Upcoming book on 10. SS-Panzerdivision

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DougW60
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Upcoming book on 10. SS-Panzerdivision

#1

Post by DougW60 » 25 Mar 2017, 18:42

The following book is scheduled to appear late summer 2017.

Panzers East and West: The German 10th SS Panzer Division from the Eastern Front to Normandy by Dieter Stenger

Publisher is Stackpole Books

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/08117 ... UTF8&psc=1

I am interested in it but I have a RED FLAG against it because of the book cover. It appears to depict re-en actors in front of a U.S. made M48. I may be inaccurate regarding the specific tank but it is of U.S. manufacture, post war.

If they choose not to use an authentic photo for its cover, I am uncertain to the accuracy of the contents.

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Hohlladung
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Re: Upcoming book on 10. SS-Panzerdivision

#2

Post by Hohlladung » 25 Mar 2017, 19:29

Hi Doug,
I highly agree with you. Looks like a photo from the early years of Bundeswehr 1956. Actually a No-Go. Hope the content is better than the cover.
Best Regards
Hohlladung
"Ihr verfluchten Racker, wollt ihr denn ewig leben?" Friedrich, II. in der Schlacht von Kolin am 18.Juni 1757 zu seinen zurückgehenden Grenadieren.


DougW60
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Re: Upcoming book on 10. SS-Panzerdivision

#3

Post by DougW60 » 12 Jul 2017, 18:42

Good news, just visited Stackpole Books webpage and saw that the cover for this book has changed to a PzKpfw IV H or J and appears to be crewed by Waffen-SS personnel. Me thinks it is a good step to say - oops we screwed up and fixed the obvious error. The only thing I would have like the company to do was to respond to my e-mails identifying the problem with the selected book cover.

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Re: Upcoming book on 10. SS-Panzerdivision

#4

Post by Michael Kenny » 12 Jul 2017, 19:10

DougW60 wrote:. The only thing I would have like the company to do was to respond to my e-mails identifying the problem with the selected book cover.
The publisher is (in)famous for its lack of any 'frills' regarding its output. They never seem to do anything other than put an authors draught straight into print-warts and all!

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Re: Upcoming book on 10. SS-Panzerdivision

#5

Post by DougW60 » 05 Sep 2017, 23:54

Just received the book and here is my initial impression. I am sad to say it is a difficult read so far (through chapter 2). I believe the author really wants to tell the history of the division and wanting to use the experiences of the soldiers to describe the battles. However nice these stories are, they tend to hide the battles. It is like reading about the Battle of Kursk by reading many small personal experiences during the battle. I believe the author wanted to put a human face to the men of the division and I applaud him for that, but in this case there is a problem of merging these personal stories into an understandable flow sequence of events that moves the reader through the battle the division is involved in.

The second aspect of the book that I personally do not care for are the straight German to English translations of German reports and unit designations. I believe most individuals interested in this book are those who have limited access to English language studies of German military units. And like me, I will enjoy a book more when German units designations are maintained in German. In this book, they are all translated into English. Now the big problem, my interpretation is that these translations were done by a computer translation program and not by humans. The results are reports which are illogical, example: Ref: 9 April 44 report: "was prevented after fourteen days of fighting against an enemy of vast numerical superiority." Prevented of doing what? A more horrible illustration is identifying werferbrigaden as either "Projector Brigade" or "Launcher Brigade" both being used within the same OOB. The most confusing one so far: "Dive Bomber Squadron 77 organized on 18 October 1943 from elements of the 1st Group in Brieg and renamed the 77th Combat Squadron." "The squadron consisted of a staff and ten squadrons divided into three groups." "The 5th, 6th, and 10th Squadrons organized from the 2nd Stuka Squadron "Immelmann." I believe this illustrates that the book was prepared without human oversight, at least in regard to translations

Third point: The photos in the book are poorly printed. You can actually see the small squares on the photos that appear when using a photo editing program where you have clear background. There are photos of individuals which is great when you read their accounts and there are photos I have not seen before but the quality of their printing is not what I hoped for. Also one photo shows a Wespe being identified as a Hummel.

Endnote. I really wanted this book to be great and I'm still hoping for it as I continue to read through it. I always appreciated people who do the research and publishes a book and this book does present information that is not readily available in English. I recommend those who are thinking about buying this book - this is a overview history of the division, nothing in depth.

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krichter33
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Re: Upcoming book on 10. SS-Panzerdivision

#6

Post by krichter33 » 06 Sep 2017, 02:11

Best histories I know of about both the 9th and 10th ss is Tieke's In the Firestorm of the Last Year of the War...

DougW60
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Re: Upcoming book on 10. SS-Panzerdivision

#7

Post by DougW60 » 06 Sep 2017, 02:54

Have it and cross referenced with it. In fact, the werferbrigaden issue identifies Tieke's book as its source so I was able to read what the units were originally referred to as and how they were translated into this book.

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Re: Upcoming book on 10. SS-Panzerdivision

#8

Post by Cult Icon » 31 Oct 2017, 06:31

krichter33 wrote:Best histories I know of about both the 9th and 10th ss is Tieke's In the Firestorm of the Last Year of the War...
How does this compare to Tieke's book?

