Deliver us from Darkness - Arnhem

[edwest]

Another one of those "had the title told me anything, I would have bought it" books. This one covers the ordeal of the 101st Airborne, including support operations.

http://www.helion.co.uk/deliver-us-f...et-garden.html



Usual disclaimer,
Ed

[John Beaman]

You know, Ed, why is it that all USA combat histories are loaded with "Tiger tanks"?

If the Herr or the Waffen SS had had the number of "Tiger tanks" in their inventories per USA reports, there must have been at least 10,000 around!

[edwest]

You know, John, I'm not as well read regarding US Army combat histories. I don't know how many Tigers, JagdTigers or King Tigers (not sure if the last is an official German designation) were built. I would certainly hope that the author (and previous authors) is not calling one type of tank something else as in reports I've read where an Fw-190 is called an Me-109 and vice versa.



Best,
Ed

[Jukka Juutinen]

Ed, less than 2000 Tigers of all variants were produced. For each Tiger there e.g. roughly 3 Panthers, though I am possibly a heretic for saying that the Panther is the most overrated tank of the war. A fine piece of engineering, yes, but a fine weapon of war, no. If one reads the appropriate Spielberger "bible", one can see how far removed from reality the Panther designers were, though Spielberger never admits that.

[edwest]

I am not attracted to Spielberger's books. I have a few other books on my shelves and it's not a subject I've covered as much as aircraft.



Ed

[Nokose]

I prefer the book by Robert J. Kershaw "It Never Snows In September: The German view of Market Garden and the Battle of Arnhem, September 1944". I had Cornelius Ryan's book "A Bridge Too Far" when it came out but Kershaw's is the only one that I kept.

[Jukka Juutinen]

Ed, Spielberger is absolutely essential with Jentz to understand German tanks.

Speaking of Arnhem books, there is the two-volume huge offering from After the Battle as well.

[NickM]

Originally Posted by John Beaman

You know, Ed, why is it that all USA combat histories are loaded with "Tiger tanks"?

If the Herr or the Waffen SS had had the number of "Tiger tanks" in their inventories per USA reports, there must have been at least 10,000 around!

Read George Koskimaki's history of the 101st during Market Garden & quite frankly I got the impression that ANY tank with slab sides was a 'Tiger' & any tank with sloping armor was a King Tiger...of course, if you stood around & stared at them for too long you'd probably end up getting killed...and the only way I figured it out was because those airtransported 6pound AT guns were just doing TOO GOOD a job of penetrating the armor of an actual "Tiger".

[edwest]

Originally Posted by Jukka Juutinen

Ed, Spielberger is absolutely essential with Jentz to understand German tanks.

Speaking of Arnhem books, there is the two-volume huge offering from After the Battle as well.

Jukka, I have the Jentz book for Panther tanks and a Spielberger book that may be in a box right now since I don't see it on my shelves (I have way too many books, and my shelves are already showing signs of fatigue). I just found something off-putting about Spielberger. Should I have the time, I think I'll try locating some good German language books, and there is the Panzer Tracts series of which I own some.

Best,
Ed

[Jukka Juutinen]

Ed, even Jentz himself recommends Spielberger for a more indepth technical look on the topic. One problem might be that apart from the Panther volume the translation of Schiffer editions has been a bit lukewarm.

PanzerTracts series is one that I am not too impressed with.