Reddit reviews Achtung - Panzer! (Cassell Military Classics)

Tanks are literally my favorite things to talk about, so I feel like weve got a good pair going on.

A good book on the general history of armored warfare is

Camp Colt to Desert Storm, which is a collection of essays detail the development of tanks in the United States from 1917 to today.

If you want to understand how tanks changed the battlefield, I would really recommend Heinz Guderian's Achtung, Panzer! which details the use of tanks in World War One, and how Guderian felt they should develop on the verge of World War Two. Its an extremely influential book, and a primary source!

There are a number of books which focus on generally technology and tactics which can get really obtuse, not for a general reader. Rather, to see how tanks were used in combat, and to see how technology affected warfare, I would suggest you examine several campaigns and battles, including the battle of Amiens, Cambrai, France 1940, Kursk, Lake Balaton, Operation Cobra, and Desert Storm. If you compare those engagements (especially Desert Storm or the Fall of France) to engagements fought during World War One, such as the Marne, Somme, and Verdun, you can see how automotive technology radically altered the battlefield.

A good general summary of one of those campaigns would be Russell Weigley's Eisenhower's Lieutenants which explores the American campaign in Normandy. Examine closely the early stages of the campaign and the later breakout from Normandy to see the real advantage of mobile, tank heavy forces.

Also, if you have any technological questions Id be happy to answer them.

This is THE book on WW2-era tank warfare, written by Heinz Guderian

This sort of thing is going to have some pretty big variations depending on the country in question, and even the individual commanders too.

For Germany, you might try reading "Achtung, Panzer!" by Heinz Guderian, which was his book about armored warfare.

It would also help to learn what kind of forces exactly make up a Division, so that you can gain an insight into how they would be used, and what the Division itself is capable of.

Channels like "Military History Visualized" are pretty good for gaining an overview of such information.

Here's his video on the Panzergrenadier Division.

Here's his video on the German tank Division.

Soviet Red Army Tank Division

US Army Tank Division


Of course these are brief, but I hope you find them interesting!

http://www.amazon.com/Achtung-Panzer-Cassell-Military-Classics/dp/0304352853

Still active in the education of US tank troops...so it seems it was kind of reversed.

I checked em out...

["The Military Revolution" ]
(http://www.amazon.com/Military-Revolution-Innovation-Rise-1500-1800/dp/0521479584/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1396059549&sr=1-4&keywords=Geoffrey+Parker)
by
[Geoffrey Parker]
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Parker_(historian))

["Battles of the 30 years war"]
(http://www.amazon.com/Battles-Thirty-Years-War-Contributions/dp/0313320284/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1396059822&sr=1-1&keywords=battles+of+the+30+years+wars)
by
[William Guthrie]
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Guthrie_(historian))

["Warfare in the 17th century"]
(http://www.amazon.com/Warfare-Seventeenth-Century-Smithsonian-History/dp/006089170X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1396060084&sr=1-1&keywords=Warfare+in+the+17th+century)
by
[John Childs]
(http://www.worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n82-90965/)

["History of the art of war"]
(http://www.amazon.com/Medieval-Warfare-History-Art-War/dp/0803265859/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1396066515&sr=1-1&keywords=History+of+the+art+of+war)
by
[Hans Delbruck]
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Delbruck)

["Infantry Attacks"]
(http://www.amazon.com/Infantry-Attacks-Marshall-Erwin-Rommel/dp/1607963353/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1396066713&sr=1-1&keywords=Infantry+Attacks)
by
[Erwin Rommel]
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erwin_Rommel)

["Achtung Panzer"]
(http://www.amazon.com/Achtung-Panzer-Cassell-Military-Classics/dp/0304352853/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1396066882&sr=1-1&keywords=Achtung+Panzer)
by
[Heinz Guderian]
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinz_Guderian)

I am not sure why everyone thinks Rommel was the greatest German general. He is often touted as such, because he is the one US and UK had to fight - and he was good, but the best? Hardly. Hitler's main goal in 1941 was defeating USSR. Africa was very, very, very far down the priority list. Why then Rommel was in Africa? Second of all, the masterminds behind Blitzkrieg are these guys:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erich_von_Manstein

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinz_Guderian

Rommel was a brilliant tactic, that's all. Strategy was developed by people like von Bock, von Kleist, etc.

I highly recommend this book btw:

http://www.amazon.com/Achtung-Panzer-Cassell-Military-Classics/dp/0304352853/ref=la_B001ITYGCU_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407667545&sr=1-2

For a more tactical point of view you have Heinz Guderian's treatise on armored warfare; Achtung - Panzer! In it, he crafts the very tactics that were employed in the war.

Panzer Commander: The Memoirs of Colonel Hans von Luck is also quite good and may be more what you're looking for. Hans von Luck was a commander in Rommel's Panzer divisions at many points in the war including El Alamein, during D-Day, and on the eastern front.

Read about the Soviet T-34 tank. It was the most deadly tank of WWII and practically won the war on its own.

German generals were in complete shock during its introduction on the Eastern Front. You can read some of their thoughts in various books:

https://www.amazon.com/Achtung-Panzer-Cassell-Military-Classics/dp/0304352853

"We had nothing comparable", Major-General F.W. Mellenthin, Chief of Staff of XLVIII Panzer Corps.

"The finest tank in the world", Field-Marshal Ewald von Kleist, First Panzer Army.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVg6gFmuRlE

Learn some history.