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The Last Panther - Slaughter of the Reich - The Halbe Kessel 1945
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While the Battle of Berlin in 1945 is widely known, the horrific story of the Halbe Kessel remains largely untold.
In April 1945, victorious Soviet forces encircled 80,000 men of the German 9th Army in the Halbe area, South of Berlin, together with many thousands of German women and children. The German troops, desperate to avoid Soviet capture, battled furiously to break ...more
In April 1945, victorious Soviet forces encircled 80,000 men of the German 9th Army in the Halbe area, South of Berlin, together with many thousands of German women and children. The German troops, desperate to avoid Soviet capture, battled furiously to break ...more
Kindle Edition, 129 pages
Published
May 20th 2015
by Bayern Classic Publications
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Start your review of The Last Panther - Slaughter of the Reich - The Halbe Kessel 1945
This book claims to be a first-hand account of the battle of the Halbe in late April and early May 1945. However, it is for a number of reasons most likely a war novel in the same league as Svein Hazzels stories. While the author might have some technical understanding of tanks and how they work, he certainly does not understand how tanks die on the battlefield. There are a number of graphic scenes in the novel that simply do not happen with real tanks, but only in the fantasy of a man making up
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This book, like the rest by Sprech Media (SS Panzer - SS Voices, The Last Panther, Tiger Tracks, Hitler's Children) is a piece of fiction.
There's just too many details that point to that - from the utter and complete lack of sources or identifiable unit numbers (or ANYthing that could have led to verifications of facts) to technical and historical mistakes (for instance, the IS-3 tank appearing in a 1943 story) it's quite evident that this is not a collection of "eyewitness accounts" but merely ...more
There's just too many details that point to that - from the utter and complete lack of sources or identifiable unit numbers (or ANYthing that could have led to verifications of facts) to technical and historical mistakes (for instance, the IS-3 tank appearing in a 1943 story) it's quite evident that this is not a collection of "eyewitness accounts" but merely ...more
Gritty, at times disturbing, view of the war's end from a German perspective. Emphasizes the horror and brutality of those final days as Germans, both military and civilian fled the onslaught of the Red armies. A good account of tank warfare as well, German Tigers and Panthers versus T34s and Stalins. An excellent primary source.
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The end of World War II from the German POV the last month of intensive combat just south of Berlin, a narrative of horror and pain that is hard to grasp it was very well done the Author obviously knew what he was talking about. The only image that comes to mind is a forest fire a terrible fire that destroys everything plant, tree, animal, everything tries if it can to escape the destruction but so few manage to make it out this is like a human fire of rockets and bullets, and flame and so few m
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I really liked this book, but it really feels like fiction to me. Still better than the previous book Tiger Tracks. But this is not a non fiction book. I've read plenty of first hand accounts of German panzer commanders of WW2, this is not like those. Having said that, this was still enjoyable to read. I just wish Amazon would list this properly as fiction.
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Some images will stay with me for life. Not sure if I'm enriched or ruined because of it.
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Emotionally exhausting, detailed account of a horrific part of the Second World War from the perspective of a German tank commander.
I was struck by the intricate details recounted by the author of accounts that most people would blank from their minds forever due to the terror and stress.
Secondly, I found it interesting how the author notes how material possessions become valueless in such conditions, where food, ammo and fuel become the only currency.
Human destruction on this scale, inflicte ...more
I was struck by the intricate details recounted by the author of accounts that most people would blank from their minds forever due to the terror and stress.
Secondly, I found it interesting how the author notes how material possessions become valueless in such conditions, where food, ammo and fuel become the only currency.
Human destruction on this scale, inflicte ...more
Fascinating and horrifying
The slaughter is endless as is the brutality but this book contains a view of the war I'd not seen before. The gradual stripping away of humanity in the war setting is awful but the practicality of the writing somehow softens the horror. A chilling reminder. ...more
The slaughter is endless as is the brutality but this book contains a view of the war I'd not seen before. The gradual stripping away of humanity in the war setting is awful but the practicality of the writing somehow softens the horror. A chilling reminder. ...more
Great story
This was a very interesting and enthralling story-a real page turner. I would certainly recommend this. It was like the Odyssey in the time of World War II
This was a very interesting and enthralling story-a real page turner. I would certainly recommend this. It was like the Odyssey in the time of World War II
Very good read, horrific but that's war. He may have embellished it slightly but it must have been hell for the people trying to make it back.
