German divisional histories - quality and availability

[Kunikov]

Well, I didn't see them mentioned here, but are there any books on the 5th Army Corps? Which had the 35th, 5th, and 161st infantry divisions in it?

[trollelite]

I think by 1942 these 3 divisions not with 5th korps anymore.

[trollelite]

You can buy history of 5th division even now in amazon.de, 35th is also relative easy to get, for 161th you need prepare at least 200 euro and with some luck, though.

[Kunikov]

I think by 1942 these 3 divisions not with 5th korps anymore.

Can you tell me who was with the 5th Corps during September of 1942?

[trollelite]

I think 9th and 73th division, perhaps 198th and 125th, plus possibly some rumanian units. For information of unit history check the list from http://www.feldgrau.com

[Kunikov]

I think 9th and 73th division, perhaps 198th and 125th, plus possibly some rumanian units. For information of unit history check the list from http://www.feldgrau.com

Thank you for that link and you are right about the 9th and 73rd! So thank you again, and are those divisional histories available?

[Jan-Hendrik]

125.ID, 9.ID, 73.ID

See Kriegsgliederung 17.Armee, 02.09.1942

Jan-Hendrik

[Kunikov]

125.ID, 9.ID, 73.ID

See Kriegsgliederung 17.Armee, 02.09.1942

Jan-Hendrik

Thank you, very helpful site!

[Jan-Hendrik]

Two new ones for the list

Hptm a.D. Oskar Schaub Aus der Geschichte Panzergrenadierregiment 12 (S.R.12)

and the long looked after by myself


Wolfgang Bach Die Geschichte der Fallschirm-Panzer.Ersatz-und-Ausbildungs-Brigade HERMANN GÖRING September 1944 bis März 1945 Rippin- Graudenz aus der Sicht des Kommandeurs des II.Batallions (what a god damn long title for a book )/4.Auflage von 1994.

Both are looking like 1st class histories, many maps, much en detail, second one like a day-by-day history of his unit. Not much pics, but thats not something I really desire

Jan-Hendrik

[lutrebois]

Looking for these some time now :

62 ID “Die 62. Infanterie-Division1938-1944, Die 62 VGD 1944-1945”Reinicke
/Hermann/Kittel, 1968, 530 Pag
89 Inf.Div. ; Haslob, Gevert, Ein Blick zuruck in die Eifel - Schicksalsweg der 89.
Infanterie-Division ,Condo-Verlag, 2000

Anyone an idea where to find them ? (forget ebay, abe, eurobooks, ZVAB....)

Are they worth buying when the purpose is study of the battle of the Bulge? I mean, do they contain detailed info and maps as well as the "stellenbesetzung" for this period ?

[Jan-Hendrik]

Just ordered Roland Kaltenegger's Schicksalweg und der Kampf der Bergschuh Division., unit history of 7.GebDiv/99.leichte Div...my "premiere" on Gebirgsunits aside from Kaltenegger's "Die deutsche Gebirgstruppe" ..anyone read it already?

Jan-Hendrik

[Richard Hargreaves]

No, but I have his 4th Geb Div history Edelweiss und Enzian (I think!) which is very good. The 1st Geb Div history he did is a bit hit and miss though.

[Gregory Deych]

I'm curious - how much interest would there be in published (translated) KTBs?

[MarmiteMan]

Am not usually given to Schadenfreude (being a balding, overweight git myself, and thus open to all manner of comment!), but happened upon this webpage which A) clearly failed to squeeze through Starfleet's universal translator, and B) really needed a Babelfish ...

http://wikipedia.qwika.com/de2en/7._Pan ... rdivision)

Similarly, I could not rate Perry Pierik's From Leningrad to Berlin, Dutch Volunteers in the Service of the German Waffen-SS 1941-1945 (Uitgeverij Aspekt, Soesterberg, Netherlands, 1995; English edition 2001) very much. Being a rare product - a history of the Dutch SS volunteers in English - I really wanted to like it ... but could not. It turned out to be sketchily-researched and unevenly-written, with no note foot-/endnotes or references, but was above all poorly-translated. It took a while to work out that an "armoured fighter division" actually referred to the Panzerjäger-Abteilung.

My actual 'point:' am pleased to note that JJP have started taking translations seriously, i.e. by having such done by one(s) who is(are) cognizant of the subject matter. It adds to the original work's credibility, and keeps nit-picking Frasier gits in our pl... oops, sorry - in their place!

MarmiteMan

===================================================
Now, it is not good for the Christian’s health to hustle the Aryan brown,
For the Christian riles, and the Aryan smiles, and he weareth the Christian down;
And the end of the fight is a tombstone white, with the name of the late deceased,
And the epitaph drear: "A fool lies here who tried to hustle the East." Rudyard Kipling, 1892
===================================================

[Richard Hargreaves]

I'm curious - how much interest would there be in published (translated) KTBs?

Of ordinary divisions? Probably not a great deal apart from the serious military historian. Having pored over a lot of them, they're generally pretty dull with far fewer nuggets. The real gems can quite often be in the appendices - telephone conversations, orders, teletypes, that sort of thing.

Generally I find combat reports (Erlebnisberichte/Tatigkeitberichte) far more interesting as there's normally a human face to them. The KTBs are normally pretty dry with remarkably few insightful comments, unless you go up to Army and Army Group level.