Achtung Panzer!

Description

Written by a soldier of independent mind, this work pushed forward the evolution of land warfare and was directly responsible for German armoured supremacy in the early years of World War II. Published in 1937, the result of 15 years of study since his days on the German General Staff in World War I, Guderian's book argued, quite clearly, how vital the proper use of tanks and supporting armoured vehicles would be in the conduct of a future war. When that war came, just two years later, he proved it, leading his Panzers with distinction in the Polish, French and Russian campaigns. Panzer warfare had come of age, exactly as he had forecast.

Born in 1888, Heinz Guderian served in World War One, came to Hitler s attention in 1935, was made corps commander of Panzer troops and promoted to General in 1938. His tanks were greatly successful in the invasions of Poland and France and, perceived as pro-Nazi, Guderian was much in favour. However, when the Russian invasion failed in the winter of 1941, Guderian was forced to resign, not to regain his position until 1944, when the war was all but lost. He died in Bavaria in 1954.