This thoroughly researched book tells the story of Erwin Rommel's legendary desert campaign in North Africa during World War II through the men who served him as staff officers and commanders of divisions, regiments, and battalions.
German Order of Battle is the definitive reference on the German Army in World War II, covering the organization, combat history, and commanders of each division.
Triumphant Fox traces Erwin Rommel's rise from obscurity to the position of Hitler's most able general. His leadership in North Africa amazed the opposing forces as Rommel fought for success against overwhelming odds.
The Battle of the Bulge was the last hurrah for the German Army on the Western Front. With the help of various unpublished sources, Samuel Mitcham sets out to tell the story of that battle and of the Ardennes Offensive from the German point of view. The greatest military disaster the United States suffered in the European Theater of Operations in World War II occurred in the Ardennes Offensive, when most of the U.S. 106th Infantry Division was destroyed in the Schnee Eifel (Snow Mountains). Mitcham covers the Battle of the Schnee Eifel from the German point of view in greater depth than any book has ever done, using unpublished German after-action reports and manuscripts, especially those of Lieutenant Colonel Dietrich Moll, the chief of operations of the 18th Volksgrenadier. Similar unpublished works, as well as the papers of Theodor-Friedrich von Stauffenberg, contribute to a unique account of the Battle of the Bulge.
In May of 1942, Erwin Rommel, already famed as the "Desert Fox, " launched an audacious campaign against the British forces defending the road to Alexandria, the Suez canal, and the oil-rich Middle East. The prize was Tobruk, the most important port along the Libyan coast east of Tripoli, the Axis base of operations. Possession of this fortress would give the Afrika Korps a secure base of supply almost a thousand miles closer to the Egyptian border. The spring 1942 battle for Tobruk is a study of Rommel, the foremost strategist and tactician of his generation, at his best, daring but never foolhardy. It also studies Rommel the combat leader at his greatest, discerning the critical moment in time and the critical point on the battlefield, and then being present to personally influence the result.
- Detailed biographies of 5 panzer commanders - Describes what it's like to lead tank units in battle - Includes D-Day, Normandy, the campaign for France, the Battle of the Bulge, and the final battles in Germany Generals like Heinz Guderian have received most of the credit for devising and executing the German blitzkrieg, but without the lower-ranked commanders who led panzer corps, divisions, and regiments, the blitzkrieg that swept through France in 1940 could not have worked. Nor could the Germans have lasted as long as they did against the Allied invasion in Northwest Europe in 1944?45. In this book, based on original research, Samuel W. Mitcham Jr. profiles five of these panzer generals, chronicling their military careers and focusing on their leadership against the Americans and British in the West.
"The last place a German soldier wanted to be in 1944 was the Russian front. That summer, Stalin hurled into battle more than six million men and 9,000 tanks, supported by 16,000 fighters and bombers and more than 12,800 guns and rocket launchers. Despite this massive effort and the resulting decimation of German forces, events on the Eastern Front are largely neglected by historians who focus instead on German defeats in Normandy and the Ardennes. This account details the massive battles on the Eastern Front from the summer of 1944 until the fall of Budapest in early 1945, a period when Hitler lost the majority of his conquered Eastern territories and many of his best remaining divisions."--BOOK JACKET
A reference guide to each panzer division in the German Army from inception to destruction.
Just who was Erwin Rommel?War hero or war criminal? Hitler flunky or man of integrity? Military genius or just lucky?Now, bestselling military historian Samuel W. Mitcham Jr. gets to the heart of the mysterious figure respected and even admired by the people of the Allied nations he fought against. Mitcham recounts Rommel’s improbable and meteoric military career, his epic battles in North Africa, and his fraught relationship with Hitler and the Nazi Party. Desert The Storied Military Career of Erwin Rommel • How Rommel’s victories in North Africa were sabotaged by Hitler’s incompetent interference• How Rommel burned orders telling him to commit war crimes• Why it wouldn’t have helped Patton if he really had read Rommel’s book• How Rommel was responsible for the Germans’ defense against the D-Day landing• Why the plot to overthrow Hitler was fatally compromised when Rommel was gravely injured in an Allied attack• The reason Rommel agreed to commit suicide after his part in the plot was discovered by HitlerMitcham’s gripping account of Rommel’s life takes you through the amazing adventure of the World War II battles in North Africa. Again and again, Rommel outfoxed the Allies—until the war of attrition and Hitler’s blunders doomed the Axis cause. Illustrated with dozens of historical photos, this illuminating biography paints a fascinating and tragic picture of the man known as the Desert Fox.
Now in an expanded edition that includes biographies of the generals of Stalingrad and a new chapter on the panzer commanders, this book offers rare insight into the men who ran Nazi Germany s war machine. Going beyond common stereotypes, Samuel W. Mitcham and Gene Mueller recount the compelling lives of a varied group of army, navy, Luftwaffe, and SS men. Weaving in dramatic stories of tank commanders, fighter pilots in aerial combat, and U-Boat aces, the authors bring the battlefields of World War II to life."