Table of Contents Title Page Copyright Page Introduction CHAPTER ONE - BEGINNINGS CHAPTER TWO - MATRICES CHAPTER THREE - TRIUMPH CHAPTER FOUR - CLIMAX CHAPTER FIVE - DEATH RIDE CHAPTER SIX - ENDGAME CHAPTER SEVEN - FINALE EPILOGUE INDEX THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP Published by the Penguin Group Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.) Penguin Books Ltd., 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England Penguin Group Ireland, 25 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd.) Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd.) Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd., 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi—110 017, India Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, North Shore 0632, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd.) Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty.) Ltd., 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England This book is an original publication of The Berkley Publishing Group The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content Copyright © 2009 Dennis Showalter All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission Please not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights Purchase only authorized editions BERKLEY CALIBER and its logo are trademarks of Penguin Group (USA) Inc Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Showalter, Dennis E Hitler’s Panzers : the lightning attacks that revolutionized warfare / Dennis Showalter p cm Includes index eISBN : 978-1-101-15168-6 Germany Heer—Armored troops—History—20th century Tanks (Military science)— Germany-—History—20th century World War, 1939-1945—Tank warfare World War, 1939-1945—Germany Hitler, Adolf, 1889-1945—Military leadership Lightning war— Germany—History—20th century Military art and science—Germany—History—20th century I Title D757.54.S56 2009 940.54’1343—dc22 2009017551 http://us.penguingroup.com GERMAN CAMPAIGN IN THE WEST, 1940 GERMAN INVASION OF SOVIET UNION, 1941-1942 CAMPAIGNS IN NORTH AFRICA EASTERN FRONT, 1943-1944 outclassing of proving their worth rearming replacing up-gunning Panzer IV, canceling final versions of increased production of maintenance of origins of replacing reputation of testing up-gunned with Tank Gun M Panzer IVH Panzerjaeger Panzer Lehr Division Panzer Regiment Parachute Panzer Division See “Hermann Göring” Pas de Calais Paulus, Friedrich von Paulus, Weichs fed Peiper, Jochen war criminal trial of People’s Commissariat of Defense Personality profiles Petain, Philippe Poland derogatory attitudes toward invasion of Red Army crossing into supply column losses in Polish Home Army Political Emergency Readiness Formations Ponyi Porsche, Ferdinand Poseck, Maximilian von Preparatory Commission on Disarmament Prioux, Rene ordering withdrawal Prison system Prokhorovka accounts of losses at Provisional Instructions for Tank and Armored Car Training Pskov Rabenau, Friedrich Racism Nazi during Operation Barbarossa of Waffen SS War and Railway Raus, Erhard fencer metaphor of trial of Reconnaissance battalion Red Air Force improvements in responding to Operation Typhoon Red Army counterattack crossing into Poland estimates of maintaining inventory missions of Order executions of reaching Baltic Sea as “reluctant soldiers,” retreat suffering from expansion Western images of Das Reich capture of Mortain casualty records of massacre of civilians at Oradour-sur-Glane order to remove cuff titles in Yelna Reichenau, Walther von calling for retribution against Jews death of Reichswehr dictating conditions of battle expansion plans field service regulations international admiration for maneuvers motorization achievements of, limited Restructuring Plan of November 1932, Seeckt on self-image of Treaty of Versailles specifying structure of Replacement Army Revisionists Rheinmetall Richthofen, Manfred von Richthofen, Wolfram von Richtlinien für die Führung der Panzerdivision Riefenstahl, Leni Rodin, A G Rokossovsky, Konstantin Romania declaring war on Germany Iron gates joining Axis Rommel, Erwin achievements of antitank operations appointed to commander in chief approach to Atlantic Wall on conquering Suez Canal criticism of D-Day expectations of establishing “thrust line,” flexibility of at head of drive to Middle East health of injured in air strike judging leadership style of logistics of in North Africa performance of signature attack of strategic vision of Rostov fall of SS Leibstandarte at Ruhr Rundstedt, Gerd von arguing for run on Moscow Kleist complaining to