Panzer Operations: The Eastern Front Memoir Of General ... (ISBN 0306812479)

Very Good, But...:
This is a very good book on operations on the Russian Front. Raus was clearly a very gifted commander, and his descriptions of his numerous successful operations (both offensive and defensive) are very interesting, as he discusses the risks associated with the various courses of action he could take, why he chose a particular course of action, and the results. Raus was involved in a very wide variety of actions, from the attack toward Leningrad, forcing a passage on a troop-train through partisan-infested forests, attacks attempting to relieve Stalingrad, the Kursk offensive, and the defense of East Prussia. Once the Germans shifted to the defensive, Raus' "trademark" tactic was the flexible defense, in which he was (at least according to his testimony) very successful and which probably explains the interest of the US Army in his writings after the war. This book is very good, but I'll mention a few reasons why I only gave it four stars, so you can judge for yourself: --Raus rose from a relatively junior officer at the outbreak of war with Russia to an Army commander by the end of the war. While I was very interested in his descriptions of the small unit actions in the first part of the book, my interest waned as he became more senior, and I found his accounts of his actions as an army commander fairly dull. --While Raus was clearly a very gifted commander, the book makes it sound like his unit was always succesful--all failures occurred under other commanders on other parts of the front (note that Raus never says this, it is just an impression that arises from reading his accounts). --Maps are pretty sparse. --I didn't find Raus' descriptions of his Russian opponents very objective--he basically describes them as very brave, tough, clever (in a sneaky sort of way), and prone to atrocities, with only their massive numbers saving them. Maybe this is the way it was, but I don't think Raus gave the Russkis enough credit. TMR

Good, but not great:
Remarkable commander who made do with very little at certain points during the conflict. But the trouble with first-person diaries or narratives are obvious from the beginning: Makes no mention whatsoever of German atrocities, but mentions in the first part of book that the Totenkopf Division was attached to his Panzer Corp. He has no problem going into details about Red Army atrocities (they WERE just as horrible and it is good to see recent books focusing on it more and more). So this comes across as a bit of naive ethnocentrism and disingenuous. Somewhat over-bloated pride concerning his own superior tactics and the pro-German narratives of certain battles. When the Red Army make any sort of victory at any scale he mentions it almost as if an aside, hidden at the end of the description. The maps are not very good, small and lacking details, and much of the action that he comments on are not even depicted in the maps in the book. The book does give good insights into the day to day battle decisions of a Panzer Commander on the Eastern Front. I look forward to reading more on the subject, but would have to put this below a third-person review of Guderian that I have read.

Panzers Roll on:
Excellent book. Covers the Eastern front from a General's point of view who explains his tactics in various battles especially covering his time commanding the 6th panzer division.When he became a Corp and Army commander you get an overview of the battle which while good was a minor let down after reading his exploits with the 6th panzer. I learned quite a few minor things as well. One...just because a unit was named a panzer corp or as a panzer army did not mean they actually had any panzer units.Several times they just had non motorized infantry units only.

Awesome:
I must say this was one of the easiest and best reads I had about the Eastern Front, I would reccommend anyone to read it. It gives detail accounts in all different levels of command. Loved it

Excellent Eastern front history:
One of the best books on combat I have ever read. The General has a very easy story telling style,that is extremely informative. It never gets boring, the details are relevant to the war going on around him. A must buy for the serious student of WW2.