dumbstruck
2013-11-23 21:23:54 UTC
I'm reading an interesting book by a mid-level "Panzer Commander", I will
pass along some of his impressions from various fronts that surprised me,
and maybe you can recommend other such memoirs. I had read the Stuka memoirs
and maybe something by a u-boat commander, Incidentally this author (Hans
von Luck) pointed out how early in the war the army could have it easy
just idling in some comfy town, while the air force and navy was constantly
in grinding combat.
I remember a US correspondent retracing the invasion of France being shocked
to find almost no signs of defensive combat. Luck points out that they
simply ignored French forces unless they were directly in the way of an
objective. The French would shoot from the sides, but Rommel told them
to simply drive faster and let the infantry later mop up.
Luck captures villages on the north and west coast of France, usually
under affable conditions. From his "von" you can guess he is an old style
aristocrat that treated opponents with some honor, but was followed up by
party thug occupiers that made the villages regret their easy giving up.
In Russia, the villages at first saw him as a Christian liberator over
atheism, and immediately reopened churches and services until the thugs
came. In Africa, Bedouins welcomed them as supposed Jew killers vs the
colonial British (to his embarrassment).
Luck's uniform problems come in Africa, not Russia. In Russia, the
German people sent enough warm civilian clothes... the problem being
it was mostly pilfered before reaching the front line troops. There were
no rules about distributing non-standard clothes, so the troops in the
comfy rear just grabbed what they wanted and passed on the junk. For
Africa, the tropical uniform was hot, tight, and didn't breathe. So
they had to find Italian uniforms (maybe caused some confusion to allies?).
Luck is pretty lucky or smart. He retreats from Russia (in his Mercedes)
alongside AA guns, while the rest of the column is mauled by strafing.
When a Russian raises a rifle to shoot him, he is holding a machine
pistol which he can instantly tilt up and spray first... maybe not so
good results if he depended on a pistol or carbine. I will end with the
magic keywords that prevent my posts from being automatically rejected
due to inadvertent length problems... long lines
pass along some of his impressions from various fronts that surprised me,
and maybe you can recommend other such memoirs. I had read the Stuka memoirs
and maybe something by a u-boat commander, Incidentally this author (Hans
von Luck) pointed out how early in the war the army could have it easy
just idling in some comfy town, while the air force and navy was constantly
in grinding combat.
I remember a US correspondent retracing the invasion of France being shocked
to find almost no signs of defensive combat. Luck points out that they
simply ignored French forces unless they were directly in the way of an
objective. The French would shoot from the sides, but Rommel told them
to simply drive faster and let the infantry later mop up.
Luck captures villages on the north and west coast of France, usually
under affable conditions. From his "von" you can guess he is an old style
aristocrat that treated opponents with some honor, but was followed up by
party thug occupiers that made the villages regret their easy giving up.
In Russia, the villages at first saw him as a Christian liberator over
atheism, and immediately reopened churches and services until the thugs
came. In Africa, Bedouins welcomed them as supposed Jew killers vs the
colonial British (to his embarrassment).
Luck's uniform problems come in Africa, not Russia. In Russia, the
German people sent enough warm civilian clothes... the problem being
it was mostly pilfered before reaching the front line troops. There were
no rules about distributing non-standard clothes, so the troops in the
comfy rear just grabbed what they wanted and passed on the junk. For
Africa, the tropical uniform was hot, tight, and didn't breathe. So
they had to find Italian uniforms (maybe caused some confusion to allies?).
Luck is pretty lucky or smart. He retreats from Russia (in his Mercedes)
alongside AA guns, while the rest of the column is mauled by strafing.
When a Russian raises a rifle to shoot him, he is holding a machine
pistol which he can instantly tilt up and spray first... maybe not so
good results if he depended on a pistol or carbine. I will end with the
magic keywords that prevent my posts from being automatically rejected
due to inadvertent length problems... long lines