Steel Inferno: I SS Panzer Corps In Normandy [ILLUSTRATED] (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "The origin of the I SS Panzer Corps Leibstandarte (Bodyguard) lay in the Headquarters Guard formed at the beginning of 1933 to supplement Adolf Hitler's..." (more)
Key Phrases: armoured reconnaissance regiment, armoured brigade, armoured regiment, Kurt Meyer, Panzer Lehr, Panzer-Grenadier Regiment (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A great read. . . . belongs on the book shelves of the Armor Force." -- Armor

"First rate . . . makes it terrifyingly clear just what a gamble the invasion was." -- Publishers Weekly

Product Description

The classic work on the enemy side of Normandy--not the surprise invasion of the beaches, but the following weeks when German panzer divisions began arriving to throw the Allies back into the sea. Focuses on 1st SS Panzer Division and its "offspring," 12th SS Panzer, aka the Hitler Youth. A main selection of the Military Book Clubs in the US, the UK and Australia.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 314 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press; illustrated edition edition (July 21, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1885119445
• ISBN-13: 978-1885119445
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,065,643 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Balanced Review of the Fighting in Normandy, April 21, 2006

By	R. E. Jett (Florida) - See all my reviews

This book provides the most balanced and detailed review of the fighting in Normandy that I have ever read. Other books about the same subject from both German and British viewpoints often contain bias and foggy memory. The British are particulary famous for re-writing historical defeats as victories. That is why we have the "Miracle at Dunkirk" instead of the disaster in France and why Montgomery's failed initial attack in Normandy became a "holding action" with failure blamed on the Americans. Montgomery even tried to claim the disastrous "Market Garden" operation was a glorious success! This seems to be the official opinion at Sandhurst.

On the other hand, many German commanders fought in multiple theaters without significant pause and went through the trauma of American war crimes trials or endured horrible conditions in Russian prisons. They could not write anything down in prison. Years later, they tried to remember what happened in 1944 without implicating themselves in any wrongdoing. The solution? Blame Hitler for defeats and skip over details that may seem inglorius.

This book is excellently organized and includes detailed descriptions of the fighting in Normandy 1944. It is refreshingly balanced. The allies won because they had an overwhelming advantage in air power and artillery. This is a lesson that America learned well, but the Birtish still don't seem to understand. (Someone needs to write a book about this.) In hand to hand fighting, when air power and artillery could not be used, the Allies often were stopped despite a huge disparity in the number of Allied attackers versus German defenders. Many Brittish commanders made poor decisions based on rigid tactics, poor planning, and overconfidence. Germans were unable to deal with air interdiction and could not concentrate by moving into defensive positions. Rommel understood the air power threat, but von Rundstedt, Dollman, and others clearly did not. Use this book to put all the other books about Normandy into perspective.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Well Researched & Presented Account of the 1SS Panzer Corps, August 24, 1998

By A Customer

Once again Michael Reynolds has produced a very fine book full of detail and interesting narrative from the participants. The book covers the campaign and battles conducted by the 1SS Panzer Corps in Normandy during 1944. This unit was made up of the experienced veterans of the 1SS and the young men/boys of the 12SS and it gave a good account of itself fighting against the Allies in and around Caen and the bocage & hedgerows. Overall this is a very well researched and presented book with lots of detail which should please anybody who has an interest in the Normandy campaign or the Waffen SS (the author also covers the war-crimes committed by both sides).

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Get this map, June 19, 2008

By	kkollwitz - See all my reviews

Rather than posting a review, I'm writing to make readers of Steel Inferno aware of an indispensable map which will make the book more intelligible. It's the Michelin Battle of Normandy Map No.102, which is available at Amazon. It has all those tiny hamlets which figure on every page of the book. It makes the narrative much easier to follow, since the book's maps are pretty inadequate.