Tiger Battalion 507: Eyewitness Accounts from Hitler's Regiment

Description

'May the army of millions of dead of all nations bear witness to humanity for the hope that future generations may learn to discard war as the best way to resolve their differences.' - Helmut Schneider This is the little-known story of Heavy Panzer (Tiger) Battalion 507 told through the recollections of the men who fought with the unit. The book was conceived during a reunion of the '507' at Rohrdorf in 1982, where it was agreed to set up an editorial committee under Helmut Schneider, himself a veteran of the battalion, to search for as many survivors of the unit as possible and gather their reminiscences. The resulting account is a treasure trove of first-hand material, from personal memories, diary entries and letters to leave passes, wartime newspaper cuttings, Wehrmacht bulletins and more than 160 photographs. The account follows the unit from its formation in 1943 and the catastrophic events on the Eastern Front, through battles on the Western Front and engagements against the American 3rd Armoured Division to the confusion of retreat, panic-stricken eight and Soviet captivity in the closing stages of the war. Honest and unflinching, this remarkable collection of autobiographies offers a glimpse into life in Hitler's panzer division and is a stark testimony of a generation that sacrificed its best years to the war. This is the first English-language translation of the work.

Aged 19, Helmut Schneider volunteered for the German Panzer Arm in March 1941. He was one of the first five men sent to the Eastern Front. He took part in the Caucasus campaigns in and joined the Heavy Panzer Battalion 507 in 1943. He next moved on to the panzer grenadiers where he was given a Wanderer bicycle, a Panzerfaust and an assault rifle and was sent to fight the US Army on the Western Front. His decorations included the Panzer Assault Badge and the Iron Cross Second Class. Robert Forczyk is a leading expert on the history of armored warfare, and he has made a particular study of the Second World War on the Eastern Front. His many books include Georgy Zhukov, Demyansk 1942-43, Red Christmas: The Tatsinskaya Airfield Raid 1942, Rescuing Mussolini: Gran Sasso 1943, Sevastopol 1942: Von Manstein's Triumph, Leningrad 1941-44, Model, Erich Von Manstein and Panther Vs T-34: Ukraine 1943.

This is one of those books that you sit down to read for an hour and then have the other half asking "if you are going to bed tonight?" I enjoyed this title a great deal and enjoyed seeing and reading about life as a member of a Tiger crew. The details covering events from fighting to retreating and even formation of the unit were a very interesting aspect of the book. This is possibly the best title I have covered as regards telling the story of the crews of the tanks from more than one viewpoint. * Armorama *