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Product Description
Germany's opening run of victory in World War II was only made possible by the panzer forces that Gen. Heinz Guderian (1888-1954), the father of modern tank warfare, had created and trained, and by his audacious leadership of those forces from 1939-1941. Guderian's breakthrough at Sedan and his lightning drive to the Channel coast virtually decided the Battle of France. The drive he lead into the east came close to producing the complete collapse of Russia's armies, but at the end of 1941 Guderian was dismissed for taking a timely step back instead of pandering to Hitler's illusions. He was recalled to service only when Germany's situation had become desperate, and was eventually made Chief of the General Staff when it had become hopeless.

About the Author
Guderian was a professional soldier. He commanded the the German panzer forces in Operation Barbarossa, but was dismissed for taking a timely step backward instead of pandering to Hitler's illusions. He was eventually recalled, but only when Germany's situation had become desperate. General Guderian was adjudged free of any connection to war crimes, and he did not stand trial at Nuremburg.

Inside This Book (Learn More)

First Sentence
I first saw the light of day at Kulm on the Vistula, one Sunday morning, the 17th of June, 1888. Read the first page

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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Untainted Shield of Wehrmacht?, 12 Sep 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Panzer Leader (Paperback)

"Panzer Leader," written by a former Colonel-General of the Wehrmacht, Heinz Guderian, is a fascinating book. It is fascinating in its own right in that it describes Guderian's efforts to create and operate effective all-arms formations including armor, armored infantry and towed (later self-propelled) artillery in spite of the opposition from the more traditional elements of the Wehrmacht. With Hitler's keen interest and help, Guderian succeeded in creating such formations in "Panzerdivisionen" - armored divisions. The subsquent successes which Guderian had as a commander of such formations in Poland, France and Russia make an exciting and informed reading. However, the book is also fascinating because of the falsehood contained in it. Principally, there are two major "untruths" which often escape notice from the casual reader. The first falsehood is the credit which Guderian attributes to the late Sir Basil H. Liddell Hart as the "founder" of Blitzkrieg "doctrine." Guderian was jailed after the Second World War by the Allied authorities in the West, and it was Sir Liddell Hart who championed his (and other jailed German generals') cause. He brought them gifts and attempted to convince the authorities to free them, and eventually became the editor of their memoirs in the West. Sir Lidell Hart had been indeed an innovator of military doctrine in the 1920's, but he had, by 1930's, rejected the concept of armored warfare as viable. In any case, his reputation had fallen during the war, and this he attempted to salvage rather successfully with the help of the grateful ex-German generals after the war. Hence, Guderian inserted the line crediting Sir Liddell Hart as the founder of Blitzkrieg idea in the English edition of the book (it does not appear in the German edition) which was then edited by Sir Liddell Hart himself. Guderian really deserves the credit for integrating armor, motorized infantry and motorized artillery into an all-arms fighting formation known as Panzer Divisions. Second major "irregularity" of the book concerns the infamous "Commissar Order." Prior to launching Case Barbarossa, the invasion of Soviet Union, Hitler directed that German forces to eliminate Soviet political officers (and eventually other "undesirables" including Jews) among the captured Soviet POWs. Guderian claims in the book that he did not distribute this order to units under his command, the Second Panzer Group (later the Second Panzer Army) and that hence the order was not carried out in his command. This is an outright lie as was later effectively rebutted by the books written by Professor Omer Bartov. In fact, the Commissar Order was carried out in the Second Panzer Group. There are other smaller problems. While the account of the war in the book is largely accurate, Guderian often fails to mention that his mistakes were at times reponsible for the failure of military operations under his command. Instead he blames Hitler who, though he shares a large part of the blame, did not make the mistakes alone. This book was instrumental during the earlier years of the Cold War in implanting the idea that the "Shield of the Wehrmacht" was "untainted" - that it was Hitler and the SS who were responsible for the military failures and the atrocities and that the German army's honor and operational brilliance remained untainted. The book was welcomed in the West because it helped to buttress the argument for the rearming of the Federal Republic of Germany, and because it pointed a way to defeat the Russian "Slavic-Asiatic" hordes with West European operational and tactical brilliance. We now have a more accurate portrayal of the war available. Nonetheless, the book is useful in that it provides an insight into why the Panzer Division was such an effective instrument of war. The books shows that it was the operational and tactical brilliance of integrating all arms and allowing the unit to deal flexibly with all forms of enemies while maintaining the momentum of operation which made the German armored units so formidable, not the superior number of German tanks during the early years as Sir Churchill inaccurately pointed out in his writings. At the same time, the reader must understand the context of the book and what it does not contain and what it falsifies. For the shield of the Wehrmacht was tainted with the blood of its victims and occassional military blunders by its commanders. So long as that understanding is present, the book makes an interesting and fascinating military history reading. James J. Na

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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good insight into the German High Command, 30 Nov 2001

By	Littlegight@nero6.freeserve.co.uk, Paul Middleton (Aberdeen, Scotland) - See all my reviews

A very good book, describing the difficulties of Guderian's battles against the Inept Nazi high command, plus the actual battles he fought in against the allies. He comes across as a good general who didn't mind getting up front to where the fighting was, and seems genuinely worried about the wellfare of his troops. He is also critical of the Nazi policy against the Slavic people saying it was a wasted opertunity to rally the russian people against the threat of communism, instead treating them as slaves instead of allies. Overall a very good book.

