Customer Reviews

Panzer Aces I: German Tank Commanders of WWII (Stackpole Military History Series)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I enjoyed this book quite a bit--it has loads of heavy tank fighting, mainly on the Eastern front. The book is full of accounts of chatter in the turret and between tank commanders and actually reads more like a novel than a traditional military history or even a personal memoir. Lots of suspenseful tank-on-tank actions.

Which leads to a few things I didn't like about the book: at least in the version of the book that I read, the author does not explain anything about the sources of his dialogs and personal accounts. Given the very detailed conversations and other personal actions described in the book, presumably the author would have had to interview the participants soon after the actual events to get an accurate recollection of such things. Or maybe the conversations and recollections are "reconstructed" (ie, made-up). Ultimately, I guess it doesn't matter that much if you read the book purely for its entertainment value.

Another thing I didn't like--the panzer battles start sounding very similar after a while: if I had a nickle for every time the author described one of the panzer aces hitting a T-34 "between the hull and the turret, causing the turret to be blown from the tank" I would be a rich man. Maybe that is where the panzer aces hit all of their targets, but it definitely gave me a sense of deja vu. Also, the focus of the book is more on describing what the crew is saying and doing rather than what the platoon and company are doing, so there is not much to pick up on small unit tactics from this book.

Overall a fun and interesting read but if you want to read something that would teach you more about tank combat, I recommend reading "Tigers in the Mud" instead.

While some reviewers have gripped that this book doesn't cite sources and doesn't have alot of maps and lacks strategic prospective I think they are missing the point. This book pulls together good stories about men who, with the exception of Michael Wittmann whose own book is very hard to find, are unknown in the West. The author has done a good job of showing readers what the experiences of these men were like. The book is interesting for the section on the greatest tank commander of all time Wittmann alone as most authors only see fit to include a few pages about him here and there. Also two of the sections deal with Kursk which was the largest tank battle in history and has been ignored by many so-called historians who prefer to disect the battles in France.

This is an exciting and well written book that I have read twice. It chronicles the rise and fall of the German Panzertruppe through the personal experiences of six of its finest leaders. Beginning early in the war, using largely inferior equipment but having great esprit de corps (the French would hate that) and brilliant tactics and initiative, with the great victories in Poland, France and the first two years in Russia and then through the last two years of the war- using the best equipment but hamstrung by inadequate numbers and inane strategies resulting in a series of continued localized tactical victories and theatre wide strategic defeats, this book presents an on the field view we rarely have gotten from other writers.
Using actual diaries and first hand journals Kurowski recreates the actual battlefield experiences of these men as they progressed through the war. This is first-hand tactical experience made real on the written page! Really well done. I found this book riveting.
Paul Carrel, in two books, "Hitler Moves East" & "Scorched Earth" captures much of the same on an operational level, and I recommend these books highly as well.

As with many books of this particular genre, the subject matter is very interestingng, but suffers from translation. The six men, the "Aces", are well profiled and seem to become real people.

In regards to the lack of "technical details", most readers of this very specialized type of biography/memoir/military history, can easily find the necessary information eleswhere. This book focuses on the MEN and not the equuipment.

Overall a very good effort. A few maps would have helped understand the overall strategic situation, better, but still entertaining. Four stars reflect the translational problems, since German is dificult to translate into "literary" and readable English.

I have this book and just finished reading it for the 2nd time. Along with "Forgotten Soldier" by Guy Sajer this is my favorite war books. The blow-by-blow accounts of tank warfare on the Russian Front will leave you litterally in awe of what those "panzer aces" lived through. I super highly recommend this book. Get it and you won't be able to put it down until you are done!

This book is excellent. Originally bought in trade paperback but the new version with large print is fantastic (much easier on the eyes when reading) and excellent priced. The hardback edition cost over $40 in England. The research and personal accounts of the Knight's Cross winners is truly amazing. It is amazing how some of them managed to survive the many years of total war and fighting outnumbered. There are good tactics and lessons to be learned from these accounts.

The book depicts the battles in very vivid detail. Each account is often desperate where one can feel the adrenaline rushing through each engagement. Some history books give a good overview of a battle or a campaign. The books written by Franz Kurowski describe the first person accounts an details of these battles and campaigns.

Highly recommended reading for those in the military.

I love WWII history, and being a former tanker myself, must have respect for these men and what they went through, but this book was just not enjoyable. Its incredibly repetative and quite absent of any sort of emotion. Really, its pretty boring. Go take a look at it in Barnes and Noble or whatever you have near you, and if you don't grow tired of hearing about T34 turrets being dislodged page after page, then order it online. Or support your bookstore. If you are looking for more interesting ground combat stories, I highly recommend Sniper on the Eastern Front, Black Eidelweiss, and pretty much any Ambrose or Ryan book. These seem quite likely to have been written in German, probably for progaganda use, and translated poorly over into English. I would love to say it was fantastic, but I grew bored with the writing style and lack of detail.

I found this book interesting, but it sure could use some maps! It is hard to follow the flow of the text without them.

very fun to read! i dont even read books too often, but this type of format keeps you hanging on.

In the modern age, our generation seems content with the myth that the germans were easy to beat once the Americans arrived after the battle of Stalingrad. This book is truly one of a kind in its ability to bring the truth to light, and make one question the history/Military channel and their opinions on tank warfare of world war 2. There were dull parts, however, over all the book was an on-edge thriller that kept you guessing, especially if you had no backround information on individuals such as Kurt Knispel and Hans Bolter. The Stackpole series is one of my personal favourites when it comes to German Military History.