Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #74686 in Books
• Published on: 2005-11-15
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 368 pages

Synopsis
Wolfgang Schneider has written the definitive account of German small-unit armour tactics. Using period training manuals, after-action reports, countless interviews with Panzer veterans, and his own experiences as an armour commander in the modern Germany Army, Schneider describes World War II Panzer tactics, coupling his narrative with scores of illustrations that highlight armour concepts. Schneider covers the major types of small-unit operational art - offensive and defensive - and also discusses road marches, reconnaissance, command and control, working with other arms of service, life in a tank, armour training, gunnery, and the future of armour. The book provides useful insight into armour tactics for both the layman and the armour enthusiast. Features include: ultimate inside view of the blitzkrieg in World War II; diagrams, maps, and schematics illustrate key principles; hundreds of rare photographs show Panzers and crews in action.

Customer Reviews

Great book - how could the Germans loose that war?
As an armchair tanker I got all I could ask for, and then some. The small scale tactics and other aspects of day to day operations are described in detail. The photos are plenty and very interesting.

Since the Germans allegedly where so superior the reader is left wondering why they lost the war.

To put a greater pespective on the subject read Heinz Guderian: Panzerleader. That book will tell you - from the horses own mouth - how the Germans lost it all.

Read these reveiws and you get an excellent idea...
Having just read the first couple of reviews again, (now that I have purchased this book) I can gladly report they are spot on, especially the first reviewer!(thanks again for helping me choose this book!). I dont want to repeat anything mentioned before so I'll try to give you something else to help you decide, value perhaps?:
It is a fairly hefty book for the money I feel, especially when you consider the cost of the rather thin (but nicely put together all the same!) "Osprey aircraft" series or the "combat Legends" series of books (WWII fighters etc).These have an average of 100 pages whereas Panzer tactics has 352pages!. There is certainly no feeling of being ripped off as is so common these days when you buy 'new' books. It seems many are happy to just repeat the same old events and descriptions almost word for word, and often use the same photos. What happened to new research?
This book is a bit different, absolutely packed with photos!, so many new ones too, at least I have never seen these ones before.
Some of the photos are almost perfect for modelers wanting to build scenes with panzer models in. Often tanks, with crew members working beside them, are the most popular type and theres plenty of pictures of this very thing in this book. Panther Va and other rare tanks are in here too, its just a shame there isnt colour versions I guess.
The quality is (as mentioned before) very photocopy-like(a good photo copy mind you!) and the illustrations can be a little hard to make out clearly but the ideas behind them are easily understood so it doesnt interfere with your enjoyment too much but it is to quote a previous reviewer "unforgiveable" :).
It does indeed read like a field manual too and so it is a little harder to get through but if you , like me, are always looking for that extra snippet of fresh info then its in a book like this you will find it.
I would liken this book to another WW2 book I have called "The Luftwaffe Fighter force:The view from the cockpit" by Adolf Galland et al (ISBN 1-85367-327-7) in that it drifts from first hand accounts to very manual-like descriptions but it does cover an area on the subject rarely touched on in other publications.
For the Gamer out there that wishes to play their Panzer simulation in a manner which mimics the real thing then this book gives some fantastic insight into the real workings of the tanks on a day to day level, even minute to minute in some cases. Often, the illustrations are enough to see just how they did things. World War 2 online players would love this book without a doubt. I have bought quite a few well known books on Panzers but so far they have all skipped over the very subject I wish to read more on. You get the "whole picture" and as such invariably the details have to be simplified or missed out altogether. I now have a book which fills in many of those 'details' and I recommend you go buy it for yourself.
Happy reading...

Truly panzer
It's a great book for panzer enthusiastics that will learn how it was done at the time of events. Gives a full acount on every aspect, being the most impressive the tactics utilized. Good book for reading by anyone interested on second worl war.