, photographs and documents from the archive of noted Waffen-SS historian Mark C. Yerger.
Author: George M. Nipe Publisher: RZM Imports ISBN: 9780974838946 Category : Kursk, Battle of, Russia, 1943 Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
"A revealing and unprecedented re-analysis of the II. SS-Panzer-Korps operations during the Battle of Kursk in the summer of 1943. Makes extensive use of original German source material"--Inside cover.
Author: Hugues Wenkin Publisher: Pen and Sword Military ISBN: 1399056204 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 181
Book Description
The Peiper Kampfgruppe was the spearhead of the 6th Panzer Army. Most often mentioned for its actions on Ardennes soil, today the Gepanzerte Kampfgruppe "Peiper" remains an object of interest for its actions during the engagements between Stavelot and La Gleize, as well as the engagement of its Tiger II against the American armored units. Although the unit had exceptional crews, including some of the most emblematic aces of the Panzerwaffe, and benefited from the element of surprise, it suffered a bitter failure in the Ardennes. How could a vehicle considered to be among the most powerful of the conflict suffer almost 100 percent losses? In hindsight, can we speak of a tactical failure? This study, carried out by a duo of Ardennes authors experienced in this episode of the Second World War, meets the dual objective of reconstructing the facts and explaining why, in the end, the Tiger tank battalion N°501 (schwere SS-Panzer Abteilung 501) was able to survive the Battle of the Bulge. It includes a summary of their confrontations, a history of the unit, as well as a tank-by-tank analysis of the causes of destruction. In total, the authors found sixteen different examples, and the machines lost one by one in the Ardennes make it possible to follow the unit's course throughout the conflict.
Author: Ewald Klapdor Publisher: Stackpole Books ISBN: 0811744426 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 498
Book Description
• Classic World War II unit history of the 5th SS Panzer Regiment, part of the 5th SS Panzer Division "Viking" • The unique 5th SS Panzer Division was made up largely of volunteers from Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Estonia, the Netherlands, and Belgium • This regiment served on the Eastern Front from 1942 to the end of the war, including action at Kharkov and Warsaw • Draws heavily from the eyewitness testimonies of the 5th's members • First time in English
Author: Gregory A. Walden Publisher: Schiffer Military History ISBN: 9780764347900 Category : Ardennes, Battle of the, 1944-1945 Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
"In this book, ... Walden provides the most detailed look at the actions of a single German battalion in the Battle of the Bulge.
Author: Leo Kessler
Author: Dieter Stenger
Author: Yves Buffetaut
Author: Max Hastings
Author: Norbert Számvéber
Author: George M. Nipe
Author: Hugues Wenkin
Author: Ewald Klapdor
Author: Gregory A. Walden
Author: RZM Imports, Incorporated