Panzer Killers: Anti-tank Warfare on the Eastern Front

by Artem Drabkin, Stuart Britton (Translator)

Overview

What was it like to confront the German panzer armies as an anti-tank gunner on the Eastern Front during the Second World War? How could you hope overcome of one of the best-equipped, well-trained and tenacious armored forces of the time? And how did the Red Army’s tactics and skills develop over the course of the war in order to counter the threat posed by the elite troops of the Wehrmacht? The vivid personal narratives of Red Army anti-tank men selected for this book give a fascinating insight into these questions – and into the first-hand experience of anti-tank warfare seventy years ago. Their testimony reveals how lethal, rapid, small-scale actions - gun against tank – were fought, and it shows how such isolated actions determined the outcome of the massive offensives and counter-offensives that characterized the struggle on the Eastern Front. Panzer Killers is a valuable addition to the series of graphic eyewitness accounts of every aspect of the Red Army’s war on the Eastern Front published by Pen & Sword.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781781590508
Publisher:	Pen and Sword
Publication date:	04/19/2013
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	15.00(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Artem Drabkin is an author and historian.

Stuart Britton is a freelance translator who resides in Cedar Rapids, IA. He is responsible for a growing number of translated Russian military memoirs, battle histories and operational studies, which saw an explosion in Russia with the opening of secret military archives and the emergence of new Russian scholars who take a more objective look at the events and historical figures. Two works that received prizes or prominent acclaim were Valeriy Zamulin’s Demolishing a Myth: The Tank Battle at Prokhorovka, Kursk 1943 and Lev Lopukhovsky’s The Viaz’ma Catastrophe, 1941: The Red Army’s Disastrous Stand Against Operation Typhoon. Notable recent translations include Valeriy Zamulin’s The Battle of Kursk: Controversial and Neglected Aspects and Igor Sdvizhkov’s Confronting Case Blue:Briansk Front’s Attempt to Derail the German Drive to the Caucasus, July 1942. Future translated publications include Nikolai Ovcharenko’s analysis of the defense, occupation and liberation of Odessa, 1941-1944, and Zamulin’s detailed study of 7th Guards Army’s role and performance in the Battle of Kursk against Army Detachment Kempf.

Table of Contents

Translator's Note vi

1 The Burning Snow of the 'Pakfront' Aleksei Isaev 1

2 The First Battle is the Hardest Vitaly Andreevich Ulianov 15

3 There were No Long-term Survivors Nikolay Dmitrievich Markov 49

4 A Legendary Hero of Prokhorovka Mikhail Fedorovich Borisov 64

5 A Fight to the Finish Boris Vasil'evich Nazarov 86

6 Enough Endurance Trials for a Lifetime Moisei Isaakovich Dorman 103

7 'We've Always Fought with Our Fists…' Vladimir Matveevich Zimakov 122

8 'The Beast-Killer' Nikolai Konstantinovich Shishkin 132

9 Ordered to Knock-out a Ferdinand Aleksei Prokhorovich Voloshin 155

10 'Our Fate was not Envied at the Front…' Mikhail Aleksandrovich Chernomordik 162

11 One of the Very Few Aleksandr Vasil'evich Rogachev 184