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I would like to open very briefly by highlighting that I do not believe this work, regardless of the intro, is an actual memoir written by a former soldier Wolfgang Faust. In truth I doubt the latter ever existed. The Publisher and Translator, Sprech Media, have released a number of similar war titles over the last two years, and the translator noted at the end of the work does not turn up anywhere other than as part of the Sprech Media fold. Within the work itself the author names none of those
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There seems to be significant debate about whether this book is fiction or truth. Told in first person, the author gives no details about his own unit or those fighting around him, no names that we can verify his story with, nothing to prove it one way or the other. And yet this doesn't interfere with the enjoyment of reading it.
IF the book is fiction, as many think it is, then the author has written a brilliant story that required intimate knowledge of many aspects of operating a Panther. ...more
IF the book is fiction, as many think it is, then the author has written a brilliant story that required intimate knowledge of many aspects of operating a Panther. ...more
This autobiographical account of the Halbe Kessel reads like a novel. The author, Wolfgang Faust, commanded a German Panther. A veteran of the Eastern Front, he'd seen more than his share of horror. What he witnessed in the Halbe Kessel made even a hardened veteran take pause.
It's a bit strange reading a book about WW II where the Germans are not the bad guys (I'm American) as the story tells of the frantic attempt at escape by German military personnel and civilians. Hoping to reach the America ...more
It's a bit strange reading a book about WW II where the Germans are not the bad guys (I'm American) as the story tells of the frantic attempt at escape by German military personnel and civilians. Hoping to reach the America ...more
The book is not well crafted, but the author was not a writer but a tank commander in the 21st Panzer Division of the German Wehrmacht in May 1945. Consequently the style is unsophisticated and virtually a continuous, straightforward narrative. Perhaps this is best, because what Wolfgang Faust describes is simply Hell on Earth. This is warfare at it's most savage where more civilians were being slaughtered than soldiers.
The Soviets were exacting a bloody, terrifying revenge upon the fallen Reich ...more
The Soviets were exacting a bloody, terrifying revenge upon the fallen Reich ...more
This is supposedly a first-hand account of the Battle of Halbe in 1945, where the German Ninth Army attempted to break out of the Russian encirclement of the Spree Forest and head West, the object being to surrender to the Americans rather than the Russians.
The author's name is apparently a pseudonym, and it's not clear who the actual author is, so estimating the authenticity of the account is difficult. Also, details presented in his other works, notably Tiger Tracks, have been effectively debu ...more
The author's name is apparently a pseudonym, and it's not clear who the actual author is, so estimating the authenticity of the account is difficult. Also, details presented in his other works, notably Tiger Tracks, have been effectively debu ...more
This is quite difficult to rate. It either gets near top marks, or none. If this is, as it claims, a true story, then it deserves praise and commendation as a gritty, realistic retelling of war. For all those observing that he "cant" have seen all that he saw - most of the book takes place with him scanning the periscope of his panther - it was his job to see, as well as being life or death for his crew.
However, there remain some doubts as to whether this is all a fantasy retelling of a historic ...more
However, there remain some doubts as to whether this is all a fantasy retelling of a historic ...more
There is a great deal of speculation about this book and others including Tiger Tracks and D-Day Through German Eyes. I, too am sceptical of the authenticity of this book. Other reviewers have substantiated their case through tangible detail. For me, I find the lack of content around tank mates most disturbing. In close quarters, even for a few months, human character and behaviour will be more imprinted than the recollection of weaponry and firefight details. So I suggest readers view this as e
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There is a great deal of speculation about this book and others including Tiger Tracks and D-Day Through German Eyes. I, too am sceptical of the authenticity of this book. Other reviewers have substantiated their case through tangible detail. For me, I find the lack of content around tank mates most disturbing. In close quarters, even for a few months, human character and behaviour will be more imprinted than the recollection of weaponry and firefight details. So I suggest readers view this as e
...more
The only things about this book that seemed to be true statements are the title page and the page numbering. If it had been accurately advertised as a novel, I would have given two stars. Not even good as fiction.
It's a good story, but I don't think its 100% accurate. I think Faust may have been a real tanker, but the story is embellished. There's just no way he could have seen the whole of the battlefield the way he describes it from the narrow field of view he had.
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Well done, not happy. Faust is clearly not a fan of how we treat each other.
