Panzers In The Defence Of Festung Posen 1945

Author : Maciej Karalus
Publisher : Helion
ISBN 13 : 9781912390168
Total Pages : 96 pages
Book Rating : 4.67/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Panzers in the Defence of Festung Posen 1945 written by Maciej Karalus and published by Helion. This book was released on 2018-02 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Panzers in Defence of Festung Poznan 1945 by Maciej Karalus and Jarosław Jerzak is the first book published in English to describe the bitter battle for Festung Poznań in 1945. That Polish city, occupied by the Nazis since almost the very beginning of the Second World War in 1939, was declared a fortress (Festung) on January 20, 1945, and for the whole month it saw heavy fighting between Wehrmacht and Waffen SS troops and the Red Army advancing directly towards Berlin. Among the garrison of the fortress a special part was played by a small heavy Panzer unit which possessed just one Tiger tank, two Panthers, one Panzer IV and a handful of Sturmgesch�tze. Despite the difficulty and sparsity of sources, the authors were able to acquire an impressive wealth of information and memoirs, as well as rich iconography.Before Poland was able to regain her full political autonomy in 1990, the fighting in Poznań was described only by Zbigniew Szumowski and Stanisław Okęcki. These, however, were poor compilations, only marginally touching upon the participation of German Wehrmacht. These authors looked upon this subject through the lenses of Soviet documentations and historiographical propaganda of their times. Sadly, they could not or would not make use of the documents in German archives. Their cardinal mistake was to overestimate the strength of the forces at play (especially on the German side), and the glorification of the Soviet victory, foregoing an honest analysis of the losses of human life as well as equipment on both sides. This is the first book in English that allows the reader to follow the street fighting in Poznań through the eyes of the Wehrmacht soldiers, documenting the story of the German armored forces engaged in the battles for the city.

Author : Steven J. Zaloga
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 13 : 147284873X
Total Pages : 49 pages
Book Rating : 4.34/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Tanks in the Battle of Germany 1945 written by Steven J. Zaloga and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2022-11-24 with total page 49 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A new history and analysis of the German and Soviet tank forces that battled on eastern German soil in the final months of World War II. The final months of World War II on the Eastern Front saw the Wehrmacht fighting with exhausted armoured divisions, albeit now armed with the most advanced and heaviest tanks of the war, to slow the Soviet advance. The Red Army meanwhile was rolling relentlessly westwards, with its own highly developed tank forces now equipped with T34/85s and the huge IS-2 heavy tanks, intent on taking Berlin and as much German territory as possible. This book is a history and analysis of the state of these two mighty armoured forces, as their battles decided the fate of Germany. It covers their initial encounters on the German frontier in 1944 (East Prussia), the fighting of the Oder-Vistula offensive in January 1945 and describes the condition of the German tank forces and their Hungarian allies as they were beaten back. It also considers the huge impact of The Red Army and other significant Allied forces such as those from Poland, Czechoslovakia and Romania on the outcome of victory in the war.

Author : Simon Forty
Publisher : Casemate
ISBN 13 : 1636240232
Total Pages : 258 pages
Book Rating : 4.37/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Red Army into the Reich written by Simon Forty and published by Casemate. This book was released on 2021-11-30 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An illustrated history of how the Red Army pushed west and into Berlin in 1945 during World War II. The last year of the war saw Russian offensives that cleared the Germans out of their final strongholds in Finland and the Baltic states, before advancing into Finnmark in Norway and the east European states that bordered Germany: Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary. By spring 1945 the Red Army had reached to Vienna and the Balkans, and had thrust deep into Germany where they met American, French and British troops advancing from the west. The final days of the Third Reich were at hand. Berlin was first surrounded, then attacked and taken. Hitler’s suicide and his successors’ unconditional surrender ended the war. For writers and historians who concentrate on the Western Allies and the battles in France and the Low Countries, the Eastern Front comes as a shock. The sheer size of both the territories and the forces involved; the savagery of both weather and the fighting; the appalling suffering of the civilian populations of all countries and the wreckage of towns and cities—it’s no wonder that words like Armageddon are used to describe the annihilation. Red Army into the Reich combines a narrative history, contemporary photographs and maps with images of memorials, battlefield survivors and then & now views. It may come as a surprise to the western reader to see how many memorials there are to Russia’s Great Patriotic War and those to the losses suffered by the countries who spent so long under the murderous Nazi regime. Praise for Red Army into the Reich “If you have any interest in understanding the final cataclysm that overtook the Third Reich and delineated the hows and whys of the Cold War—and Eastern Europe after the collapse of the Soviet Union—Red Army into the Reich will give you a glimpse into a generally underreported past...a small slice of heaven for the East Front fan.” —ARMOR Magazine “Carries the reader into the Eastern Front with clear writing, good maps, and lavish illustration. Many of the photographs are accompanied by images of how the scene they depict appears today.” —WWII History Magazine “A better-illustrated recent volume would be hard to find, especially one that covers the breadth of Red Army combat operations in the third period of the war.” —Journal of Slavic Military Studies

