Panzer Commander: The Memoirs of Colonel Hans von Luck

Panzer Commander: The Memoirs of Colonel Hans von Luck

"For all the millions of words that have been written on World War II, the list of truly noteworthy memoirs by ordinary fighting men is surprisingly brief. . . . For sheer breadth of recorded experience, no soldier's memoir can match Hans von Luck's Panzer Commander.... There seems little of the war in Europe and Africa that Luck did not take part in, and few of the German military leaders whom he did not know or meet. A professional soldier who joined the German army in 1929 at eighteen, he was taught battle tactics by Erwin Rommel and later became one of Rommel's favorite line officers." Military History Quarterly "[T]his is one of the more valuable World War II memoirs to appear in some time. It is the story of a German tank officer who saw action from the Polish blitzkrieg to the fall of Belin and then spent five years as a Russian prisoner. His is the portrait of the best sort of soldier in one of the best armies of modern times, and it also provides insights into North African campaign commander Erwin Rommel's leadership, thoughts on why Germans made an idol of Hitler, and much else. An exceptional volume, recommended for most World War II or military collections." Booklist This unique memoir tells the story of one of the field-grade officers whose martial skills sustained the Third Reich against a world in arms. Von Luck fought in the Wehrmacht's armored forces for six years in Europe, Russia, and North Africa; then spent five years in a Russian labor camp. His narrative is as free from cant as it is from braggadocio and false modesty. It presents a soldier, a warrior, and a leader who never failed his men, and whose courage never faltered. It also portrays someone whose comprehensive lack of insight into the nature of the regime he served will be difficult for many readers to credit. Yet von Luck's sincerity is apparent; and his was a mind-set too widespread in Germany to be dismissed as mere self-exculpation. Failure to understand it leaves the Nazi years a mystery. Recommended for collections in this area, especially as a counterpoint to Sieg Heil!: War Letters of Tank Gunner Karl Fuchs, 1937-1941 ( LJ 9/1/87), whose narrator served in the same division as von Luck on the Russian front. - Dennis Showalter, Colorado Coll., Colorado Springs Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. HANS VON LUCK is a Professional Soldier. A battalion commander of Germany's 21st Panzer Division during World War II, he received his country's highest military decorations for courage, including the German Gold Cross. He was a student of, as well as a commander serving under, Field Marshall Rommel.