memorandum on Atlantic Wall stop order in France Rzhev salient abandonment of Soviet casualties from Soviet perspective stabilization of tactical characterization of Saint Lo Salerno Salonika Sankt Pölten Schaal, Friedrich Schadenfreude Schlachtstaffeln Schlieffen, Alfred von Schlieffen Plan Schlisselburg Schmidt, Rudolph Schörner, Ferdinand Schutzstaffel Schweppenburg, Leo Geyr von Scorching earth SdKfz official variants of SdKfz SdKfz exported to China modifications to SdKfz Achtrad modifications to SdKfz 234/2 Puma SdKfz SdKfz complexity of delays up-gunning 2nd Armored Division 2nd Canadian Corps 2nd Guards Tank Corps 2nd Light Mechanized Divisions 2nd Motorized Division 2nd Panzer Army run towards Kursk surrender of 2nd SS Motorized 2nd SS Panzer Corps 2nd Ukrainian Front Seeckt, Hans von criticism of cavalry on mass misinterpretations of on Reichswehr reputation of 7th Panzer Division at Dvina-Dnieper line finishing war as “ghost division,” passing through Maginot Line Seven Years’ War Shakhty Trials Sherman gun range production of up-gunning Sichelschnitt response to Sicily Allies landing in 2nd Armored Division in Sidi Rezegh 16th Corps attacking civilians 16th Panzer Division 6th Army controversy over holding destruction of march towards Kiev recreated 6th Panzer Division catchphrases from holding Mishkova River bridgehead push to Stalingrad 6th Panzer Regiment 6th SS Panzer Army ordered to Hungary surrender of 61st Panzer Slave labor Smolensk SOMUA S35 Soviet Northwest Front Soviet Southwestern Front Army Group South attack on offensive around Kharkov Soviet Union atrocities in cooperation with Germany creating/sustained by Jews invasion decision order of battle road conditions tank quality winter in Spanish Civil War aircraft and Citino on Liddell-Hart on tanks in Speer Speer, Albert SS Leibstandarte mass shooting of Soviet prisoners by order to remove cuff titles POW massacres by reputation of at Rostov upgrades withdrawal to France SS Panzer Corps Stalin, Josef authorizing retreat Order 227 issued by ordering Kiev held treatment of own people Stalingrad Army Group A occupation mission of Army Group B ordered to attack Front holding of outside relief for 6th Panzer Division push to Soviet withdrawal into Stalin Line Staryi Bychoff Stavelot Steiner, Felix Stokes mortar Strachan, Hew Straits of Messina Student, Kurt Stunde Null Sturmgeschütz-Abteilungens Sturmgeschütz III, SU Suez Canal Sweden T-26 infantry tank T-34 Guderian demanding inquiry into T-34/85 Tank(s) See also specific Tanks air attacks on Allied use of Beck on delivery problems dummy fright future role of guiding tactical principle of Heye on impact in Great War inability to provide up-to-date independence of Lutz on in mass missions negative judgments on platoon formations production of prototypes quality control as quintessential Fascist weapon Rabenau on reduction in rewards for defeating school at Kazan Soviet quality of in Spanish Civil War tank v technical development of technical limitations of theory vulnerabilities as weapons of opportunity Tank Destroyer “Tanker black,” Tank Gun M Tapered-bore gun Taschenbuch der Tanks (Heigl) Taysen, Friedrich von 10th Frundsberg 10th Panzer Division Thermopylae 3rd Armored Division 3rd Army 3rd Byelorussian Front 3rd Light Mechanized Division 3rd Panzer Army taking of Kalinin 3rd Panzer Corps advance to Budapest 3rd (Germanic) Panzer Corps 3rd Panzer Division at Dvina-Dnieper line in Grenoble 3rd SS Panzer Corps 3rd Ukrainian Front 13th Panzer Division 38(t) delivery of production of 35th Panzer Regiment 35(t) 39th Panzer Thomas, Wilhelm Ritter von Tiger I, as birthday present for Hitler employment of gun power modifications to origins of primary missions of production of survivability rate of technical challenges of victimized by reputation volunteers for Tiger II, Timoshenko, Semyon TNHP TNHP Todt, Fritz Tolbukhin, Fyodor “To live like God in France,” Totenkopf POW massacres by return of surrender of Treaty of Rapallo Treaty of Versailles abolishing General Staff specifying structure of Reichswehr violation of Trenchard, Hugh Triumph of Will “Trumpets of Jericho,” Truppenamt monitoring foreign developments tank proposals Truppenführung Tuchfühling TuF machine gun Tukhachevsky, Mikhail Tula Tungsten Tunisia 12th SS Panzer Division 21st Army Group 21st Panzer Division 23rd Panzer Division 24th Panzer Corps, towards Tula 25th Panzer Division 25th Panzer Regiment 26th Guards Rifle Corps 249th Assault Gun Brigade Ukraine ULTRA code breaking Uman United States captivity myths entering into war Hitler declaring war