The newer 10.SS book is decent- a typical german divisional history (not great but about equal in quality to many, such as the 11.Pz "ghost division" released last year)- with lot of special information and gaps in between. I do agree with the above review that it's not that easy to follow and comes across as somewhat disorganized. I blame the gaps in information TBH. So to me, it's a supplementary text. I enjoy reading it.

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Re: Upcoming book on 10. SS-Panzerdivision

#9

Post by krichter33 » 31 Oct 2017, 07:38

Yes, this 10th ss history as well as the "Ghost Division" history aren't of the same quality as other German unit histories. That is why I wished they would just translate some of them! Tieke's book, like all Tieke's books, is very good, highly detailed, and tactical with good maps. Also unlike other histories, his books aren't really dry. I've read everything from Glantz to Stahel, and all the other "Professional" historians, and I have to say, from the German perspective, Tieke's books are some of the best....

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Re: Upcoming book on 10. SS-Panzerdivision

#10

Post by Cult Icon » 31 Oct 2017, 14:21

^^
How does Tieke's coverage of the 10.SS (his book is on both 9.SS and 10.SS) compare to the new book?

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Re: Upcoming book on 10. SS-Panzerdivision

#11

Post by krichter33 » 01 Nov 2017, 07:29

Tieke's book is about the II SS Panzerkorps and the history of both the 9th and 10th SS Divisions. I would say the coverage of both divisions is equal. Also, later when the divisions separate, Tieke continues to cover both of them....Overall, however, I would say that as a unit history for BOTH divisions, this book is as complete as you are going to get.

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Re: Upcoming book on 10. SS-Panzerdivision

#12

Post by Cult Icon » 02 Nov 2017, 01:02

krichter33 wrote:Tieke's book is about the II SS Panzerkorps and the history of both the 9th and 10th SS Divisions. I would say the coverage of both divisions is equal. Also, later when the divisions separate, Tieke continues to cover both of them....Overall, however, I would say that as a unit history for BOTH divisions, this book is as complete as you are going to get.
Thanks for the information!!!!

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Re: Upcoming book on 10. SS-Panzerdivision

#13

Post by krichter33 » 02 Nov 2017, 07:11

Here is a review from David Schranck that I agree with wholeheartedly. It is from Amazon:

".....I'll admit up front this book is dry and for some even tedious but for those enthusiasts looking for tactical battle coverage of the war in the last year this book is a gold mine of information. It not only covers the 9th and 10th PzDs on both the eastern and western fronts but also has secondary coverage of LAH, Das Reich, Totenkopf, Wiking and others. It also covers the British VIII Corps and the American XIX Corps and others. You will not only learn about the two highlighted panzer divisions but also about the sectors they fought in. This book is not only an informed independent choice, it will be an excellent supplement to your other tactical books of Normandy, the Ardennes, Market-Garden and the German defense of Eastern Europe in the closing months of the war. The information of the German side is five star quality while on the Allied side is decidedly less and because of that I would have normally rated this book four stars. It was given five stars because it adds valuable insight from the German perspective during the fighting for France, Belguim and Holland in 1944 through early 1945. It would make an excellent supplement to have with all your Allied centric books of Normandy and beyond.

The book begins with a brief coverage of the commanders and the long and sometimes difficult beginnings these panzer divisions experienced. It took about a year to incorporate and train these divisions in France and Belgium before seeing action in early 1944.
Their first action occurred in April 1944 with the relief attempt of the encircled 1st PzA near Tarnopol. Moving over to the Western Front, they also saw action in Caen and Hill 112 in June and near St Lo in August. After being pushed out of France, they defended Arnhem in September. In December they were part of the Ardennes Offensive. In January of 1945 they redeployed on the Eastern Front where they remained until their surrender to the Americans in early May.

There are 21 maps. There is at least one map for each battle campaign, sometimes two. These maps are hand drawn and a little crude and it will take time and effort to master them. Once mastered they can be helpful. There are also a small but interesting photo gallery as well.

There is an extensive Appendix that includes statistics, commanders, Decorations and Honors lists, a brief Chronology, a casualty list, Rankings and Organization Chart.
There is also a Glossary and Bibliography of primary and secondary sources if further study is desired. A Notes section and Index are missing. This book is a translation and in general the translation is good but there are a few passages that are awkward.

If you have read Tieke before then you'll know what to expect. There are divisional histories that are written as tributes to the members and are more personal. This book is less personal and more battle history. If that's where your interests lies, this will make an excellent addition to your library and is highly recommended."

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Re: Upcoming book on 10. SS-Panzerdivision

#14

Post by Cult Icon » 26 Dec 2018, 00:09

I have both books for a while now- a key difference is that "Firestorm's " Normandy coverage is mostly about the 9.SS while the Panzers East/West has much better coverage for 10.SS- in fact it is the highlight of the book. Both books reinforce each other.

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Re: Upcoming book on 10. SS-Panzerdivision

#15

Post by Jan-Hendrik » 13 Jan 2019, 11:15

I read a bit in the original german manuscript...after discovering that the author lacks many, many knowledge about the german formation system and other basics I stopped reading it. The author himself showed no interest in corrections...

Don't know if the english edition improved that...

Jan-Hendrik

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