Customer Reviews

Chronicle of the 7. Panzer-kompanie 1. SS-Panzer Division Leibstandarte:

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(3)
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2 star:		(1)
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A group of veterans of the 7th Panzer company of the Leibstandarte recently commemorated the 50-year anniversary of their company's formation by writting this book. That so many veterans would still come together to work on the project at this late date speaks well of their comraderie. This book is primarily written from the small-unit perspective, with an extensive collection of 1-page quotations of individual veterans' recollections of events they experienced. Training, combat, and recreational time are all covered. Postwar captivity is also discussed, including a statement from one veteran who was convicted in the Malmedy incident. The most unusual aspect of this book is that it contains the only reference I have ever seen to German women serving in combat. It also mentions the surprising fate of the Horsch company that made so many vehicles for the German military. An appendix lists the soldiers of the 7th company who died in battle, and where they are buried. Many Germans still visit the graves of their loved ones and leave flowers 50+ years after their death in the war.

I found this to be a very good piece on life in a small unit from its beginning through the end of the war. The reason is that it goes beyond the shoot em up action and adventure stories, and gives the reader a glimpse into the daily routines of a small unit, in this case a tank company. As any good tank soldier knows, exponentially more time is spent in maintenance than in action. Additonally, the book also gives some insight into some of the challenges the German Army faced in massing combat power at critical junctures. It also explodes some myths about tank strength in critical actions, like the Ardennes. German operational readiness rates hovered around 50% +/- depending on the type of tank. That means on any given day, you could only plan on having about half of your combat power available. US rates, in comparison, were closer to 80%. Hard to fight and win outnumbered and with half your force under repair at any given time. It is also interesting the times when maintenance collection points and reconstitution areas suddenly find themselves in the thick of the fight, both with and without panzers.

This company also participated in some of the more famous actions the Leibstandarte participated in, these include Kharkov, Kursk, Kamenets-Podolsk, Normandy, Mortain, the Ardennes and finally Hungary/Autria.

Now the down side. The book could use some serious editing by someone who understands military terminology. One example I found terribly annoying is "concern" which is mistranslated from Kaserne, or a barracks in Germany. There are numerous other examples. This seems to be a problem with many books published by Schiffer.

I liked the book and would recommend it. It is probably one of the best pieces on Kampfgruppe Peiper available, in fact, one of the members of 7th Company was the prime suspect in the shooting of Ameerican prisoners. It doesn't get five stars because of the poor editing.

I enjoyed this book overall as I generally prefer first-hand-account oriented versions of history. The format of the book flows pretty well, though at times I got the feeling much of the "story" was missing. There isn't very much in the way of detail in terms of what the overall Company was up to or encountering at times, but more just brief snap-shots of events told in the first-person, with a generalized narration alongside. Still, the personal accounts are interesting and get better in my opinion as the book goes on, and I found myself breezing through the pages quite quickly after the first 30 pages or so.

My primary complaint here, however, is the dreadful proofreading of this book! There are simply errors everywhere - spelling, grammar, verb-tense and even incorrect dates(much of the book is in "diary" format and I found at least one occasion where the month listed was obviously wrong as it didn't fit into the chronology whatsoever.) I don't know if this is caused by translation issues at times or what(though that doesn't explain various spelling errors)but I found it very distracting. Perhaps this is a minor issue to some, though.

The photos are nice and the appendices serve as a fine tribute to the fallen and contain various reproductions of documents, etc.

All in all, a good read - but perhaps a somewhat limited one if you were looking for a broader picture of the LAH, etc.

This book was a great disapointment. After reading Don Burgett's harrowing personal account of American paratroops at Bastogne in "Seven Roads to Hell", I had hoped to get a German soldier's view of the fighting, and particularly the German view of the fighting qualities of the American troops they faced, for comparison. However, this book, unlike that of Burgett and other American soldiers, does not contain vivid or even interesting personal accounts of what these panzer troops went through--only occasional references to the overwelming numbers of Russians and the ferocious artillery bombardments they were subjected to on the Russian front. Very few personal details about the Bulge and the fighting at Bastogne, but there is one account of how the panzers stumbled upon the bodies of about 50-80 Germans who'd been ambushed by Americans concealed in surrounding woods, as if this sort of thing wasn't done by the Germans. The book mostly excerpts from dry and uninspired German Army logs and/or his or his comrades diaries. Maps, in german, while authentic, are in very small print and are very difficult to figure out. However, the listing at the end of the German dead does remind you that they too suffered losses. While he laments the loss of his comrades, Tiemann expresses not a single word of reflection on, or remorse for, the death, destruction and devastation he and his comrades visited on millions of people around the world, particularly in Europe and Russia.