Panzer Aces I: German Tank Commanders of WWII

by Franz Kurowski, David Johnston (Translator)

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.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, World War II, Military Fiction, War, Military History, Germany

448 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

Reviews

[Karl Jorgenson · Rating 2 out of 5]

The only value in this book is subtextual, the ideas and culture that can be inferred from the author's lies. Purportedly, this is a non-fiction description of several exceptional tank commanders from WW II. Because all armies of this era document their actions, it's possible for any given day and unit to read the orders issued, movements, encounters with the enemy, successes, failures, casualties, etc. The armies' recordings are dry and sparse, of the nature 'second platoon advanced to hill 429 and suffered the loss of one tank seven KIA and nine wounded.' A motivated and diligent historian will put this official record together with orders, diaries, letters home, and observations of comrades and commanders to paint a full picture of what happened. Kurowski may have done some of this, but it's doubtful. More likely, he read something like the example of an after-action report sentence above and wrote the whole book from that. The author describes in vivid detail the battles of each of the subject tank commanders. We see their reactions, the impact of enemy fire, their tense moments as they aim, fire, and see the enemy fall. But all the commanders in all their battles sound exactly alike. Their gunners are already zeroing in, the driver is already halting, the whole crew is confident in their mates. The shot is always on target. In fact, in half the hits on Russian tanks the T-34's turret is blown clear of the hull from the hit. Huh. The armor-piercing round could set off the T-34's ammunition in rare cases, but the projectile has no explosive force of its own: it destroys the enemy tank by penetrating its armor and killing the crew and trashing the controls and interior. Then, in most of the author's accounts, the Russian crew bails out after the turret is blown off. So we're to believe an explosion that rips a multi-ton steel turret from its control ring doesn't disable men who are sitting in the explosion? The simple answer to all of this is that the author has made up every word, having read at least one sentence about a tank battle. Worse, he's so lazy he copied the SAME events for every battle, not bothering to make up a new scenario. Similarly, the unemotional devotion to duty of each of the commanders is also identical, likely not drawn from anything but the author's idealized imagination. The author's imagined Wehrmacht is filled with soldiers of perfect bravery, knowledge, skill, attitude, obedience, and determination. The one takeaway of any value from this otherwise pointless book is the extent the author is feeding a cultural redemption: 'we should not have been Nazis, we should not have started a war, we should not have continued the war, but at least we were damn good at it!'

[Erik · Rating 4 out of 5]

I must admit that I'm often fascinated by reading personal accounts of military service, and gain a lot of insights into the local thinking and planning that took place while under fire. I feel we get a pretty good taste of life from the German tank crew side of things in this book. Grant you, these tank personnel are some of the elite commanders to serve the German army in WW2, so I am also thinking that they may not represent the norm.

The book itself was at times a bit hard to read due to some translation errors which can make it a rough and bumpy ride. Broken English is something I am kind of tolerant of though, in spite of it disrupting my reading flow as I have to pause and reconsider what was said.

I like the information on tank tactics and will be capturing some of that in future work. I found the book to be concise and to the point through out, and that is valuable to me. These Stackpole copies are a bit cheap and lower quality, but it serves the purpose of passing along knowledge just fine.

Overall, I give this a 4 Star grade. Decent and worthwhile, though not purely a joy to read.

[Andrew Herbert · Rating 1 out of 5]

I assume the translation is the problem. This is just terribly written. The tactics section at the end was ok, but dull and repetitive. This book needs some SERIOUS editing.

[Alexander Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was pleasantly shocked at how engaging some of the narrative aspects of this book made the book more tolerable and a semi-page-turner. Some of the Stackpole Military series books are just riddled with an influx of information and don't have a system or method to get the reader to follow. In other words just a shotgun blast of information. However, in this case, I found the author's historical fiction narrative writing aided the book's flow. Additionally, the author was in the WWII conflict personally as a Wehrmacht radio operator. I am aware that has little to do with his ability to write and his education; nevertheless, very few authors from the German side of the conflict made it as writers. My last positive comment on the book was the chapter structure, and the chronological order of events describing each Panzer Ace was appropriate. Mr. Karnowski did a decent job in giving steady background information on each character while at the same time keeping each character descriptive but straight to the point in terms of events in the German war effort.

On to the negative... and boy, do I have a few. Clearly, the book should not be used as reference material for an academic platform. My negative points of view on this book are mainly because it assumes claims from a narrative point of view of the Panzer Aces but throws in pieces of misinformation of events in battles they fought that never happened and can mislead readers. Prime example, on two to three separate occasions, the tank KV-2 is brought up in battles and is described as participating in physical combat with German troops. Anyone who knows about Soviet Armament and armored vehicles they used in WW2 will know the Soviet Union did not use these tanks to the extent the book describes. The KV-2 was heavy, slow, and considered one of the rarest tanks to be spotted on a battlefield. While I am not saying the tank could have been seen in some of Ace's engagements, the book has no resources or references to prove the author's input. This leads to another point; the book has little to no work cited/references. While the pictures are well-sourced and engaging, most of the content can be challenged by any WWII historian.

Interestingly enough, the translation of the book is not bad. At no point did I find it hard to read due to translation issues. Some reviews claim this is the biggest issue. I had no real issue with it. In any case, it was not a bad read but could have been better regarding having legitimate resources and accurate narrative descriptions. The book rarely talks negatively about the progress of the German armed forces in WWII. While some people may find this wrong, it should be noted this book is a clear description of how the German soldier saw the contributions of the Third Reich side. This book paints a picture of what the tank crews actually went through. The human aspect of the challenges and difficulties described keeps the book relevant and engaging. Above all, that is all the reason I finished the book semi-satisfied.

-Alex

[Penecks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stackpole books... some are decent, some are pretty bad, most contain extremely odd translations. Panzer Aces is probably one of the more decent Stackpole books I've encountered. It goes through the wartime lives of several German tank commanders, usually dropping readers right into the action using details from primary sources and (perhaps unfortunately) a somewhat large helping of the author's descriptions, which range from believable to nearly comedic in their intensity.

Despite these moments of fictionalization, the accounts are mostly good, and make sense in the narrative of each individual, which form the "chapters" of the book. We have a few lesser known commanders but also behemoths like Michael Wittmann, who has a pretty fleshed out section for himself. Not all the commanders are written about in quite the same level of quality but it is generally not too jarring.

Most of the action in the work does take place on the Eastern front; in a similar vein to American Pacific naval aces, the area was often such a killing ground there were bound to be men with ludicrous successes. Probably a good third of the book is dedicated to Panzers blowing away hordes of T-34s and Russian infantry, so much so one wonders what kind of Star Wars set these guys were on, and leading to the previously mentioned eye-rolling narratives. Despite that, it does offer quite a bit of info on tank command during the war, as well as an insight into some lesser known vehicles and men.

[Lesley Oddi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good read.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. To hear the accounts of the individual men and how they led was very interesting.

[Robert Drumheller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting stories concerning some of the tank commanders of WW II.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75

[Michael Hendrickson]

very good book about German tank commanders during the second world war. Gives stories about six different tank commanders and tells of their experiences during the war

[Steve Cobleigh]

Dr. Franz Bake, a dentist in the German reserve, would seem to be the worst tanker you could meet if you were in an Allied tank.