WW2 German tank aces, who were they and did they write any books?

Modeling Subjects Armor
1

Doing some research, wanted to read the books written by WW2 German tank aces. Who were they?

How many survived the War?

Thanks.

2

I can start you off with 2…

Michael Wittmann: Tiger Ace, The Life Story of Panzer Commander Michael Wittmann

Otto Carius: Tigers in the Mud (Written By Carius himself)

I’m sure there are more but, I can personally recommend these 2.

3

Those are two of the better know tank aces, of course Wittman didn’t survive.

4

there both good and theres a good book written by a tank ace Will Fey its called
Armor Battles of the Waffen SS, 1943-45 (Stackpole Military History Series)
by Will Fey
Will Fey is at Number 13 in this list http://perso.wanadoo.fr/did.panzer/Les_As.html

5

Ernst Barkmann survived the war, but I can’t seem to find any books written by him. I thought there was. There is plenty written about him.

6

Cpt. Caveman-

That list can’t possibly be correct, where is Kurt “Panzer” Meyer? And Rommel or Guderian or vonLuck?

7

theres an interview with Barkman in Rytons “Panther 50th Annerversary Collectors Edition by Uwe Feict and Bruce Culver”
id like to find more out about Barkman

8

the list seems to be the number of kills for each tank commander , as far as i know guderian was never a tank commander. he did develop tactics for their use but i don’t think he involved in combat itself (in tanks that is, might have happened a few times but it was the exception rather than the rule).

in world war 1 he was in light infantry assigned to signals duty then he became “obssesed” (not in a bad way) with how to build and use armored forces (command and control/doctrine aspect mostly (his ww1 use of radio experience enabled him to have a good grasp on how to control tank formations)), then he wrote achung panzer which caught hitler’s eye, who then promoted him to some staff position (sorry don’t remeber exactly and don’t have time to go thru my books right now). he always was in senior staff positions in ww2 as far as i know. i don’t recall ever reading anything about him actualy involved in combat other than getting his staff car bombed by a plane while he was visiting the front. (note this isn’t totaly accurate its just a rough overview of what i can remember)

the others you mentioned i haven’t read enough about to realy comment.

9

you asked about Panzer aces
Kurt Meyer look here http://www.valourandhorror.com/DB/PERSON/K_Meyer.htm
he was a motorcycle rider and then a division commander of the 12th SS not a Tank Ace

amd Erwin Rommel look here http://www.achtungpanzer.com/gen1.htm
Field Marshal Rommel wasnt a tank ace, he was more impotant and an infantary man
its like asking why Monty or Patton arnt Tank aces

10

Thanks for the history lesson guys.
mark956

11

Cpt. Caveman-

I have a book, Steel Rain, that details the personal exploits of Kurt Meyer during the Normandy Invasion, looks like he nailed quite a few Shermans by himself…

12

Thanks Leopold, Barkmann was an ace I had seen before, but couldn’t recall his name. I read something years ago about a Stug ace that had 80-100 kills. Can anyone recall this man?

13

i think Kurt Meyer took out a couple of tanks with hand grenades and panzerfausts

Tigerman the stug ace could be
6. Hans Sandrock (Fallshirm Stug Abt H.G)-- 123 victoires
24. Richard Engelmann (Stug Abt 912)-- 62 victoires
25. Hugo Primozic (Stug Abt 667)–- 60 victoires
26. Joseph Brandner (Stug Abt 912)-- 60 victoires
28. Fritz Amling (Stug Abt 202)-- 56 victoires

im not sure how good this list is[:D] it is French

14

Thanks Jon. It was Hugo Primozic. I guess I exaggerated his kills though. Still pretty impressive total.

15

There is a book called ‘Tank Aces’ (ISBN 0 7509 1447 5) written by George Forty, published by Sutton Publishing Ltd in UK. It gives the brief biographies of tanks aces(e.g. Wittmann, Kummel) and commands(e.g. Gen. Schulz, Gen. Abrams) from WWII to Gulf War from different nation. Interesting, about this book is that it also records tanks heros from small conflict such as India and Pakistan conflist in Kasmir, not to mention about the Six Days War. Although the book does not give the total scores list on every single tanks aces, it is still an excellent book to use as a research for modern tank warfare.

16

All though it was from the air Hans Ulrich Rudel took out more then his share of tanks. I can’t remember just how many but he wrote “Stuka Pilot” some time after the war. Time for me to dust it off and give it a reread.

17

He frew a FW190 D9 aswell[8D] but hated it