Customer Reviews

DAY OF THE PANZER: A Story of American Heroism and Sacrifice in Southern France

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In The Day of the Panzer, amateur historian Jeff Danby has written one of the best company-level accounts of the Second World War to appear in recent years. Although the author had a personal interest in writing this account - his grandfather was killed in action during the fighting described - he does not cloud the narrative with useless emotion and he brings a very solid research effort to bear on the topic. The result is a narrative that is balanced, objective and interesting - far-surpassing Stephen Ambrose's back-biting Band of Brothers concoction. In this account, Danby focuses on the 3rd Infantry Division during the invasion of southern France (Operation Anvil-Dragoon) in 15-27 August 1944. Although describing a rarely-mentioned campaign in some detail, the author's primary interest is in describing the activities of L Company, 3-15th Infantry and its attached tanks from B Company/756th Tank Battalion. Overall, this is a very well-written piece of tactical history and a pleasant surprise.

The Day of the Panzer consists of fifteen chapters, beginning with the composition of L Company and its earlier combat at Anzio, the amphibious landings in southern France and march toward the Rhone valley and then culminating in the action at Allan on 27 August. The author provides a postscript which describes the post-war lives of most of the participants, an appendix which provides a complete L Company roster (with information on combat awards and casualties), a glossary and some very nice pictographic charts on the MTOE of U.S. infantry and tank units. The notes and bibliographical sections indicate that the author did an immense amount of research for this work, including reviewing most of the relevant official U.S. records at NARA. Unlike Ambrose, who interviewed only a handful of members of E-506 PIR for Band of Brothers, Danby interviewed a very large amount of U.S. veterans as well as French citizens of the town of Allan, which provides far more credibility. The book is supplemented by 13 excellent maps, including one 3-D one of the action around Allan, that make it very easy for the reader to follow the narrative. The book also has 43 original B/W photos that depict L Company in France.

For the past sixty years, the Allied landings in southern France have generally been over-shadowed in post-war historiography and the popular imagination by the D-Day landings in Normandy. When considered, operations in southern France were often derided as `the champagne campaign' and left at that. Danby does a great service both to the veterans themselves and U.S. Military history by personalizing a campaign that had some very hard-fought moments. Unlike the D-Day landings, the three U.S. divisions that landed in southern France on 15 August 1944 did not face heavy German resistance and the author notes that L Company moved inland more rapidly than expected. Indeed, the first week of the invasion was more like a pursuit for the U.S. infantry units, as most of the German troops withdrew northward up the Rhone valley back toward Germany.

The drama in the narrative is provided when the 3rd Infantry Division's pursuit comes to a near halt due to severe fuel shortages and the decision was made to send a small task force to try and catch up to the Germans and interdict their single escape route until the rest of the American forces could arrive. Thus, L Company and two Sherman tanks of the 756th Tank Battalion and a few other vehicles were sent off in hot pursuit. Unfortunately, they bumped into a German headquarters in the town of Allan and quickly found themselves in a hornets nest, with a number of U.S. soldiers captured. L Company managed to secure the town but a German counterattack, led by a single Panther tank, inflicted significant losses (including the author's grandfather) and the Americans were soon surrounded. What followed was a tense, close-quarter action that the author describes in great detail.

There are several interesting points that this book brings out. First, German small-arms accuracy was much poorer than American infantry; oftentimes, German soldiers missed close-range shots while it was not unusual for American riflemen to pick off Germans at 100-200 yards. Second, although the Sherman tank was inferior to the Panther in most respects, it was not as helpless as is sometimes depicted. The author describes how one Sherman spotted a Panther in ambush and then deliberately went about taking it out. Third, the much-maligned U.S. infantry of WW2, often depicted as unmotivated draftees, could perform quite well on the battlefield. It is particularly surprising to read about two separate actions where privates took on several German machinegun positions and prevailed. Much of this was testament to General Truscott's superior training in the 3rd Infantry Division, but there is little doubt that the U.S. infantry was both aggressive and skillful.

I particularly liked the emphasis on tank-infantry cooperation in this book, which is rare in many tactical accounts. Young officers graduating from the Armor Officer's Basic Course today should read the story of 1LT Edgar Danby's one-day in combat as a platoon leader as a valuable cautionary tale. Although most of the American officers involved in this action end up as casualties - sometimes as the result of bad judgment - there is no rancor in this narrative. The only point where I question the author's evaluation is in regard to Captain Coles, the L Company commander. Coles was an OCS hothead who repeatedly struck enlisted soldiers at a time when General Patton was on the verge of being relieved for the same offense. The author sees Coles as a good combat leader, but I would question the leadership abilities of someone who was constantly beating up his subordinates. You don't lead men with your fists. Otherwise, this is a great piece of historical research and a worthy read both for the specialist and the general public.

