German Panzers on the Offensive: Russian Front . North Africa 1941-1942

by R.H.S. Stolfi

Overview

The German Army conducted offensive military operations more effectively than any other in the twentieth century. Its unparalleled tactical and operational virtuosity is obscured by the politically conditioned circumstance of its defeat in the century’s two great wars. Writers on the Second World War compound the obscuration by thin treatment of the early German victories and exaggerated emphasis on the ponderous Allied trek to victory later in the war. The acknowledged superiority of the German Army in battle fighting, however, is exemplified by the offensives of 1939-1942, and German Panzers on the Offensive combines description and interpretation of the advances of nine German panzer divisions to reveal extraordinary details of the great victories. The author has based the study almost entirely on the division war diaries and is able to take the reader aboard the command and combat vehicles, escort him through the fighting, and extract reasons for German success in offensive maneuver war. Based as it is on primary source material, the book presents an authoritative and original interpretation of German success and not the familiar synthesis of secondary sources. The interpretation is constructed in enough detail to be a realistic basis for improvement of present-day military operations by the professional and to fascinate and inform the general reader.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780764317705
Publisher:	Schiffer Publishing, Ltd.
Publication date:	03/11/2003
Series:	A Schiffer Military History Book Series
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

Table of Contents

Part 1	Panzer Maneuver War on the Plains of the Western Soviet Union, 1941
1.	Introduction	9
2.	Centerpiece of the Advance into the Soviet Union: Army Group Center, Panzer Group 3 and the Style and Achievements of the 7th and 20th Panzer Divisions	16
3.	Centerpiece of the Advance into the Soviet Union: Army Group Center, Panzer Group 2 and the Style and Achievements of the 10th Panzer Division	26
4.	The Ukraine, Army Group South, Panzer Group 1: Style and Achievements of the 13th Panzer Division	34
5.	The Kiev Encirclement: German 3rd and 9th Panzer Divisions Link up in Central Ukraine, 15 Sep '41	56
6.	Operational Style and Organization of the Germans in Offensive Maneuver War	70
Part 2	Panzer Maneuver War in the North African Desert, 1941-1942
7.	Introduction	86
8.	Rommel	93
9.	The German Style in Maneuver War	101
10.	Observations on the German Conduct of Maneuver War in the Desert	103
11.	German Logistics in the Desert	127
12.	German Staffs: Small, Modestly Ranked, Action Oriented	132
13.	Maneuver War in the Desert: Conclusions and Applications	137
Part 3	Panzer Maneuver War in the Forests and Lakes of the Baltic, 1941
14.	Introduction	144
15.	8th Panzer Division Drives 92 Kilometers into Lithuania on the First Day of the War, 22-23 June '41	147
16.	Classic Blitzkrieg Breakthrough: 8th Panzer Division Advances 200 kilometers in 59 Hours to Rupture Soviet Baltic Front, 24-26 June '41	158
17.	Operational Paralysis at Duenaburg, Latvia, 27 June - 1 July '41	165
18.	The Blitz Renewed but Misdirected: 8th Panzer Division on the Road to Leningrad, 2-9 July '41	172
19.	Accelerated Advance of 8th Panzer Division to the Mshaga River, 10-14 July '41	180
20.	Summary of the Drive of 8th Panzer Division and Forecasting Rates of Advance from its Experience	204