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With the same drama and excitement as Panzer Aces, Panzer Aces II
relates the combat careers of six more decorated German Panzer
officers. Extensively researched, these gripping accounts follow
the men and their tanks across three continents into some of World
War II's bloodiest engagements. They campaigned with Rommel in the
deserts of North Africa, participated in the monumental tank battle
at Kursk, and, maneuvering only by muzzle flashes, fought
frightening small-unit contests in the dark of night. Master
tacticians and gutsy leaders, these men, including Hermann von
Oppeln-Bronikowski, Kurt Knispel, Karl Nicolussi-Leck, and others,
are legends.
Each recipient is presented in a capsule biography including dates
of birth, awarding of the various Knights Cross grades, and other
particulars to rank and career. Each is also shown in a World War
II era photograph.
With speed, violence, and deadly power, heavily armored tanks
spearheaded the German blitzkrieg that stormed across Europe in
1939. Tracks rattling and engines roaring, these lethal machines
engaged in some of the fiercest fighting of World War II, from the
beaches of Normandy and the Ardennes forest to the snow-encrusted
eastern front. In this reprint of the hugely popular book, prolific
author Franz Kurowski tells the gritty, action-packed stories of
six of the most daring and successful officers ever to command
Panzers, including Michael Wittmann, Hans Bolter, Hermann Bix, and
others. Timelines mark the milestones of each officer's career.
Each recipient is presented in a capsule biography including dates
of birth, awarding of the various Knights Cross grades, and other
particulars to rank and career. Each is also shown in a World War
II era photograph.
Each recipient is presented in a capsule biography including date
of birth, awarding of the various Knights Cross grades, and other
particulars to rank and career. Each is also shown in a World War
II era photograph.
. . . One of these events, the attempt of the Red Army to cut off
and destroy the panzer formations far advanced before Moscow, is
little known. In January 1942, when the 3rd, 4th and 22nd Soviet
Shock armies set out from the Army Group North area to the south
and attacked Kholm, Toropets, Demidov, Vitebsk and Belikie Luki, in
order to roll over the rear area services approximately 160
kilometers behind the front and the strong point-like positions and
cut off the main body of Army Group Center from its supply of
weapons and soldiers, the Eastern Campaign appeared to be lost. The
renewed major offensive of the Red Army, which began in November
1942, found these troops - hopelessly opposing massed enemy
formations - in a battle to the bitter end. This is especially
shown in Velikie Luki, where the defensive strength of 7,500 German
soldiers fought to the end paid for with their own lives. Only a
handful of soldiers escaped from this inferno. Never before has
such detail on this aspect of the Russian front campaign been
available in English. Reknowned author Franz Kurowski uses
first-person accounts, and never before published documentation to
present this, the turning point of the war in Russia.
The final stage of the Second World War, with the enemy across the
Reich's borders, saw final desperate battles for numerous
"fortified places" and blocking positions. Hitler ordered the
defense of these fortified places such as Koenigsberg and Breslau,
Wesel and Kolberg, Danzig, Posen and many others. In these isolated
bastions the war-weary German units offered desperate resistance,
offered for good purpose. This stubborn holding-on to the last
round saved hundreds of thousands of women and children, made
possible the evacuation of hospitals and the transport out of
surrounded Wehrmacht female auxiliaries. The fates of German
soldiers were realized in bunkers and caves, in tunnels and fields
of rubble. In the Hurtgenwald as in the Reichswald, during the
crossing of the Rhine between Wesel and Emmerich, in the Remagen
bridgehead, on the hill at Keppeln, in the Ruhr pocket, as well as
in the east of the Reich in the East Prussian pocket, in Pomerania,
in Silesia and in the Reich capital. Shocking scenes of apocalyptic
battle were played out wherever Hitler's last bastions held out
against the onrushing enemy, whether at the frontiers of the Reich
or inside Germany itself.
This is an authentic account of German infantry aces, common foot
soldiers who were thrust into a blazing maelstrom of bloody horror
the world had never seen. On the frozen Russian steppes, under the
scorching African desert sun, and in the final desperate battles,
they were outnumbered and outgunned and faced impossible odds. Here
are the fascinating stories of the men who stared death in the face
during some of the most brutal battles ever waged.
Following the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, Germany
was not permitted to build or operate submarines. However,
clandestine training took place on Finnish and Spanish submarines
and U-boats were still built to German designs in Dutch yards. At
the outset of the Second World War, Admiral Karl Doenitz argued for
a 300-strong U-boat fleet, since his force of fifty-seven assorted
U-boats could not materially affect British seaborne trade on their
own. In August 1939, _U-48_ left Germany, commanded by
Kapitanleutnant Herbert 'Vaddi' Schultze, to take up a waiting
position around the British coast. It scored its first success on 5
September, when it torpedoed the British freighter _Royal Sceptre_,
followed by _Winkleigh_ on 8 September. On both occasions, the
first of many, Schultze showed himself to be a notable
humanitarian: he addressed signals to Churchill giving positions of
the sinkings so that crews could be saved. By 1 August 1941,
_U-48_, the most successful U-boat of the Second World War, had
sunk fifty-six merchant ships, of 322,478 gross tons, and one
corvette. She was then transferred to the Baltic as a training
boat. Schultze became commander of operations at 3 U-Flotilla,
before being appointed commander of II/Naval College Schleswig. He
died in 1987 at the age of 78\. _U-48_ was scuttled on 3 May 1945.
As a crucial part of the blitzkrieg that swept across Western
Europe in the spring of 1940, German paratroopers made combat drops
in Denmark and Norway and then won a brilliant victory in their
assault on the Belgian fortress of Eben-Emael. Their most famous
airborne operation came in Crete in 1941 when they captured the
island but with such high casualties that Hitler would not allow
another major drop. Also organized as motorized infantry for ground
attacks, the paratroopers saw action at Monte Cassino in Italy, in
Normandy, and on the Eastern Front. Jump into Hell is the
action-adventure narrative of these elite German airborne troops,
covering recruitment, organization, training, and combat on all
fronts.
This book presents the history of the famous Major Witzig, born on
August 14, 1916, aspiring officer on April 1, 1935, head of the
engineering section of the Fallschirm-Infantry Battalion in August
1938, with which he captured Fort Eben-Emael at dawn on May 10,
1940, capturing 1,200 soldiers with his 55 paratroopers. Awarded
the Knight's Cross, he jumped in Crete where he was seriously
injured. Afterwards, he commanded a battalion of paratroopers in
Tunisia and on the Eastern Front. He was attributed the oak leaf
cluster. After the war, he became a colonel in the Bundeswehr.
French Language
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