I bought this book with some hesitation because I felt the title sounded like a "B grade" movie. My fears were totally unfounded because the book was excellent. The author follows a small group of soldiers during a relatively short period of time during the campaign in Southern France. In the early parts of the book he does a good job quickly and clearly putting the campaign, and the battle that will become the later focus of the book, into their historical context. He also introduces the soldiers and civilians who will be the main characters in the story. He has a real gift for bringing the characters to life. He deftly describes their pre-war backgrounds, World War II experiences, and the jobs that they are expected to perform in the upcoming battle. Once the table has been set he gives a detailed acount of the battle in and around the village of Allan. He describes the battle in such a way that you can follow what happened at the same time that you can appreciate the confusion that the soldiers must have felt. His description of the destruction of the tank in which his own grandfather was killed was stunning. It happens so suddenly that I had to re-read the passage to be sure of what I had read. I think this reflects how the people who experienced the events must have felt. Anyone who is a student of WW II will enjoy this book.

Day of the Panzer is unlike any other WWII book I have read, and I have read hundreds. In a nutshell, it explores the invasion of Southern France after D-Day, and the thrust inland, following (more or less) a few select unit and individuals as they drive fatefully toward their destiny in the small farming town of Allan, where veteran German infantry and a Panther tank await them.

The result is a focused, tightly wound series of chapters about the battle that erupts there. The author follows the men (and many locals) on their experiences, which includes grenade attacks, tank-to-tank battles, POW issues, executions, and heroics you have never heard of before. If you enjoy small-unit tactics--think Band of Brothers in Carentan, Episode 3--you will love Day of the Panzer.

This book also includes wonderful photos you have never seen, and great original maps--and a cool original drawing by the author of a German Panther. Buy and read this book. You will not be disappointed.

(By way of disclaimer, I read the initial manuscript and helped provide guidance and developmental editing for the author. I have never met Jeff Danby, and do not profit from the sale of this book. tps)

Jeff Danby has done a masterful job of story telling. His book revolves around a small-unit action--essentially an American rifle company and a handful of Shermans and M10 tank destroyers--that lasted but a day and a night. Danby creates believable portraits of his real-life heroes, and weaves together the tales of the American, German, and French participants as they all plunge unknowingly toward the moment they came together in Allan, France. His prose is evocative, and once the action begins, absorbing. This is a great book!

very well written and enjoyable book.ready for the authors next!you will not be disappointed.similar to the ambrose style in that he does an excellent job giving the "big" picture as well as making you feel like you were in the foxhole with the infantry but reads more fluid than ambrose. jeff danby is sure to be a name familiare to all of our bookshelves.

This is an interesting book built around a rather unknown campaign from World War II, and an interesting incident during that campaign. After D-Day, the U.S. and their Allies invaded southern France in August 1944. The ensuing campaign has been derided as the "Champagne Campaign" by historians and observers. While the campaign didn't see the grinding attrition battles that took place in Normandy--the invasion itself was virtually unopposed, and the Germans were essentially withdrawing because of the breakout in Normandy--there was some serious fighting, and the author focuses on one such action, in which his grandfather, a tank platoon commander, was killed.

The battle took place during the pursuit north from the beachheads towards the southern portion of the French border with Germany. German troops were retreating along a main supply route north, and part of the 3rd Infantry Division, with attached armored units, tried to capture a village near the line of march with the intention of setting up a base of fire onto the main road. However, the Americans inadvertently chose a village occupied by a German Corps HQ, and those Germans defended the position rather stoutly to avoid capture. The resulting battle killed a number of Americans, including the tank platoon commander (author Danby's grandfather) and cut off some others, resulting in their capture. Eventually, the Americans drove the Germans out of the village, and continued with their pursuit of them north towards their homeland.

I enjoyed this book pretty well. I thought at times it was a bit over-written, the prose getting a bit purple in places, and it occasionally has an amateurish quality to it, as when there's an anecdote about a guy who served with the unit but doesn't appear in the narrative who was killed after the war, driving home from his discharge. The book also has a lot of build-up to its one chapter that deals with the actual battle, which is only about 20 pages in length. Definitely recommended for World War II buffs.

This is a really well researched book about a small tank-infantry unit's advance with Patton's Army up Southern France.