on Unit rotation Urban combat Vatutin, N F at Kursk V-E Day Vereker, John Verfügungsdivision Verfügungstruppen Vernichtungsschlacht Vickers-Carden-Lloyd Vickers Medium “Victory disease,” Vienna Viking Division fighting into Gomel motivations for reputation of return of Volckheim, Ernst Volga Volkskrieg Vollard- Bockelberg, Alfred von Waffen SS achievements of concentration camp system and, distinction between criminality of enlisting racially-suitable non-Germans identity of as ideological soldiers of National Socialism institutional improvement of loyalty of officers of in Operation Citadel origins of racism of rank structures reputation of standards subdividing upgrading vitalism of volunteer enlistment in weapon allocations War See also Blitzkrieg; specific Wars as art form as Bildungserlebnis British approach to clean critique of mass exterminating games German approach to managerial approach to material mechanized mobile National Socialist view of panache in racism and scientific approach to situational awareness in Soviet approach to as test of skill/virtue total United States approach to War crimes See also specific War criminals discrepancies in judging High Command Trial pardoned by de Gaulle Warsaw Army Group South in fall of Hitler’s ordered destruction of Wasp Wehrmacht basic training as “clean-shield” force demodernization discipline expectations for officers facilities of forced-draft expansion of growth of homogenization institutional mentality of mythology of officer personalities pragmatism replacement pool as rite of passage success in reconfiguration training casualties waves westwards deployment Weichs, Maximillian von Weinberg, Gerhard Wespe Weygand, Maxime Wietersheim, Gustav von Willkischken Wittmann, Michael Yelna Yom Kippur War Yugoslavia coup in ordered destruction of Zaloga, Stephen Zeitzler, Kurt Zuckmayer, Carl Zukhov, Georgi appointed as deputy supreme commander at Kursk reputation of Another element of the reorganization was Hitler’s creation of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (Wehrmacht High Command), in theory superior to the Army High Command, and intended as its rival —a common pattern in the Nazi regime In practice it functioned as his personal advisory board After 1940, OKW was given responsibility for an increasing number of “secondary” war theaters; by 1942, only the Eastern Front remained under direct control of the Army High Command Since that theater absorbed most of the panzers for most of the war, for the sake of clarity, “High Command” refers to the army authority in this text unless otherwise noted It was officially renamed II SS Panzer Corps in June, but the original designation remained common usage during Kursk Eventually some “Army Assault Artillery Brigades” would have 45 guns plus an “escort battery” of riflemen and pioneers That upgrading, however, was in the future and too often on paper The “Sherman factor” is even larger if the Cromwell, which equipped a half-dozen British armored battalions, is understood as a Sherman counterpart, with higher speed but the same kind of mediumvelocity 75mm gun and similar protection British armored divisions in 1944 had a force ratio based on the “ideal” panzer division of 1941-42: three tank battalions, one mechanized and three truck-borne infantry battalions, and an “armored reconnaissance” battalion, also tank-equipped Their initial employment in separate armored and infantry brigades proved too rigid and usually gave way in practice to a battle group system pairing tank and infantry battalions, two pairs to each brigade An interesting organizational footnote is the British experiment in 1942 with “mixed divisions” of two infantry and one tank brigades—the same combination initially advocated for postwar US armored divisions However, based on infantry divisions with an infantry ethos, the experiment proved a failure The name was changed to Autumn Mist (Herbstnebel ) in December, but to avoid confusion the original is used throughout ... alike are the armored forces: the tanks and assault guns, the motorized infantry, and the supporting arms of the panzer and panzer grenadier divisions of the army and the Waffen SS They were the. .. technology facilitated their concentration in the theater of war, the new German Empire kept pace In 1914 its armies took the field without a hitch At the other end of the military spectrum,... panzers at the center of three interfacing narratives It presents the panzers contributions to the development of mechanized war and armor technology, their influence on the role of the army in