KNIGHTS OF THE BLACK CROSS: HITLER'S PANZERWAFFE AND ITS LEADERS

by Bryan Perrett

An incisive study of the Panzerwaffe, the German Armored Corps, examines the history of the corps, the development of their vehicles and weapons, the evolution of their tactics, and their key role during the Second World War

Genres: History, World War II, Germany

Hardcover

First published September 1, 1986

About the author

Bryan Perrett was born in 1934 and educated at Liverpool College. He served in the Royal Armoured Corps, the 17th/21st Lancers, Westminster Dragoons, and the Royal Tank Regiment, and was awarded the Territorial Decoration.A professional military historian for many years, his books include "A History of the Blitzkrieg" and "Knights of the Black Cross - Hitler's Panzerwaffe and its Leaders". His treatise Desert Warfare was widely consulted during the Gulf War. His most recent works, including "Last Stand, At All Costs" and "Against all Odds" examine aspects of motivation. During the Falklands and Gulf Wars Bryan Perrett served as Defense Correspondent to the Liverpool Echo. His books are widely read on both sides of the Atlantic and have been translated into several languages.

Reviews

[Martin Koenigsberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written in 1986 after most of the German Memoirs had been written, Ultra had been revealed, but before 1989 and the opening of the Soviet hoard of records, Perrett tries to give us a fun quick history of the German Mechanised Arm in under 300 pages. So it does tend to the German view of the war, especially when discussing the Eastern Front. We know now that the Germans may have consistently over estimated the odds and made their amazing feats even more impressive. You get the whole story from the expansive beginings as a Academic Dream to the insanity and frittering away in 1945, with every major battle and tactic addressed. The regular stops to fill one in on the technological changes throughout the war make the book a really good one for Military Enthusiasts/Gamers/Modellers, even though it is clearly written with a more general audience in mind. There are plenty of maps and anecdotes to keep everyone happy. If one can resist a slight gilding of the the Panzer Lily story, this book is a good read.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a curious book, some parts excellent, others poor.

I've read many times what a great weapon the german 88mm was,
but why? No one else gave a hint.

This author compares muzzle velocity of several tank & anti tank guns,
the 88mm is tops at about 3500 fps, most others just over 2000 fps
some at the beginning of the war under 1000 fps.

The kinetic energy and flat trajectory of the 88 made it the best

On the other hand, he often has snarky things to say about people,
including the absurdity that Hitler was deranged from 3rd stage syphilis.

In Lost victories, Manstein mentions a number of meetings with Hitler
where he was polite, lucid, and had extremely detailed recall of production numbers.

Not what you'd expect from syphilis.

[Mateusz Winczura · Rating 3 out of 5]

You get a sense that the Author tries to escape from simple school-like story of a given campaign. But from time to time he fails with that endeavour. He also tries not to burden the reader with too many technical details, but it seems like he cannot help it from time to time. Although the book is generally useful (albeit I found it not too easy to read) and provides a different perspective on the Panzerwaffe, it’s not really a masterpiece.

[John Somers · Rating 5 out of 5]

A history of German armored units during World War 2. Excellent. Particularly liked the sections on developments during the war, the conditions that required new designs and the new tactics and weapons that were developed to meet those conditions.