Blowtorch
Sergeant Major
- Joined
- Nov 5, 2006
- Messages
- 1,754
I'm not really sure where to begin with this one. I guess I am writing this for those who are on the fence with respect to buying K&C's Berlin '45 figures & who really don't have a clue as to what the fight in the east was like...but also I am incredibly surprised at what an exciting collection of war stories this book contains, and I think just about anyone interested in WW2 Europe would like to read. I have had this book on my shelf for years, unread, & what a sleeper it has been. Quite a little gem.
http://www.amazon.com/Our-Backs-Ber...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1226288889&sr=1-1
I haven't read anything like this since "Red Storm Rising" by Tom Clancy...except this ain't fiction.
It's a collection of short stories, survivor's accounts of their actions in the closing months of WW2. All but one focus in eastern Germany against Soviets. One story is about defending against the US 94th ID attacks in the Saar-Moselle triangle.
Being interested in Berlin, & especially whatever can be read regarding the Flak Towers, I immediately jumped ahead to that chapter & read the account of a young gunner manning one of the Zoo Flak Tower's four twin 128mm Flak mounts during the waning days of the Reich. He desribes in vivid detail what it was like to be up there firing against B-17's, dodging bullets from Soviet ground attackers (no shield or protection up there), firing over open sights against Soviet armor as far away as Tegel airfield, and then being put into a four man tank killer team (1 panzerfaust, 1 Molotov Cocktail, 2 tommy gunners), and finally breakout (with of all things...his girlfriend). It's interesting that the only casualties they ever took up there on the tower was when ammo would go off if they were too slow to fire it. They fired on an activated time delay fuse...and if they were too slow (like milliseconds) to fire the gun, the whole gun barrel would blow up taking some gunners with it.
That was interesting enough, but then I went to the first chapter, which tells the tale of a young leader of a panzer grenadier battle group who would go driving around east of the Oder trying to liberate one village after another.
After failing in one village, he takes his troop (mounted in a dozen halftracks) & drives north to the next village on the list which is occupied by a Soviet tank company. Observing & scratching his head as how to attack a dozen T-34's in a town over open ground...he hears a buzz in the distance.
Out of the blue a flight of Stuka's appear & circle the village like birds of prey sizing up their targets. Quickly the grenadiers have to get their air recognition panels out so they wont' be targeted; one after another the Stukas dive firing their anti-tank cannon brewing up one tank after another. The company commander noted that the lead pilot had exceptionally great aim, only needing to fire a single round to blow up a tank.
I'll let you guess who that later turned out to be.
Then, after all the tanks were burning, the Stuka's passed over the grenadiers' dipping their wings...saying 'now it's your turn'.
If this theatre is new to you & you are interested to read, I would suggest you watch the free Nazi 1945 newsreels posted on YouTube to get the image of what the east was like in the first few months of 1945 near Berlin. It will set the mood.
http://www.amazon.com/Our-Backs-Ber...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1226288889&sr=1-1
I haven't read anything like this since "Red Storm Rising" by Tom Clancy...except this ain't fiction.
It's a collection of short stories, survivor's accounts of their actions in the closing months of WW2. All but one focus in eastern Germany against Soviets. One story is about defending against the US 94th ID attacks in the Saar-Moselle triangle.
Being interested in Berlin, & especially whatever can be read regarding the Flak Towers, I immediately jumped ahead to that chapter & read the account of a young gunner manning one of the Zoo Flak Tower's four twin 128mm Flak mounts during the waning days of the Reich. He desribes in vivid detail what it was like to be up there firing against B-17's, dodging bullets from Soviet ground attackers (no shield or protection up there), firing over open sights against Soviet armor as far away as Tegel airfield, and then being put into a four man tank killer team (1 panzerfaust, 1 Molotov Cocktail, 2 tommy gunners), and finally breakout (with of all things...his girlfriend). It's interesting that the only casualties they ever took up there on the tower was when ammo would go off if they were too slow to fire it. They fired on an activated time delay fuse...and if they were too slow (like milliseconds) to fire the gun, the whole gun barrel would blow up taking some gunners with it.
That was interesting enough, but then I went to the first chapter, which tells the tale of a young leader of a panzer grenadier battle group who would go driving around east of the Oder trying to liberate one village after another.
After failing in one village, he takes his troop (mounted in a dozen halftracks) & drives north to the next village on the list which is occupied by a Soviet tank company. Observing & scratching his head as how to attack a dozen T-34's in a town over open ground...he hears a buzz in the distance.
Out of the blue a flight of Stuka's appear & circle the village like birds of prey sizing up their targets. Quickly the grenadiers have to get their air recognition panels out so they wont' be targeted; one after another the Stukas dive firing their anti-tank cannon brewing up one tank after another. The company commander noted that the lead pilot had exceptionally great aim, only needing to fire a single round to blow up a tank.
I'll let you guess who that later turned out to be.
Then, after all the tanks were burning, the Stuka's passed over the grenadiers' dipping their wings...saying 'now it's your turn'.
If this theatre is new to you & you are interested to read, I would suggest you watch the free Nazi 1945 newsreels posted on YouTube to get the image of what the east was like in the first few months of 1945 near Berlin. It will set the mood.
