Being there . . . when the world witnessed an entirely new type of invasion warfare consisting
of what seemed to the stunned victims’ series after series of thunderbolts followed by
thunderclouds followed by thundershowers, then more thunderstrokes. Facing them, escape
was impossible. If the lightning bolt flashes didn’t kill you, the voracious roaring deafened you
to death. Blitzkrieg, i.e., war conducted with lightninglike speed and force, the violent surprise
offensive by massed air forces and mechanized ground forces in close co-ordination designed to
destroy, in this case, Poland’s aviation, munitions, communication lines, industry, and
transport. Although the design and technique of the blitzkrieg was relished and expounded by
the Fascist Italian General Giulio Douhet who wished he had been there at 4:45am on the
morning of Friday, 1 September 1939. Writers for the Reader’s Digest Illustrated History of
World War II argue that if a time can be so precisely set, then World War II began nine minutes
earlier when the Luftwaffe led by Stuka dive-bombers attacked Polish communication centers
and airfields. The Germans hoped to catch the Polish Air Force on the ground, but the Poles had
moved them a few days before to smaller fields throughout the country. And so it was that the
Fuhrer’s “lightning blitzes” roared across Poland in less than 30 days. Allied leaders and
commanders were horrified – indeed the “failed artist and house painter” had created monster
armies divided into three Groups, North, Central, and South, and “tiny Poland”, then “rotten-to-
the-core” Russia, were mere “nuisance-roadblocks” on Hitler’s way to the Middle East oil, then
a hop to India, with a skip East to the shores of the Pacific. Indeed, “Deutschland Uber Alles!”,
“Germany over all others!”, with Adolf’s personal pets, the SS-Panzer Division“LEIBSTANDARTE”
leading the way . . .
THE FUHRER DEMANDED THE WORLD WATCH AND HOLD ITS BREATH AS HE PROUDLY
UNLEASHED “BLITZKRIEG”, A HITHERTO UNSEEN NEW TYPE OF WARFARE, LED BY HIS MOST
FEARED SAVAGE TROOPERS – – MEMBERS OF THE ELITE SS LIEBSTANDARTE ADOLF HITLER,
ORIGINALLY THE GERMAN LEADER’S PERSONAL BODYGUARD. TO THEM, VICIOUS, BITTER TO
THE END, FIGHTING WAS ROUTINE. THEY FELT NOTHING, NO ONE, COULD STOP THEM
BECAUSE THEY UNDERSTOOD THE SPEED OF COMBINED FORCES ATTACKING AND HOW TO USE
IT BEST – – THAT IS, UNTIL FEARLESS SOVIET MARSHAL ZHUKOV ARRIVED ON THE KURSK
SALIENT IN JUNE 1943 WITH NEW, MORE MANOEUVRABLE T-34 TANKS ATTACKING AT CLOSE
QUARTERS. ON THE FINAL DAY OF THE TWO-WEEK BATTLE, HITLER KNEW THE WAR ON THE
EASTERN FRONT WAS LOST WHEN HE LEARNED 35O OF HIS BEST PANZERS AND HEAVY
ASSAULT GUNS WERE CRUSHED ALONG WITH 10,000-PLUS ACCOMPANYING SOLIDERS KILLED.
Reviewed and Highly Recommended by Don DeNevi
“CHRONICLE OF THE 7. PANZER-KOMPANIE 1. SS-PANZER DIVISION “LEIBSTANDARTE”, by Ralf
Tiemann. Schiffer Military History, Atglen, PA: 1998, republished, 2023, 276 pages, 6 ½” x 9 ¼”.
Hardcover, $29.95.
For the eager World War II reader, a special Schiffer Christmas gift forever remembered.
This superlative condensed history of a German tank company is one of the best yet
published. Writes Ralf in his emotionally cogent Foreword, “With my chronicle, I document with
words, maps, and never-before published photographs where our ‘Leibstandarte’ had to fight:
all battlefields in the east, in the south and in Western Europe, in all battle conditions, whether
in attack or later during the retreat battles. Thus, I remember our killed and missing comrades.
This book should serve to quell any doubt that to this very day, despite all the disappointment,
demonization, and defamation of our great experience, there is one thing that actively remains
in us: THE CAMARADERIE.”
Compiled by former company commander and German Cross in Gold holder Ralf Tiemann,
the detailed text relies on both official documentation and the personal recollections of
numerous unit veterans. Ralf, however, narrates the first combats for Kharkov in early 1943 and
the summer Kursk engagements later the same year. In 1944, the unit engaged the Allies after
D-Day.
No WW II enthusiast has such a book in his personal library. The title in itself is enough to
scare the casual reader away. But for serious buffs, this reading is about as good as it can get
without, via a time-capsule, actually placing you atop the turret of an SS Panzer. HERE, IN
WORDS, YOU ARE REALLY THERE! Illustrated with private photos made available from Waffen-
SS veteran contributors, the detailed appendices provide a complete roster of all commanders,
platoon leaders, senior NCOs, award winners, and those killed in action. Exacting cartographic
material allows you to follow all engagements in this first unit history of a “Leibstandarte” tank
company ever published and now available in English.
