Excellent source of reference

books:

	• Panzer Truppen: The Complete Guide to the Creation & Combat Employment of Germany's Task Force-Formations, ... Thomas L. Jentz Schiffer Publishing, 1996 - 304 pages average customer review:based on 10 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Best $50 I've spent

This is perhaps the most usefull book on the German panzer forces in World War II, and anyone interested in the subject needs a copy.

In the first portion of the book, Jentz provides a thorough history of the development and employment of panzer formations. This includes initial formation of the first units, the development of prototypes and early equipment, as well as German armored doctrine and tactics.

The remaining portion of the book covers the employment of the Panzer divisions in war from 1939-1942. In this section, Jentz provides a wealth of information. One very usefull feature is that the organization of panzer companies, battalions, and divisions are tracked (along with the translated text of orders changing the organizations) and presented in tables or figures. Given that the Germans frequently changed the organization of these units, this is very valuable information.

Jentz also presents tank strengths and tank types for each division at the start of major operations as part of orders of battle for the panzer divisions. For example, it is thus possible to quickly look up how many Panzer II tanks were available for the invasion of France, and the amount that each division had.

The end of the book has a number of appendices, which provide data on monthly on-hand strength of each tank as well as technical data on for German and a variety of Allied tanks.

I also strongly recommend Jentz's follow-up to this, which is Panzer Truppen volume II, and covers 1943-1945.

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Superb reference source!

Thomas Jentz's book proves to be a fantastic source of information regarding the German Panzer forces during World War II. This volume covers the period from the early 1930s to 1942. It uses primary German sources that revealed the evolutionary stages of the German panzer formations, their weapons and numbers as the years rolled by. The book also reflects on German perception of how they did, how their tanks performed and needs for changes.

The book reflects the closeness to the source German material. The author expects the reader to have a fine tune knowledge of the German military prior to reading this book. If you have to look up to see the difference between a Panzer 38(t) to Panzer IVd, this book is probably not for you. The unit organization tables are done in the unfamiliar German symbolism instead of your usual NATO symbols so that can be confusing to the novice.

The book seem to be written for people who wants a greater understanding of the German panzer formations and thier gradual metamorphosis. The second volume covers the second half of the war when the German forces were mostly on the defensive mode.

Overall, highly informative reading material, not for the casual reader since this book don't exactly read like a best seller.

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Excellent source of reference

It would be hard not to repeat what was written before by the previous three reviewers. I think they all hit it right on the money. Tom Jentz followed up his previous volume on this subject by finishing it on to the bitter end of the Third Reich. The book shows the continual development, evolution and usage of the Panzer units as they fought on against greater odds and worsting field positions. New panzers with their inherited problems caused considerable hiccups along the line but overall, the book revealed in all clarity, how the Germans developed their panzer units. Using after action reports and selective units, the author is able to traced the unit structure of several individual units.

There is host of detail information inside this book that will hold a mother lode of happiness to anyone who is interested in this subject matter. However, I must used the word of caution since this book was primary geared for readers who are already well read and well schooled in this subject matter. Any novice readers will definitely find this book bit over their heads. All the charts are all done in German style with a lot of German words inserted here and there. On the other hand, there are host of interesting photographs to look at.

Overall, this book comes highly recommended for anyone who wishes to advance their knowledge on the subject matter as long as its understood that material can get pretty dense if you are not familiar with the subject.

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Untainted Excellent Info

Fantastic books! The detail and information is great. These are not "spec" books of German tanks. The wonderful inclusion of original correspondence between Beck, Fromm, Guderian, etc is fascinating reading. The extensive usage of original German terminology makes for difficult reading (unless you are fluent in German) but is very much appreciated to avoid errors of translation.

Excellent reference

This book, along with volume one which covers pre-war development and early war employment of the Panzer divisions, is an excellent reference. Any information you need about German armored divisions from 1943-1945 is likely here. I can not recommend it highly enough.

Jentz picks up in this volume where he left off in the previous book. He provides a wealth of information on force structures (including how platoons, companies, battalions, staff companies, etc.) were organized. All of this is presented in tables and figures for easy reference. Each reorganizaton is accompanied by the translated order which created the change. As in the first volume, Jentz provides unit strengths, as well as listing tank types, for each division at the start of a new operation (or at the end of one).

Also included are numerous translated after-action reports, which reveal a great deal about German armored tactics and the performance of their tanks in the field. These are fascinating, and are not available anywhere else. One final table in particularly interesting: it presents the number of tanks available to each division at the end of the war. Many panzer "divisions" had only a platoon's worth of tanks left.

The end of the book presents a variety of data in a set of appendices. This includes charts showing monthly data on the on-hand strength of each tank type as well as comparative technical data for German and Allied late-war tanks.

Also strongly recommended is volume I of the set; with both, you have a comprehensive set of information on the Panzer divisions in World War II. I constantly refer to both of them, so much that they are usually out on my desk rather than back on the shelf.

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reviews: page 1, 2

In September of 1939, the world was astounded by Germany's ability to defeat Poland in less than a month. With the world still puzzled by the suddenness of this event, Denmark, Norway, Holland, Belgium, and France fell in rapid succession to the German onslaught, leaving Britain in shock. Greece and Yugoslavia were rapidly over-run during April of 1941, while German-Italian forces advanced rapidly in North Africa. Russia's turn was next, when German forces began pulverizing their forces in June of 1941. How had Germany achieved victory after victory, often against numerically superior enemy forces? The answer came in two words-Panzer and Blitzkrieg. When and how had Germany built its Panzer forces and trained them for the Blitzkrieg? When was each Panzer unit formed? What was their organization? Why were Panzer units disbursed among the Panzer-Divisions. leichte Divisions, and Armee-Korps? When were the various types of Panzers developed? What were their armament, armor protection, capability? How many of each type were produced? What tactics did they use? How successful were they in combat? This is the only book that provides detailed answers to these and other questions related to how German tankers fought in World War II. Tom Jentz found the answers to these questions bu digging through original records for the past tweny-five years. The content os this book is derived solely from these original records consisting of war diaries, reports, and technical and tactical manuals written during the war. The story is told as recorded by those responsible for decisions in developing the Panzertruppen and by those who fought in the Panzers. As work on this book progressed it became apparent that the story of the Panzertruppen was divided into two distinctly separate phases; offensive and defensive. This first volume presents the offensive phase up to October 1942. A second volume is planned that will cover the defensive phase to the end of the war. Tom Jentz is also the author of Germany's Panther Tank: The Quest of Combat Supremacy(available from Schiffer Publishing Ltd.).

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