Author : Hans Schäufler
Publisher : Casemate Publishers
ISBN 13 : 152673432X
Total Pages : 205 pages
Book Rating : 4.27/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Panzers on the Vistula written by Hans Schäufler and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2018-10-30 with total page 205 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This WWII memoir of a Nazi officer is one of the most revealing firsthand accounts of the German retreat on the Eastern Front. A second lieutenant of the 4th Panzer division, Hans Schäufler commanded a Jagdpanther tank destroyer in rearguard actions against the Red Army in East Prussia in 1945. Then, as an infantryman, he took part in the doomed defense of Danzig before escaping across the Baltic in a small boat. His personal story offers a rare glimpse into the chaos and suffering endured by tens thousands of soldiers and civilians during the collapse of the Third Reich in the east. Along with vivid descriptions of the appalling conditions in Danzig and the fear and panic that gripped the city, Schäufler’s account provides valuable insight into the German army’s tactics as they fell back before the Soviet advance. While acute shortages of men, equipment, ammunition and fuel crippled the defense, the soldiers went on fighting for a lost cause in the face of certain defeat.

Author : Georg Gunter
Publisher : Helion
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 328 pages
Book Rating : 4.11/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Last Laurels written by Georg Gunter and published by Helion. This book was released on 2002 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By January 1945, Upper Silesia had become Germany's key industrial region, with its coal mines, blast furnaces, arms factories and hydrogenation plants. Not surprisingly, when the Soviets launched a series of powerful offensives aimed at capturing the region, the German defence was bitter, bordering on the suicidal. Soviet reactions were brutal, the Red Army committing widespread atrocities, which have received little coverage until now. In this readable and fast-paced translation from the German edition, the author presents a penetrating description of the events which occurred in Silesia during the first five months of 1945 - from the massive Soviet offensive on 12th January, through to the final German defensive actions around Ratibor five months later. The translation and publication of Last Laurels represents a major contribution to the military history of the Eastern Front in the English language, filling a yawning gap in our knowledge of the most titanic armed struggle the world has yet seen. Key topics covered include: Prelude to the Soviet offensive / Opening of the Soviet Vistula-Oder offensive, 12 January 1945 / Initial German counter-attacks / Defence of Gleiwitz, Oppeln, and many other smaller locations recounted in detail / Eventual Soviet capture of the industrial district / Attack and counter-attack at Ratibor and the Glatzer Neisse / 1st Panzer Army's successful defence against Soviet attacks, February 1945 / German XI Corps counter-attacks / Soviet Schwarzwasser offensive, March 1945 / Decisive events in western Upper Silesia / The loss of Neisse and Leobschütz / Final Soviet offensive actions around Jägerndorf and Troppau . Main Selling Points - Contains a great number of German personal accounts Many small-unit actions recounted in detail Includes orders-of-battle for both German and Soviet forces

Author : Alexander Ludeke
Publisher : Fact File
ISBN 13 : 9781473823976
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.78/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Panzers of the Wehrmacht written by Alexander Ludeke and published by Fact File. This book was released on 2015 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Each vehicle is presented with a short description, images and a reference table of key technical data, supplemented by colour drawings with camouflage and identification numbers."--Back cover.

Author : S. Hart
Publisher : Zenith Press
ISBN 13 : 9780760307250
Total Pages : 176 pages
Book Rating : 4.53/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Panzer written by S. Hart and published by Zenith Press. This book was released on 1999 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This pictorial record follows the rise of Germany's armored forces from the origins of the 1st Panzer Division in 1935, to their deployment in the Spanish Civil War and the spectacular Blitzkrieg campaigns of 1939-1941, and through the final years of the World War II, when panzers fought savage battles against technically and numerically superior foes. This dramatic rise and fall of the panzers is told, in part, with 250 intriguing photographs, the majority of them never before published. Included among them are images of top-secret tank training maneuvers in the 1930s, held in contravention of the Treaty of Versailles; images taken by crewmembers while in active service; and dramatic photos of rank battles. These strong visual elements are accompanied by a narrative from one of the world's top World War II German military experts, who describes panzer technological development, tactics, and the battles themselves.

