Knight's Cross Panzers


Book Description

First time in English. Unit history of a tank regiment on the Eastern Front. Relies on firsthand accounts, after-action reports, letters, diaries, and newspapers.




SS-Obersturmbannführer Otto Weidinger


Book Description

Holder of the Knight's Cross with Oakleaves and Swords, Otto Weidinger was the last commander of SS-Regiment "Der Führer". Among the best field officers of the Waffen-SS, he graduated from SS officer school and served throughout the war. This fully revised and expanded edition of his authorised biography provides a wealth of information for the historian and military collector. Lavishly illustrated with over 130 photographs and documents, many never before seen, the volume covers Weidinger's military career and life in complete detail. This vastly expanded classic is an essential study of one of the most decorated officers of the 2.SS-Panzer-Division "Das Reich".




Knight's Cross and Oak-Leaves Recipients 1939–40


Book Description

In 1939 a new grade in the Iron Cross series was introduced, the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes). It was awarded for a variety of reasons, from skilled leadership to a single act of extreme gallantry, and was bestowed across all ranks, grades, and branches of service. As the war progresed, further distinctions were created for bestowal on existing winners, namely Oak-Leaves (Eichenlaub); Oak-Leaves with Swords (Eichenlaub und Schwertern); and Oak-Leaves with Swords and Diamonds (Eichenlaub, Schwerter und Brillanten). This book, the first in a sequence of four, covers winners of the Knights Cross and the Oak-Leaves distinction in the period 1939-40.




Knights of the Reich


Book Description

Biographies of the twenty-seven Holders of the Diamonds to the Knight's Cross from the Luftwaffe, Heer, Kriegsmarine and Waffen-SS: Werner Molders, Adolf Galland, Gordon Gollob, Hans-Joachim Marseilles, Hermann Graf, Erwin Rommel, Wolfgang Luth, Walter Nowotny, Adelbert Schulz, Hans-ulrich Rudel, Hyazinth Graf Strachwitz, Herbert Otto Gille, Hans Hube, Albert Kesselring, Helmut Lent, Sepp Dietrich, Walter Model, Erich Hartmann, Hermann Balck, Gerhard Ramcke, Wolfgang Schnaufer, Albrecht Brandi, Ferdinand Schorner, Hasso von Manteuffel, Theodor Tolsdorff, Dr. Karl Mauss, Dietrich von Saucken.




Tigers in the Mud


Book Description

WWII began with a metallic roar as the German Blitzkrieg raced across Europe, spearheaded by the most dreaded weapon of the 20th century: the Panzer. No German tank better represents that thundering power than the infamous Tiger, and Otto Carius was one of the most successful commanders to ever take a Tiger into battle, destroying well over 150 enemy tanks during his incredible career.




The Face of Courage


Book Description

Profiles of the 98 German soldiers--out of millions--who received both the Knight's Cross (for extreme bravery) and the Close-Combat Clasp in Gold (for at least 50 days of hand-to-hand fighting) during World War II.




The Knight's Cross with Oakleaves, 1940-1945


Book Description

This extensive, two-volume set presents every recipient of the Knight's Cross with Oakleaves, awarded during the Second World War, and presented personally by Hitler from 1940 until 1945. Described inside - and shown with at least one photograph - are each of the 889 recipients from the Luftwaffe, Heer, Waffen-SS, and Kriegsmarine, as well as foreign recipients. This work contains over 1000 photographs, from the author's own collection as well as other private collections. This is first time such a work has been written in the English language and is a must for anyone interested in Germany's highest decoration, as well as anyone interested in the careers of each recipient.




Knight's Cross Holders of the Afrikakorps


Book Description

Each recipient is presented in a capsule biography including date of birth, awarding of the various Knights Cross grades, and other particulars to rank and career. Each is also shown in a World War II era photograph.




Panzer Ace


Book Description

A richly illustrated memoir by highly decorated Wehrmacht soldier—“recommended to anyone with an interest in the Panzerwaffe in the Second World War” (Recollections of WWII). After serving as a gunlayer on a Pz.Mk.III during Barbarossa, Richard Freiherr von Rosen led a Company of Tigers at Kursk. Later he led a company of King Tiger panzers at Normandy and in late 1944 commanded a battle group (12 King Tigers and a flak Company) against the Russians in Hungary in the rank of junior, later senior lieutenant (from November 1944, his final rank.) Only 489 of these King Tiger tanks were ever built. They were the most powerful heavy tanks to see service, and only one kind of shell could penetrate their armor at a reasonable distance. Every effort had to be made to retrieve any of them bogged down or otherwise immobilized, which led to many towing adventures. The author has a fine memory and eye for detail. Easy to read and not technical, his account adds substantially to the knowledge of how the German Panzer Arm operated in the Second World War. “The author has a fine memory and eye for detail . . . It adds substantially to the knowledge of how the German Panzer Arm operated during the Second World War.”—Military Vehicles Magazine “The images accompany the story well. Richard Von Rosen, wounded several times and fighting a good part of the war on the eastern front, was certainly a lucky soldier, and we are also lucky to read these pages . . . highly recommend to all fans of memories of the Second World War.”—Old Barbed Wire Blog




Sniper on the Eastern Front


Book Description

A biography of the second most successful sniper of the German Wehrmacht and one of the few private soldiers to be honored with the Knights Cross award. An Austrian conscript who qualified as a Wehrmacht machine gunner, Josef “Sepp” Allerberger was drafted to the southern sector of the Russian Front in July 1942. Wounded at Voroshilovsk, he experimented with a Russian sniper-rifle while convalescing and so impressed his superiors with his proficiency that he was returned to the front as his regiment’s only sniper specialist. This sometimes-harrowing account provides an excellent introduction to the commitment in fieldcraft, discipline and routine required of the sniper, a man apart. There was no place for chivalry on the Russian Front. Away from the film cameras, no prisoner survived long after surrendering. Russian snipers had used the illegal explosive bullet since 1941, and Hitler eventually authorized its issue in 1944. The result was a battlefield of horror. Allerberger was a cold-blooded killer, but few will find a place in their hearts for the soldiers of the Red Army against whom he fought. “It is a great read and covers just about everything you would want to know about Allerberger, the weapons, techniques and employment of German snipers on the Eastern Front in WWII but does it in a manner and narrative that is never boring and is guaranteed to hold your interest.” —Argunners Magazine “A very unique story and experience worth telling of an Eastern Front Sniper.” —Sniper Central