Panzer Operations: The Eastern Front Memoir of General Raus, 1941-1945
German general Erhard Raus was one of the most talented commanders to fight on the Eastern Front in Russia, where he was eventually appointed to army group command in early 1945. By the time the war ended, Raus had established 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. In American captivity, Raus wrote a detailed memoir of his service in Russia. His battlefield experience and keen tactical eye...
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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. Choice Newton's book deserves to be read by everyone with a burning interest in WWII.
MapsAcknowledgmentsIntroductionCh. 1The Invasion of the Soviet Union1Ch. 2Raseinai14Ch. 3To the Russian Border35Ch. 4The Gateway to Leningrad46Ch. 5Moscow85Ch. 6Winter War95Ch. 7Outside Stalingrad137Ch. 8Kharkov and Kursk185Ch. 9Belgorod and Kharkov213Ch. 10Battles for the Ukraine248Ch. 11The Battle for Lvov274Ch. 12East Prussia294Ch. 13Pomerania318Ch. 14Final Thoughts of a Soldier341AppThe Life and Career of Erhard Raus349Index355
\ ChoiceNewton's book deserves to be read by everyone with a burning interest in WWII.\ \ \ \ \ Foreign AffairsRaus 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.\ \