Author : Norbert Számvéber
Publisher : Peko Publishing
ISBN 13 : 9786155583292
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4.93/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Last Panzer Battles in Hungary written by Norbert Számvéber and published by Peko Publishing. This book was released on 2020-11-20 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the last phase of the Second World War the Sixth Panzer Army was the last army available to the German military leadership which was more or less intact and was capable of launching a major offensive. After it had been withdrawn from the Western front in the aftermath of the failed Ardennes counter offensive, it was replenished with men and gears as fully as was possible in the given circumstances, and as a result it almost regained its 1944 autumn strength. It would not have been a surprise if it had been deployed on German territory against the Allied troops advancing to Rhine, or in Silesia or in the Baltics or even if it had been sent as a reinforcement to the Army Group Vistula to defend the distant approaches to Berlin against the advancing Soviet army - reinforcement and fresh troops capable of launching counter offensives were desperately needed everywhere. But it happened otherwise: the Sixth Army was deployed in Hungary and participated in the Operation Spring Awakening, launched in the western part of the country on 6th of March, 1945. This was the last German "big offensive" in the course of the Second World War. Several questions come to mind about the operation. What were the goals originally set to be achieved by this seemingly pointless attack? What role was assigned to the once formidable German Panzer Corps? Is it true that the Soviet command used the same defense directives as had been used during the battle of Kursk in 1943 because they had proved to be viable then? What types of tanks and armored vehicles fight in West Hungary and in what numbers? How did the American made M4A2 tanks manned by Soviet crews fare against the much heavier German Panther and Tiger B tanks on the Hungarian soil? What were the losses on both sides in tanks and armored vehicles? To what extent can be the prompt and powerful response of the Soviet side - the offensive towards Vienna - evaluated as being successful? How did the Germans, the Soviets, the Hungarians and the Bulgarians use their tanks and armored vehicles in this operation? Besides giving a detailed chronological description of the events, the book tries to find answers to these questions. The facts extracted from the operational documents of the fighting sides have been supplemented with excerpts from diaries and memoirs, and even the maps have been drawn on the basis of the original ones. The author has explored some new archival sources kept in Russian archives and also incorporated some published Russian materials into his research that was neglected up until now by other researchers, along with some newly published German memoirs - all this has made possible to create a narrative of the events related to us by the author in hitherto unprecedented detail.

Author : Hans Klapa
Publisher : Pen and Sword Military
ISBN 13 : 1399061798
Total Pages : 210 pages
Book Rating : 4.97/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Facing the Red Army in Festung Posen written by Hans Klapa and published by Pen and Sword Military. This book was released on 2023-11-30 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Facing the Red Army in Festung Posen features the stories of two German soldiers who took part in the battles for Festung Posen (Pozna? Fortress) in January and February 1945. Never before published in English, the accounts of Hans Klapa, written immediately after the war (1946) and Alfred Kriehn, a little later (early 1990s) provide details relating to the course of the battle, as well as the armaments of the German garrison, its morale and even first-hand descriptions of individual actions during bloody street fighting. Although describing the same battle, both memoirs are completely different as they represent different branches of the armed forces and each takes place in different parts of the city. While Hans Klapa fought only in the eastern part, Alfred Kriehn describes the fighting on the western side. However, what separates the two accounts the most is the fate of both heroes immediately after the battle, with Klapa describing his epic, months-long struggle with his comrades not to fall into the hands of the enemy and to avoid being taken prisoner by the Soviets at any cost.

Author : Erhard Raus
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 264 pages
Book Rating : 4.73/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Panzers on the Eastern Front written by Erhard Raus and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: General Erhard Raus was one of the German Army's finest panzer generals and a leading exponent of blitzkrieg in the east. German panzers were witness to the incredible onslaught that was the first few months of Barbarossa, then the gradual strengthening of Russian resistance, counterattack, and, ultimately, the long and drawn- out German retreat. Raus and his panzers therefore were tested in every conceivable tactical situation and, inevitably, Raus became highly versed in all aspects of mobilized warfare. This account by Erhard Raus, edited by leading Eastern Front expert Peter G. Tsouras, concentrates on German efforts to relieve Stalingrad and Raus, as commander of 6th Panzer Division, was in the thick of this bitter action, urging his panzers forwards in a massive effort to break the Soviet stranglehold. Written originally to brief the American Army, this valuable material is now made available for the first time.