Panzer Division Research Articles

The greatest encirclement in history: Link up of the German 3rd and 9th panzer divisions on 15 September 1941 in the central Ukraine

In, 1941 Hitler launched his ambitious plans for the conquest of Russia, hoping to succeed where Napoleon had failed and take Moscow. By September, however, meeting serious obstacles, German objectives were turned to a closer task—the encirclement ‐ of Kiev in the Ukraine. Dr Russel Stolfi here gives an account of how this Greatest Encirclement in History was carried out by German troops, describing in detail how they dealt with Russian resistance, fuel shortage, challenging road conditions and a difficult strategic situation.

Panzer Commander: The Memoirs of Colonel Hans von Luck.

The story of a soldier who was awarded his country's highest military decorations, including the German Cross in gold and the Knight's Cross. Commander of Germany's 21st Panzer division during World War II and a protege of Field Marshall Rommel, Colonel Hans von Luck served in an army that is widely regarded as one of the most powerful in history. His memoirs provide a firsthand account of German tactics in combat. Von Luck was present at several historical junctures of the war - the invasion of Poland in 1939, the battle for France with Rommel in 1940, the march on Moscow in 1941 and the fighting at Kasserine Pass in North Africa with Rommel in 1942. After being wounded in North Africa, von Luck was eventually posted to Paris in 1943 to school junior officers in tactics. Returning to action, he participated in the struggle to repel the invasion of Normandy on D-Day, and battled French and American forces in 1944. Finally, he was part of the ill-fated defence of Berlin in 1945. Von Luck anticipated that the Axis powers were likely to be defeated after the failed invasion of Russia. By recounting his tale of the war with sensitivity and humanity, he validates the longstanding tradition of an officer and a gentleman.

Blood and honor: the history of the 12th SS Panzer Division "Hitler youth," 1943-1945

Blood and honor: the history of the 12th SS Panzer Division "Hitler youth," 1943-1945

Invalidism from the Army Due to Mental Disabilities. The Aetiological Significance of Military Conditions

The question of invalidism from the Army appears to be inextricably bound up with the rather larger problem of the needs of the Army, with which, therefore, at the risk of seeming obvious, I shall try to deal very shortly.If one may judge from the opinions of General de Gaulle, adopted largely in the training of Panzer divisions, this war differs from the last in the importance, firstly, of smaller bodies of picked men, and secondly of the continuance of production behind the lines. Thus it would now seem better to train as warriors a smaller number of eminently suitable men, while leaving others to fill those jobs of any essential kind to which they are best fitted.