Panzer Operations: The Eastern Front Memoir of General Raus, 1941-1945 FROM THE PUBLISHER
Erhard Raus was one of the most talented commanders to fight on the Eastern Front in Russia, where he was appointed to army group command in early 1945. By war's end, Raus had earned a reputation as one of the German army's foremost tacticians of armored warfare-which made him a prized capture by U.S. Army intelligence. While in American captivity, Raus wrote this detailed memoir of his service on the Eastern Front.
Raus's memoir-now translated, compiled, and edited by prominent World War II historian Steven H. Newton-covers the entire Russian campaign from the first day of the war to the spring of 1945. It includes a detailed examination of the 6th Panzer Division's drive to Leningrad, Raus's experiences in the Soviet winter counteroffensive around Moscow, the unsuccessful attempt to relieve the siege of Stalingrad, and the final desperate battles inside Germany at the end of the war.
Panzer Operations is "a vivid account" (Foreign Affairs) that "deserves to be read by everyone with a burning interest in World War II" (Choice).
SYNOPSIS
Drawing from post-war reports commissioned by U.S. Army intelligence, World War II historian Steven H. Newton has translated, compiled, and edited the battle accounts of one of Germany's finest panzer commanders and a skilled tactician of tank warfare. Throughout most of the war, Erhard Raus was a highly respected field commander in the German-Soviet war on the eastern front, and after the war he wrote an insightful analysis of German strategy in that campaign. The Raus memoir covers the Russian campaign from the first day of the war to his relief from command at Hitler's order in the spring of 1945. It includes a detailed examination of the 6th Panzer Division's drive to Leningrad, Raus's own experiences in the Soviet winter counteroffensive around Moscow, the unsuccessful attempt to relieve Stalingrad, and the final desperate battles inside Germany at the end of the war. His battlefield experience and keen tactical eye make his memoir especially valuable for scholars, and his narrative is as readable as Heinz Guderian's celebrated Panzer Leader.
FROM THE CRITICS
Choice
Newton's book deserves to be read by everyone with a burning
interest in WWII.
Foreign Affairs
Raus was one of the Wehrmacht's most accomplished generals, and his memoirs are a welcome addition to the literature on World War II. Raus entered Russia in June 1941 as a brigade commander in Germany's sixth Panzer division and quickly led his troops to the outskirts of Leningrad. Even after the German invasion faltered, his career prospered; by the end of 1943, Raus was in command of the fourth Panzer army. As Germany's position deteriorated, he moved from one army to another, until his failed effort to defend Pomerania resulted in his dismissal. (He delivered the bad tiding to Hitler himself, "physically broken-down, embittered and suspicious.") This account was mostly written after the war, and excerpts were later used for U.S. military training. Newton has performed a valuable service by reassembling and translating the original into a vivid account of operations and an insightful study of how the German army showed such tactical aptitude even when saddled with bad strategy.
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