Honoring Those They Led: Decorated Field Commanders Of The Third Reich

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Mark Costa
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Re: Honoring Those They Led: Decorated Field Commanders Of The Third Reich

#16

Post by Mark Costa » 28 Mar 2017, 23:14

I have just received Mark's final book and it is quite different than his other books. It is mainly a photo book on Heer Commanders and their receiving their awards. I would say most of the photos are portraits and/or award ceremonies. And basic information on each man. Mark's choice of commanders is a bit strange as he covers many of those awarded the Swords etc. Yet most Generalfeldmarshalls are left out such as Manstein, List, Leeb etc. And Diamonds holders such as Saucken, Schulz and Tolsdorff are not covered. I will have to read deeper into his choice of subjects but this is a basic review of what is in it. The quality of the photos are excellent. It is fine addition to any library.

Mark Costa

j keenan
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Re: Honoring Those They Led: Decorated Field Commanders Of The Third Reich

#17

Post by j keenan » 29 Mar 2017, 12:15

I have all of Mark’s books from Hausser to this one,some are excellent as in the Totenkopf books which I personaly think are the best researched books to date.
Honoring Those They Led,
Starts with a glowing tribute to Ignacio,then Arogance,contradiction,statements which made me laugh out loud,that would bring fifty pages of chat on here about the validity of said statments.Then a what if/if only, blame everthing on Hitler other wise the Third Reich would have won the war scenario.The book comes across as a Fan boy book in the end but and a big but, it is a very well researched book on the careers of chosen subjects.Also there are some little gems of info for document collectors which will either validate there collection or have them trying to reclaim their money.It is a book which anyone with a seriouse intrest in the Wehrmacht will want to own,but some of the content you will after take with a pinch of salt in my opinion.It is a book that will divide opinion !!


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Michael Miller
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Re: Honoring Those They Led: Decorated Field Commanders Of The Third Reich

#18

Post by Michael Miller » 29 Mar 2017, 15:40

Thank you, j keenan.

Best wishes,
~ Mike

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Ignacio
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Location: Madrid, Spain

Re: Honoring Those They Led: Decorated Field Commanders Of The Third Reich

#19

Post by Ignacio » 01 Apr 2017, 21:13

Mark was a very inquisitive and restless personality. And although his main topic of interest was Waffen-SS, he had a huge knowledge of several other topics linked with the WWII. Many years ago he told me all WWII study/reading/writing started in the sixties with B-17 aircraft interest. He gathered more tan 300 hundreds books (many out of print) published on WWII aircraft. And one of his last moments of happiness was when in June 2106 he arranged and took his sister Leslie to ride in a B-17.

He also had a vast knowledge on the different SS Hauptamts, one of his most loved projects he could not accomplish. And a huge knowledge about the German Army too. To try to make people know more and more was his main goal; as always he wished to share his opinions, pictures and archive. Of course a part of the book are his opinions, some people will agree, some people will not. But in my opinion the amount of information provided and the quality of photos and captions still make the book highly enjoyable for Wehrmacht fans.

Greetings from Madrid

Ignacio

HR715
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Re: Honoring Those They Led: Decorated Field Commanders Of The Third Reich

#20

Post by HR715 » 02 Apr 2017, 00:36

I ordered a copy this evening via "Amazon", looking forward to see it in due course.

histan
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Re: Honoring Those They Led: Decorated Field Commanders Of The Third Reich

#21

Post by histan » 02 Apr 2017, 01:24

An interesting book that seems to be best when covering decorations and awards, indeed the book is based around photographs of Hitler presenting awards to the various commanders covered. First class set of photos and excellent production values.

Unfortunately spoiled by a number of niggling issues:
Better proofreading would have removed some obviously incorrect statements in the text and produced some better explanations
Whilst some German terms were not translated (ranks for example) where translation would not have led to confusion, other terms were translated which perhaps should not have been because the result is confusion. Most frustrating to me is the decision in the career sections not to use mdFb and mstFb both of which are clear and unambiguous.

Most significantly, the career sections repeat many of the mistakes and errors contained in other secondary sources. There are quite a large number of these that I have spotted which makes me unsure about other information that is presented that I do not know about. I assume that the text was produced before some of the more recent research that has been presented in the Axis Biographical Research forum and the availability of much NARA information as free downloads. Nevertheless a check on the Personalakte of these officers and the KTBs of the formations they commanded would have sorted out many of these mistakes - but it does cost to acquire this information.

So, almost but not quite, a definitive book and I do regard it as a very valuable addition to my collection.

Regards

John

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Jeremy Dixon
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Re: Honoring Those They Led: Decorated Field Commanders Of The Third Reich

#22

Post by Jeremy Dixon » 02 Apr 2017, 11:56

I have been reading this book too. Excellent photographs as usual but the text is disappointing, not one of Marks best books. Not in the same league as Allgemeine-SS or any of the others to be frank. But still worth a read and a book I will keep in my colleciton.

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