I don't have much to add to the general praise for this book. I did want to comment on the story and the various reviews that others have written for this book - the story is much more complex than others have described, and I got a distinctly different take on the tale than several reviewers did.

The Germans were in the midst of what can best be described as a fighting retreat at the time the author's grandfather entered the town of Allan. Leaving one Panther tank and one Marder assault gun behind in town as a rear guard could hardly do much more than slow down the U.S. Army's advance. The engagement was not some sort of major German assault against a U.S. Army small unit, which is what the Amazon blurb about this book would seem to indicate.

The key story point of this book for me was that the author makes it clear that his grandfather, Lt. Danby, fresh from his job as a tank crew training instructor, and eager to get into combat, simply did not have the real-life tank experience to not get himself and his crew killed in his first ever major combat engagement. Lt. Danby was advised by the other tank commander with him not to drive straight into town, but as this guy was a non-com and junior in rank, Danby brusquely chose to ignore this advice.

There was no "rampaging Panther" in this engagement as described in the Amazon review. All that happened was that Lt. Danby drove his tank straight into an ambush, pure and simple. In hindsight, it was pretty obvious that the Germans might have the approaches to the town covered with anti-tank weapons. And so it was the stupidest thing any tank commander could have done to drive in without scouting these approaches first, and doing so got him and two other crew members killed.

The author also states that nobody even clearly saw which of the two German AFV's in town fired the fatal shot, that about half the witnesses thought it was the Marder, and half thought it was the Panther. In his reconstruction of the story, most of the witnesses could not even clearly identify the German tank as a Panther, only that it was a "big German tank", with most thinking it was a Tiger tank (the author figured out that it was a Panther from other military records). In any case, neither German AFV had enough infantry or other support to be viable for long against the much larger U.S. force, and both were knocked out shortly.

In combat, size matters, getting the first shot matters, and good judgement matters. Throughout this engagement, small groups of soldiers from both sides would run into larger or better armed units and get wiped out or captured. That was the nature of the sort of chaotic small-unit engagements that characterized much of the battle for France.

As far as combat tactics with an M4 Sherman goes, you can learn a lot about the quirks of the M4 by reading Dmitriy Loza's "Commanding the Red Army's Sherman Tanks". Loza knew well enough never to drive his tank around a corner or into any new place without first scouting ahead, sometimes getting out on foot himself to do so if he didn't have infantry with him. German anti-tank weapons by 1944 had developed to the point that they could knock out almost any tank, and the M4's thin armor provided little protection against an ambush.

All in all, a superbly written book, and a terrific read. I just seem to have read a somewhat different book than some of the other reviewers.

THE DAY OF THE PANZER is an excellent account of the invasion of Southern France in 1944. As the author points out, this operation, which was key to the liberation of France, is often overlooked. More accounts have been written about the Normandy invasion and the subsequent breakout.

Jeff Danby is able to give the reader the "big picture" about the invasion and at the same time, describe the actions of several company level units within the 3rd Infantry Division. Historians often refer to this as the "Champagne Campaign"; but the book dispels this myth and points out the many casualties suffered by U.S. forces.

Jeff Danby combines a great narrative with excellent supportive materials (maps, pictures, tables of organization, etc.) in this book. Once I started reading it, I could not put it down.

I highly recommend this book for WWII aficionados.

Having read over 80 WWWII personal narratives I was hesitant to buy this book as it was written by the grandson of one of the participants in this lightly chronicled campaign of the war. I expected it to be full of tidbits and generalities of stateside training, life on the front taken from letters sent home, effusive praise of the grandfather, and a segment of the European invasion that was not very interesting. It was just the opposite. He takes you through the individual life/death decisions the soldiers made. You will know where everyone is on the battlefield, what they were thinking, and what they did in the heat of battle. There were many heroes in this book. His grandfather was just one of them. A very well written book and and a fascinating story.

The Second World War was filled with big battles, all of which have received some sort of literary and/or celluloid treatment. However, there were thousands of little battles as well, many of which are mere footnotes to what went on in a larger campaign. The author was trying to find out how his grandfather died in the war, and in the course of his research he came across a story which he felt compelled to tell. It's the story of a few small units and the combat they faced during the invasion of Southern France in 1944.

This invasion has never gotten the literary coverage of the Normandy invasion, but it was important in the grand Allied scheme of winning the war. While the book doesn't present a complete "big picture" view of the invasion, it does provide a nice little snapshot of what a few small units went through. The narrative flows really well and is filled with various recollections of some of the men involved. If small unit actions are what you like, this will be a book you'll enjoy