Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

It would be hard not to repeat what was written before by the previous three reviewers. I think they all hit it right on the money. Tom Jentz followed up his previous volume on this subject by finishing it on to the bitter end of the Third Reich. The book shows the continual development, evolution and usage of the Panzer units as they fought on against greater odds and worsting field positions. New panzers with their inherited problems caused considerable hiccups along the line but overall, the book revealed in all clarity, how the Germans developed their panzer units. Using after action reports and selective units, the author is able to traced the unit structure of several individual units.

There is host of detail information inside this book that will hold a mother lode of happiness to anyone who is interested in this subject matter. However, I must used the word of caution since this book was primary geared for readers who are already well read and well schooled in this subject matter. Any novice readers will definitely find this book bit over their heads. All the charts are all done in German style with a lot of German words inserted here and there. On the other hand, there are host of interesting photographs to look at.

Overall, this book comes highly recommended for anyone who wishes to advance their knowledge on the subject matter as long as its understood that material can get pretty dense if you are not familiar with the subject.

The detail available in the books by Thomas Jentz is superb. When you read his after action repots, both by Germans and Allied troops you realize how many authors are lying or just rehashing American and British propaganda from the war. If you want the truth about German WWII armored vehicles throw everything else away and by all of the books by Jentz.

This is volume 2 of Thomas Jentz's examination of the development and evolution of the German Tank Force in WW2. The author spent over 30 years reading original German source material, taking excerpts from after action reports to show the reader unit formations, how they were organized, tactics used, strengths of these units before/after battles.

As in the first volume, there are charts, maps, statistics, details of how the German armor gradually switched from the offensive mode to defense and how they managed to overcome overwhelming odds, bombing, limited supplies and manpower for so long. Although these two books are not reviews of specific tanks performance, the Appendix has technical specifications on every German, US, British and Russian tank used in the latter portion of the war. The strength of the book lie in the reports filed by the various units during the war. Here you can see what those at the front experienced. The reports reveal the strengths and weaknesses of each tank, tactics and the ability of the enemy to influence the battle.

The book is high quality glossy paper, excellent B&W photos and the material is superb. For any serious reader of armor, especially German armor, this book is a must have. I would give each of these volumes 10 out of 10 stars.

Like the first part, this second part is an excellent book of the German Panzertroops. Since it is based on wartime reports there is much less afterthought than in most war books based on memories. For example, it includes English translations of comments general-colonel Guderian made during the war, from German records. Did you know that during the battle of Kursk many Panther tanks were lost for enemy flank fire, not just for mechanical breakdowns? This book tells many interesting things to war history enthusiasts.