Panzer Commander: The Memoirs of Colonel Hans von Luck (CASSELL MILITARY PAPERBACKS)

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During the Battle of Dompaire which was fought a few days later, the 112 Panzer Brigade had suffered heavy tank losses. In Africa and Russia alike German forces were bedevilled by chronic lack of supplies, materiel and poor decision making in Berlin. With that I must say that the writing was smooth, and was more of a character study ythan dates, facts numbers which was a departure. After this final attack had been repulsed, Luck determined that the British bridgehead could not be eliminated, but due to the counterattacks launched by Kampfgruppe von Luck, the British/Canadian forces stopped any further advance in the sector, preferring to lay mines and dig themselves in.

It had been put together with a cadre of experienced men from Russia, along with new recruits from Germany, and was commanded by General der Artillerie Edgar Feuchtinger, who had no combat and no Panzer forces experience. All through the book he generally gives shortness of scope of the military actions he is involved in. On 4 November the XX Italian Corps had been surrounded, and a 20 km gap had appeared in the German lines.Von Luck nije pisac, naravno, ali koliko puta možeš da pročitaš "u 1400 časova, naš bataljon je krenuo da opkoljava elemente američke 7. The offensive opened with a massive aerial bombardment, followed by artillery and naval gun fire, intended to suppress or destroy all defences in the path of the attack. Hans Von Luck served under all theatres of WW-II be it France, Africa or the ill fated Operation Barbarossa in Russia. He didn't know what they discussed but it would be fascinating to find out what they did talk about.

That's why I think the memoirs become more interesting when he reaches the prison camps in Georgia, where he has a lot of interesting insights on his Russian captors. If you are looking for the military history of a most accomplished soldier you will find it in this book, but you will also find an even more interesting story of life amidst the Stalinist regime in the Gulags. Napier also asserts that the timeline of Luck's stated confrontation with the Luftwaffe battery commander, just after 09:00 hours, correlates with the losses the 2nd Fife and Forfar Yeomanry at 09:30 hours since a "88mm flak battery would only need about 15 minutes to relocate a short distance". In recent years the truth of this portrayal of Luck's guns has been questioned by academics such as Ian Daglish who have studied the aerial photographs of Cagny taken hours after the battle; these show no sign of an 88mm battery or even that one had been positioned in the village.

The air raid had neutralized the remnants of the 16th Luftwaffe Field Division, which held the front line, as well as elements of the 21st Panzer Division (in particular, elements of the 22nd Panzer Battalion and the 1st battery of Assault Gun Battalion 200) leaving a hole in the German defensive line. He certainly wasn't anti-Semitic, as his girlfriend throughout the war was 1/8 Jewish, and they were told by the High Command that for that reason, he could not marry her. There are also an awful lot of stories about how noble and generous he and his men were to local civilians, and how grateful they were, and it was only in other places where less honorable German soldiers treated non-combatants with less humanity. Luck travelled to the Führer's HQ, but the plan was flatly rejected by Hitler's chief of staff, Alfred Jodl.

Rommel decided to withdraw through the partially defended Gazala positions, and Luck was tasked with protecting the south flank of the withdrawal. On 30 June 1934 Luck's unit took part in the Night of the Long Knives, arresting several Sturmabteilung members in Stettin. At the Meuse 7th Panzer was held up, due to the bridge having been destroyed and determined sniper and artillery fire from the French defenders. With this force Luck was tasked with assaulting the Orne bridges, and recapturing them from the British paratroopers.The withdrawal could only be conducted on two roads, with very high piles of snow alongside them, meaning that no maneuvering could take place. Ian Daglish, critical of Luck's account, stated "there turns out to be surprisingly little" evidence to support Luck's version of events, and that all accounts of 88 mm flak guns in Cagny being used in an anti-tank capacity "can be traced directly to Luck and no one else. Between 1940 and 1942 the British colony of Malta in the central Mediterranean faced relentless aerial attacks by the Luftwaffe and Italian Air Force.

In February 1941 Rommel was replaced by General Freiherr von Funk, and in June Luck moved with his division to East Prussia in preparation for the invasion of the Soviet Union. Over the next six years he was constantly in action in every major theatre of the war, and got to know almost every German commander of note. Here Luck established himself under General Hasso von Manteuffel's Fifth Panzer Army operating in the Lorraine area and eventually defending the Siegfried Line. He saw action in Poland, France, the Soviet Union, North Africa and finally in Normandy where he was awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross for the fierce resistance that he put up during the Allied Operation Goodwood.

He served with the 7th Panzer Division and 21st Panzer Division, seeing action in Poland, France, North Africa, Italy and Russia. The British advance ground to a halt after having covered only 9 km, and suffering the loss of some 450 tanks. Or a busy, preoccupied, fully engaged professional soldier seldom exposed to the realities of the home front? Luck was put in command of the remains of 21st Panzer Division and conducted a rearguard action, only barely able to keep the front intact until the last German forces could be withdrawn over the Seine on 26 August. On 8 June Luck led his recce battalion towards the coast, with the tanks of the Division some distance behind.