Interesting photo of exhausted Wehrmacht troopers travelling in convoy on a BMW R12 and sidecar of the 2nd Motorcycle Infantry Company, 8th Panzer Division, somewhere on the Eastern Front in 1941.
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Interesting photo of exhausted Wehrmacht troopers travelling in convoy on a BMW R12 and sidecar of the 2nd Motorcycle Infantry Company, 8th Panzer Division, somewhere on the Eastern Front in 1941.
I'm near the end of finally reading Guderian's 'Panzer Leader' he published in 1952. (Covid is good for something) The Barbarossa op was one of those cluster/gaggle things you hear so much about pretty much from the start in June of '41. Primarily caused by interference from the German General Staff. Hitler didn't start screwing things up until a bit later. I'd have to look to see where 8 Panzer Div was working. I think it was under Heinz who was boss of 2 Panzer Army in the Central Army Group.
Logistics was nearly non-existent and not just because of the rail road gauges. A lack of logistics combined with repeated changes in orders and objectives from the 'armchair', political, generals.
And then it all went down hill when the weather got wet in the Fall. Heinz talks of a sea of mud over the entire theatre. Nothing moved. Not even the bikers. There were no paved roads and no trucks anyway. Wheeled vehicles couldn't go anywhere and neither could tracked vehicles. Plus they were dealing with miles and miles and miles of distances. Supply depots were hundreds of miles behind the troops.
Oh and the "bikers" were the Panzer Div Recce guys.
That is some good reading! I read most of those books from German soldiers in German, and the way they write tells lots of things. Also Manstein is a must read one!!!
8th was Army Group North in 1941, and part of the push through the Baltic states towards Leningrad.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sunray
It didn't transfer to Army Group Centre until the winter of '42/43.
"...8th was Army Group North..." Yep. Heinz did mention 'em taking some Russian city and that was all. S'why I recognized 'em.
Heinz's hard cover book was published in 1952. Apparently it's worth $100. The paper back, also published in 1952, is worth $1400. My stuff keeps getting more and more expensive. Gotta make a list with values for 3when I'm shot by a jealous husband at 100. snicker. Nobody I know has any clue about the value of my stuff.
Why is that?Quote:
Originally Posted by Sunray