I just finished and this is a gritty, often graphic novel depicting war through the eyes of a tank leader. But here's my only rub; what's real? The hatred between Russians and Germans is well documented. They would not hesitate to kill each other and prisoners were often not taken. But in my opinion, these books by Wolfgang are too fantastical. Too precise. Too Hollywood. So many things are believable, but the fact his tanks get hit but don't blow up, while everyone else's does has that Bruce Wi
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The forces of collective vision continually colour the path of thought. Judgement is initiated, compounded and perpetuated through "intellectual authority" with regard to perceived values of provenance, validity and execution of the written material. Wolfgang Faust's - 'The Last Panther' is largely relegated to the ether of myth and legend. Indeed reference to this memoir does not appear in any serious bibliography nor footnote. I myself had made a conscious decision to avoid it. Critical judgem
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It's a gripping narrative but therefore because of that it's easy to suspect that it is to a degree fictionalised. No names (except for the author of course) and one is left wondering how the author could remember all that happened. Some incidents, it is the case, would be seared on anyone's memory for the rest of their life. Having said that, the combat is tense, brutal and raw, and the life of a tanker (from what I've read elsewhere) is well-captured. Death comes quickly and horribly for men w
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Interesting Real
Once again a first hand description of the horrors of modern war from the experiences of one who had been there. Interesting in that this was a German Soldier and a tank commander toward the end of the war with the Russians during the final days! The book offers an insight into things we don't normally hear given our focus on the battles in Western Europe following D Day. I arrived in Germany the first time in 1962 seventeen years after the war. Even then much of the aftermath o ...more
Once again a first hand description of the horrors of modern war from the experiences of one who had been there. Interesting in that this was a German Soldier and a tank commander toward the end of the war with the Russians during the final days! The book offers an insight into things we don't normally hear given our focus on the battles in Western Europe following D Day. I arrived in Germany the first time in 1962 seventeen years after the war. Even then much of the aftermath o ...more
It's not a bad book, exceptionally violent and to-the-point in its writing as if it were written by a soldier and not an author. However I can't shake the feeling that so many others echo - that it's a piece of fiction. There appears to be no historical evidence for the author, also during the book there's never any word of the unit they're in beyond ''the 9th army'' and for the length of the book the crew of the Panther are not named, Gunner, Loader, Radioman etc. they're all just called by the
...more
Faust's second book of his experiences during the final days of the war kept me riveted. From beginning to end his harrowing experiences as he and his crew made their last ditch attempt to escape the Russian juggernaut that hounded them seeking to destroy every German in its path, not caring if they were soldier or civilian. The absolute horrors he faced exceeded anything he had seen on the Russian front. He recounts the myriad of things that happened to him and around him as he and his crew fou
...more
This is a book of fiction.
I'm fairly sure of this.
Those of us who are used to reading military memoirs will know that although violence is a part of the story its not usually as brutally described as it is in this book. Veterans tend to draw a line under the depths they go.
This book is extremely gory and graphic to the point it just comes across as a work of fiction. Its just dream world stuff put together by a part-time historian playing on the readers lust for gore.
It uses shock tactics to en ...more
I'm fairly sure of this.
Those of us who are used to reading military memoirs will know that although violence is a part of the story its not usually as brutally described as it is in this book. Veterans tend to draw a line under the depths they go.
This book is extremely gory and graphic to the point it just comes across as a work of fiction. Its just dream world stuff put together by a part-time historian playing on the readers lust for gore.
It uses shock tactics to en ...more
Harrowing and concise, this is the gripping story of the close of the Second World War in Europe in all it's savagery and pathos. The author in this reminiscence brings to us who were not there all the details of just what it was like to be fighting for your life when the end is so near in distance terms yet so far in real terms. The details of the butchery and treachery in this small sector of the front are graphic and true; the author holds nothing back. Those who hold the glory in war must ne
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Germany's desperate push to the west at the close of WWII
How much the Germans and the Russians hated each other is shocking. By its nature, war must be violent, but these 2 nationalities seem to have never considered mercy in any form or fashion toward the other. At this stage of the war, victory for the Germans consisted of only 1 thing -- being able to surrender to the Americans rather than being captured by the Russians. During this desperate run for "victory" the author, a German tanker, des ...more
How much the Germans and the Russians hated each other is shocking. By its nature, war must be violent, but these 2 nationalities seem to have never considered mercy in any form or fashion toward the other. At this stage of the war, victory for the Germans consisted of only 1 thing -- being able to surrender to the Americans rather than being captured by the Russians. During this desperate run for "victory" the author, a German tanker, des ...more
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