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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How Blitzkrieg was created., 22 Jan 2003

By	"fuller_p" - See all my reviews

Opening with an excellent foreword which puts you in the mindset of the German General Staff, this book allows you to understand WWII from the German perspective.

The book starts off by describing the development of German armoured warfare which arose out of a need for mobile defence, a direct result of the Treaty of Versailles. This gives valuable insight into how the Germans were able to bring about swift victories in Poland and France at the start of the war by using their experiences from re-militarising the Ruhr region and the friendly invasion of Austria.

Guderian then gives an account of his campaigns in Poland, France and Russian up to the end of the first year when he was dismissed by Hitler. The account is backed up by sketch maps and you get an impression of what it was like to be there with the difficulties they faced from supplies to weather, the enemy and worst of all with their own high command.

Later in the war Guderian is recalled to service to try to reverse the worsening fortunes of the Army and it is this part of the book which is probably the most interesting as you see his constant battles with Hitler and the high command to make them see sense such as not to launch operation Citadel (at Kursk). However in the end sense rarely prevails and you see the disastrous consequences that Guderian has predicted come to light.

At the end of this book you come away with a good impression of Guderian and I feel that he was trying to make the best of a bad situation. However like Antony Beevor says in his book Stalingrad this type of book was written after the war and is no doubt written in such a way that the suffering of civilians is rarely mention, such as soldiers evicting russian peasants into the freezing cold and also the interactions between the Generals and the infamous SS divisions 'clearing up' behind the lines. You'll also find that the disaster at Stalingrad is not really covered in this book due to the book being a personal account from Guderian and not a full history of the campaigns.

All in all this is a great book and gives a good perspective of the war from the German perspective from the rise of German military power to it's catastrophic downfall.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Guderian
An incredible description of "the other side of the hill". Another great book from an ever greater general.

Published 19 months ago by Luis Miguel Vale

3.0 out of 5 stars no surprise
All in all it was fun to read. I expected something a bit boring. But no. The man's a good writer and had a lot to tell about.

There was one major thing I missed. Read more

Published on 4 Feb 2007 by VinceDaTool

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent
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5.0 out of 5 stars Great book
A true insight into a great military genious, Guderian shows us what went wrong with the german war machine, which was undoubtadly the best in the world at the time. Read more

Published on 30 Jan 2003 by styeraug

5.0 out of 5 stars A great military leader
After years of seeing and reading things written about the deeds of US,British, Russian Generals , Soldiers, at last I got the chance to read something entirely different in the... Read more

Published on 20 Jan 2003 by styeraug

5.0 out of 5 stars Good insight into the German High Command
A very good book, describing the difficulties of Guderian's battles against the Inept Nazi high command, plus the actual battles he fought in against the allies. Read more

Published on 30 Nov 2001 by Littlegight@nero6.freeserve.co...

5.0 out of 5 stars Behind the scenes overview of 3rd Reich war machine
This was an excellent and readable account written by a man with firsthand knowledge of Nazi high command decision making. Read more

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4.0 out of 5 stars A first person insight into the Panzer branch of Germany
Excellent book. Once you adjust to the author's meandering way of describing his work you will find a very insightful account of the inner workings of the Panzer arm of the... Read more

Published on 19 April 1999

5.0 out of 5 stars The Father of Lightning War Speaks
This book offers a rare opportunity to observe the workings of the mind of one of the foremost proponents of blitzkrieg (lightning war). Read more

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5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent. Insightfull and Facinating.
Guderian's memoirs provide a fascinating look at the people and events that shaped both the successes and failures of the BlitzKrieg, combined arms operational concept. Read more

Published on 8 Sep 1998

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	84% buy the item featured on this page: Panzer Leader (Penguin Classic Military History) 4.7 out of 5 stars (15) �12.59
	5% buy The Rommel Papers (Da Capo Paperback) 4.7 out of 5 stars (10) �17.99
	4% buy Lost Victories: War Memoirs of Hitler's Most Brilliant General 3.8 out of 5 stars (5) �11.44
	4% buy Panzer Commander: The Memoirs of Colonel Hans von Luck (Cassell Military Paperbacks) 4.3 out of 5 stars (38) �5.99


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Panzer Leader (Penguin Classic Military History) (Paperback)

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