Panzer Commander: The Memoirs of Colonel Hans von Luck (CASSELL MILITARY PAPERBACKS)

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Luck also references a conversation he had in Africa in 1942 with legendary German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel in which Rommel declared that Germany's best hope was to sue for peace with the Allies as it was even then clear that Germany no longer had any realistic chance to win the war. Luck was a part of the reconnaissance unit, the 37th Armoured Reconnaissance Battalion commanded by Major Erdmann. Colonel Luck starts before the war and discusses his training, but as with most of the book, he doesn't detail what he is doing involving the Army as much as what he is doing and who he is meeting outside of the basics of what is going on.

Kao dete, imao sam rođaka, tada već u odmaklim godinama, koji je bio poznati pukovnik jugoslovenske vojske za vreme 2. The 7th Panzer Division spearheaded the 3rd Panzer Group as it drove east and the capture of Vilnius in Lithuania, before driving on Minsk to form the northern inner encirclement arm of the Bialystok-Minsk pocket. Sajer wanted to shine light on the appalling suffering of the ordinary German soldier in the East, whereas von Luck's (worthy) agenda is to bring together former enemies in an embrace of mutual respect, forgiveness, tolerance and understanding, unity to make sure the conflict that engulfed the world 1939-45 is never allowed to happen again. Von Luck gives an open and honest account of his war experience from Russia to France to Africa and his eventual capture and internment in Russia. He was a participant in the UK's Ministry of Defence Army Department film presentation on Operation Goodwood Lectures.Others have critiqued the book at length, so here's just a thumbnail sketch of a couple of its limitations. Rommel claimed that only an alliance between the Western countries against Russia could save Western Civilization, and Winston Churchill was the man to lead it. Regardless of whether Colonel Hans von Luck knew of the atrocities happening in the concentration camps or not - and I am inclined to believe him when he said he did not - I think a strong case could be made that Luck and many men like him weren't fighting for Hitler and the spread of Nazi ideology but for the survival of their own friends and family.

Luck, now a Hauptmann, was attached to the Division HQ, and the division was attached to 3rd Panzer Group under Army Group Center.All that being said - I experienced some skepticism about Luck's studious disavowals that he or his fellow officers really knew what was going on with the Jews. Autobiografía del Oberst der Panzerwaffe Hans von Luck que, tras comenzar hablando de la parte final de su cautiverio en manos rusos tras la guerra, nos muestra su juventud, su formación militar y, a partir de ahí, la parte del león que consiste en su intervención en los combates de la Segunda Guerra Mundial para, después, contarnos su destino al terminar ésta. After North Africa and leave in Berlin Luck was assigned in August 1943 as instructor at a panzer reconnaissance school in Paris. I'm not sure what to make of his claim not to have known anything about the camps before learning of the fate of his prospective father-in-law in Sachsenhausen. Kampfgruppe von Luck was now tasked with holding the Western end of the gap open, which it did until 21 August.

Rommel, however, led a decisive attack on the following day with the 21st and 10th Panzer Divisions, breaking through the Pass within minutes. Hans–Ulrich Freiherr von Luck und Witten (15 July 1911 – 1 August 1997), [1] usually shortened to Hans von Luck, was a Colonel in the German Armored Forces ( Oberst der Panzerwaffe) during World War II. After spending February and March 1942 on leave, Luck reported back for duty on 1 April 1942 and transferred to the Afrikakorps, reaching Africa on 8 April, where he was reunited with Rommel. All through the book he generally gives shortness of scope of the military actions he is involved in.In February 1941 Rommel was replaced by General Freiherr von Funk, and in June Luck moved with his division to East Prussia in preparation for the invasion of the Soviet Union. Most of the Kampfgruppes armour had been destroyed in the heavy barrages earlier in the day, so it was left to a few scattered antitank and assault gun batteries to take on the advancing British tanks. Napier notes "if this company did not move before 0930 hours, it would have been cut off when the leading tanks of the 29th brigade crossed the railway" and reasoned "since the battery "Was able to relocate successfully to just south of Four where it was in action for the rest of the day and so must have moved well before 0930 hours.

The withdrawal could only be conducted on two roads, with very high piles of snow alongside them, meaning that no maneuvering could take place. Unlike Guy Sajer, whose wartime experience was limited to the Eastern Front, mostly during its retreat phase, von Luck saw action in Poland, France, North Africa, Italy, Normandy, and Russia.Continuing on towards Moscow Luck encountered increasingly stiff resistance, and more and more T-34 and T-50 tanks, which were impervious to the 3. Das Deutsche Kreuz 1941 – 1945 Geschichte und Inhaber Band II [ The German Cross 1941 – 1945 History and Recipients Volume 2] (in German). In later years, von Luck gave talks to British, Swedish and American audiences and military groups, and attended commemoration ceremonies with former enemies: What madness to fight to the knife and then become good friends. The book ends up with Col Luck getting released from Russian Prison camp after spending harrowing 5 years as POW and trying to start a new life in post war Germany.