From Normandy to the Ruhr: With the 116th Panzer Division in World War II

Normandy . . . Arnhem . . . Aachen . . . the Hürtgen Forest . . . the Ardennes Offensive . . . the Reichswald . . . the Ruhr Pocket . . . Only the men of one unit on either side fought in them all—the 116th Panzer Division. Organized in France in March 1944 from elements of the 16th Panzer-Grenadier Division and the 179th Reserve Panzer Division, the 116th Panzer Division was one of the relatively rare German armoured formations that fought exclusively on the Western Front.

The "Greyhound" Division's history has now been meticulously chronicled in narrative form and lavishly documented by the wartime Division Chief of Staff and Operations Officer, Heinz Günther Guderian. Rarely does the student of the Second World War have the opportunity to see military operations through the eyes of the men who planned and directed the battles at the tactical level. Thanks to General Guderian's keen recollections and careful research, readers of From Normandy to the Ruhr can do exactly this.

Rarer still is the author, who can lucidly and comprehensively analyse and explain the course of those battles. As the Division's First General Staff Officer throughout its training and combat, General Guderian possessed a unique point of view to do just that. Beyond the tactical decisions—and consequences of those decisions in the deadly and unforgiving arena of WWII armoured combat—the author also explains the institutional and political influences on his division's leadership. General Guderian sheds stunning new light on the reasons, operational and political, behind the fateful deployment of the elements of the German armoured reserve before and during the early days of ‘Overlord’. He details the intrigue behind his Division Commander's relief (twice in two months!) and the impact of the accompanying turbulence on the division in combat. Perhaps most importantly of all, the author provides graphic, specific evidence of the catastrophic consequences of political correctness when it infects the chain of command and results in lost battles and squandered lives. As the son of a famous general officer who had a close but dynamic relationship with Hitler, the author was especially well placed for observing and judging this insidious phenomenon.

Guderian, H.G.
Hardcover no d/w as issued 600 pages b&w photos, 26 maps Aberjona 2001 1st Ed

Near Fine

Book Code:  SA0999