11 August 2019
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Balck might not have the fame that contemporaries Guderian, von Manstein and even Rommel have all enjoyed but he was arguable a better field commander than any of them.
Author: Stephen Robinson
Reviewed by: Duncan Evans
Balck might not have the fame that contemporaries Guderian, von Manstein and even Rommel have all enjoyed but he was arguable a better field commander than any of them. When the Cold War was at its height in the late 1970s it was Balck and his one time boss Mellenthin that the US Army called upon to give advice on how a small force could defend against and defeat a larger invading Soviet army.
This glossy hardback book covers Balck’s WWII exploits as a Panzer commander, fighting in the Balkans, Greece, France and the Eastern Front. It vividly describes his battlefield methodology and how he routinely destroyed much large forces arranged against him. A tremendous leader he epitomised the concept of mobile warfare, even though he never faced up to the atrocities committed by the Wehrmacht or the Third Reich regime. It’s a cracking read, illustrated throughout.
• Exisle Publishing
• ISBN 978-1-9258-2000-3
• 300 pages • Hardback • £19.99
As reviewed in The Armourer September 2019
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