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Panzer Commander (Paperback)

The Memoirs of Hans von Luck

Military > Frontline Books > Frontline: WWII WWII > Battles & Campaigns > D-Day & Normandy WWII > Battles & Campaigns > Russia & the Eastern Front > Operation Barbarossa

By Hans Von Luck
Frontline Books
Pages: 320
Illustrations: 16 black and white
ISBN: 9781526781833
Published: 7th August 2020
Last Released: 8th August 2023

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A professional soldier, Hans von Luck joined the Panzerwaffe in its earliest days, serving under Erwin Rommel. Skilled in the art of armoured warfare, von Luck fought in the invasion of Poland in 1939 and was present as the Blitzkrieg swept across the Low Countries and France the following year.

In 1941 Hitler’s forces turned their attention to the East, launching their invasion of the Soviet Union, Operation Barbarossa, on 22 June. Hans von Luck’s unit was one of the many deployed in that offensive.

Von Luck then served with the Afrika Korps in the Western Desert. In describing his service in this theatre, he tells of the occasionally chivalrous relationship with the men of the Eighth Army. After the Axis collapse in Africa, he returned to Europe and fought throughout the Normandy Campaign.

Captured by the Soviets at the end of the war, he was held for five years in a prisoner of war camp. After the war, he formed friendships with those who had been his opponents during the war, including Major John Howard, who had led the capture of Pegasus Bridge on D-Day.

As the renowned historian M.R.D. Foot once wrote, Panzer Commander is ‘a book that shows the finest face of the old officer class, the Kaderfamilie of central Europe, who were brought up to fight, but to fight clean – even when they came under the orders of satanic leaders’. That this unique and insightful account of one man’s war and its aftermath is one of the classic memoirs of the Second World War is beyond doubt.

This is one of the few books that MUST be part of any library. The quality of writing is excellent. It is vivid and engaging. It paints the finest of verbal pictures and it does so without demonstrations of ego. It is a book that must be read by Germans and by Europeans because it is one of the building blocks of knowledge that creates the palace of history.

Firetrench Reviews

his was first published back in 1989 but now Frontline Books have released this new edition and oh what an interesting read this is.  Very much a 'professional soldier', this is about his life and career as an officer in the German army.  First the Reichswehr and later the Wehrmacht.  It is split across 27 chapters tackoling some fascinating aspects of the war as seen in his own eyes.

There's no exagerating of his skills, nor of any political influences, just a really interesting story of a professional soldier whose experiences before, during and after WW2 make for a good story.

militarymodeling.com

This unique account of one German mans war is required reading for all those interested in WWII.

Military History Monthly

One of the more valuable World War II memoirs – an exceptional volume.

Book List

A soldier, a warrior, and a leader who never failed his men, and whose courage never faltered.

Library Journal

This is a book that shows the finest face of the old officer class, the Kaderfamilie of central Europe, who were brought up to fight, but to fight clean – even when they came under the orders of satanic leaders.

M. R. D Foote, The Times Picayune

Well and vividly written . . . My father thought very highly of Colonel von Luck as a man and soldier.

Manfred Rommel

About Hans Von Luck

Born in 1911 in Flensburg, Germany, HANS VON LUCK joined the Reichswehr as a cadet in 1929. He served in the Panzerwaffe from its earliest days until the very end of the Second World War. After five years in a Soviet prison camp, he returned to Germany in 1950, working first as a hotel receptionist and then in the coffee business. He died in 1997.

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