Guderian

Ballantine's Illustrated History of World War II / the Violent Century: War Leader #20

by John Keegan

Rear cover "The German panzer force was one of the military Wonders of the World. Between September 1939 and December 1941 it swept across Europe from the Atlantic to the Black Sea, leaving in its wake a trail of broken armies and defeated nations. The creator of this extraordinary military machine was Heinz Guderian.

Genres: Biography, War, History, World War II

160 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1973

About the author

Sir John Desmond Patrick Keegan, OBE, FRSL was a British military historian, lecturer and journalist. He published many works on the nature of combat between the 14th and 21st centuries concerning land, air, maritime and intelligence warfare as well as the psychology of battle.

Reviews

[Jeff Dawson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another fine introduction to the premier man who saw the vision of the modern war to come. His to be opponent, across the ocean pond tie to convince the US Army the day of the horse had passed, with zero enthusiasm. He introduced the new idea to Hitler in 36. Hitler wanted to know how many divisions he could put together while we continued with isolationism and basically, plain ignorance until September 1st, 1939 and the new weapon, tanks, were unleased with the Blitzkrieg.
Since I read this primer, I’ve read two more books on Guderian and his life in the Wehrmacht.
Four Stars

[Brian Vizek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok I originally checked 3 stars, but upon typing out my review I realized maybe 4 is better. If you want a quick high level read of Heinz Guderian this is it. It hits the high points.

This book is part of a larger series of books that came out when I was growing up and if you wanted an overview of different aspects of WW2 it was a decent series.

If you want more in-depth info on Heinz Guderian there are a lot of books out there that will give that info. I have a couple of them in the queue so I will get to some of them eventually

[Lew · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was disappointed with this book because I was expecting more of a biography. This book is more a history of the German Army's tank development. Guderian was very influential and book talks about his influence but not much on Guderian the person.

[Dimitri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Guderian's claim to fame is the development of the German armour branch. Keegan correspondingly devotes 75% of his biography to the interwar Panzer evolution and the "trial run" in Poland, but the whole thing peters out together with Barbarossa.

[Susan Molloy · Rating 5 out of 5]

🖊 My review: An excellent history book.
🤔 My rating 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
📕 Media form: Read from my private library.
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