Panzertruppen 2: The Complete Guide to the Creation & Combat Employment of Germany's Tank Force ¥ 1943-1945/Formations ¥ Organizations ¥ Tactics Combat Reports ¥ Unit Strengths ¥ Statistics [Hardcover]

Thomas L. Jentz (Author), types of Panzers (Editor), and tactics. (Editor), This companion volume presents how the Panzertruppen fought during their defensive struggle with details on the units (Editor), organizations (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2000

This companion volume presents how the Panzertruppen fought during their defensive struggle with details on the units, organizations, types of Panzers, and tactics.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

This companion volume presents how the Panzertruppen fought during their defensive struggle with details on the units, organizations, types of Panzers, and tactics.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Schiffer Publishing, Ltd.; First edition (January 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764300806
• ISBN-13: 978-0764300806
• Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 8.8 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #235,161 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Primary Source Material, May 7, 1999

By 

J. Collins (Las Vegas, NV USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Panzertruppen 2: The Complete Guide to the Creation & Combat Employment of Germany's Tank Force ¥ 1943-1945/Formations ¥ Organizations ¥ Tactics Combat Reports ¥ Unit Strengths ¥ Statistics (Hardcover)

This book uses after-action reports, and war diary entries to describe German armored operations. The material has an immediacy that one just can't find in other, excellent, works of the same subject. As an example, if you want to know what crews really thought of the Panther and Tiger, not what post-war technical analyses say, this is the series for you. You can also follow the evolution of tactics as German and Allied tank and anti-tank weapons evolve throughout the war. As a previous review said, this series assumes a certain familiarity with German WWII military terms and ranks-probably not for the general enthusiast.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unique look into the combat story of the Panzertruppe, December 16, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Panzertruppen 2: The Complete Guide to the Creation & Combat Employment of Germany's Tank Force ¥ 1943-1945/Formations ¥ Organizations ¥ Tactics Combat Reports ¥ Unit Strengths ¥ Statistics (Hardcover)

Based on German WWII documents Tom Jentz gives the reader a rare look into the organization and combat tactics of German armoured formations in the 1943-1945 period. The tactics of platoon, company and battalion sized units are told by extensive quotes from wardiaries and battle reports. There are statistics on tank-availability in many individual units as well as numerous TO&Es. The book does not cover every unit in every theater of war, but uses examples to tell the story of small unit tank-combat in WWII. All in all it is 300 pages packed with info not available in any other book on the subject. As the author used many WWII German military terms, a certain familiarity with these could be helpfull to the reader.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent reference, August 4, 2004

By 

Michael Licari (Cedar Falls, IA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Panzertruppen 2: The Complete Guide to the Creation & Combat Employment of Germany's Tank Force ¥ 1943-1945/Formations ¥ Organizations ¥ Tactics Combat Reports ¥ Unit Strengths ¥ Statistics (Hardcover)

This book, along with volume one which covers pre-war development and early war employment of the Panzer divisions, is an excellent reference. Any information you need about German armored divisions from 1943-1945 is likely here. I can not recommend it highly enough.

Jentz picks up in this volume where he left off in the previous book. He provides a wealth of information on force structures (including how platoons, companies, battalions, staff companies, etc.) were organized. All of this is presented in tables and figures for easy reference. Each reorganizaton is accompanied by the translated order which created the change. As in the first volume, Jentz provides unit strengths, as well as listing tank types, for each division at the start of a new operation (or at the end of one).

Also included are numerous translated after-action reports, which reveal a great deal about German armored tactics and the performance of their tanks in the field. These are fascinating, and are not available anywhere else. One final table in particularly interesting: it presents the number of tanks available to each division at the end of the war. Many panzer "divisions" had only a platoon's worth of tanks left.

The end of the book presents a variety of data in a set of appendices. This includes charts showing monthly data on the on-hand strength of each tank type as well as comparative technical data for German and Allied late-war tanks.

Also strongly recommended is volume I of the set; with both, you have a comprehensive set of information on the Panzer divisions in World War II. I constantly refer to both of them, so much that they are usually out on my desk rather than back on the shelf.