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SS Panzer SS Voices - Eyewitness Panzer Crews - From Barbarossa to Berlin

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“My next round went straight into the Sherman’s hull . . . within seconds, flaming gasoline was pouring out, burning white and orange . . .”

“We shot at the Russian tanks when they came out of the dust cloud . . . the T34 exploded like a rotten fruit . . . engine, turret and deck all going in different directions, with the crew torn apart likewise . . .”

Told by the men who fought in the tanks, with all the searing aggression and violence that they experienced . . . these are the shocking first-hand stories of the SS panzer troops themselves. The crews of the Panzer IV, the Stug, the Panther, Jagdtiger, Tiger and King Tiger . . . the authentic voices of the gunners, commanders and drivers who fought some of the deadliest battles in human history.

In 1962, German researchers conducted a series of interviews with former members of the Waffen SS panzer troops who had fought in World War 2. The intention was to probe the SS veterans' motivations and psychology, but the men were unwilling to discuss these matters in depth.
They were prepared, however, to describe their combat experiences - and they gave astonishing accounts of tank battles in Operation Barbarossa, Normandy, Italy, the Russian Front, the massive conflict at Kursk, the Ardennes and during the final apocalyptic battles against the Soviets within the Reich and for Berlin itself.

These were men whose memories of battle were still vivid, and they were ready to relate the physical details of combat – the violent sights, sounds, and sensations of tank fighting, the weapons and tactics that they used, their triumphs and humiliations.

Told in ice-cold, clinical detail, with phenomenal drama and sense of crisis, these first-hand accounts stand out today as one of the most remarkable testimonies to the experience of tank warfare in WW2. They will fascinate anyone interested in tank combat, the Waffen SS and the use of armor from 1941 to 1945.

This book has the complete set of interviews from Books 1 and 2, with accounts of tank battles in:
Operation Barbarossa (Panzer IV)
Onslaught in the East (Stug III)
Kursk (Tiger I)
Italy (Elefant and Panther)
Normandy (Panther)
The Ardennes (Jagdtiger)
Prussia (Stug IV)
Berlin (King Tiger and Wirbelwind)

A unique and shocking insight into panzer warfare in all its horrors.

108 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 28, 2015

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Sprech History

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5 stars
296 (40%)
4 stars
271 (37%)
3 stars
118 (16%)
2 stars
25 (3%)
1 star
21 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
Profile Image for Théo d'Or .
626 reviews306 followers
Read
January 19, 2025
MéliSSa , métiSSe d'Ibiza, vit toujourSS dévétue,
DiteSS jamais que je vouSS ai dit ça
ou MéliSSa me tue.
Le matin derrière seSS caniSSes alorSS qu'elle est moitie nue
Sur les murSS, devant chez MéliSSa, y'a tout plein d'inconnuSS.
Descendez ça c'est défendu, oh, c'est indécent,
Elle crie, maiSS bien entendu personne ne descend.
MéliSSa, métiSSe d'Ibiza a des SSeins tous pointuSS ,
DiteSS jamaiSS que je vous ai dit ça ou MéliSSa me tue.
MéliSSa, métiSSe d'Ibiza a toujourSS SSa vertu,
Dites jamaiSS que je vous ai dit ça ou MéliSSa me tue.
Ooh, matez ma métiSSe,
Ooh, ma métiSSe est nue
Le matin derrière seSS caniSSes alors je vends des longueSS vueSS
MaiSS si jamaiSS MéliSSa SSait ça,
Là, c'eSSt moi qui vous tue.

[ ChoruSS ]

Ooooooooooooh, matez ma métiSSe,
Ooooooooooh, ma métiSSe eSSt nue.
Profile Image for Boudewijn.
851 reviews207 followers
May 18, 2021
In 1962, German researchers conducted a series of interviews with former members of the Waffen SS Panzer troops who had fought in World War 2. This is the result: a number of interviews of their experiences while serving in Russia, Italy or Normandy. Recommended for anyone with an interest in WW2 topics and likes to know how it was on the ground.
256 reviews3 followers
October 12, 2024
Researches in '60-es tried to find out what made SS members so fanatical to fight to the last in the battles they couldn't ever win. They got a great stories about horror and violence of armored warfare but they never got answers about psychological make up of a fanatic. It seams that, at that time, predominant thinking was that as society is advancing fanatics will fall to the margins of society and then disappear totally. Unfortunately not all societies are advancing - some are still stuck in dark ages and religious fanatics raised their heads already in seventies and we are dealing with suicide bombers in 21st century. Advanced (read western) societies didn't want to stay behind and all sort of religious cults sprang up full of fanatics and tragedies were inevitable. One cannot avoid mentioning our "green" friends who are worthy successors of SS trupen. Fortunately they are, so far, only trying to destroy priceless works of art but it is just a question when targets will become not so priceless human lives. So symbols are changing but behavior is remaining with us through centuries!!
Profile Image for Scott.
12 reviews1 follower
June 19, 2022
Good information short read

It was a short read but had some interesting information the stories tie into stories from other similar books but from a different point on the battlefield even allied stories . One take away was how prevalent the use of fire weapons were by the Allies, I knew they were used I was under the impression more so in the pacific theater but its rarely touched on in mainstream media. Having focused solely on the allied side of WW2 and some of the Russian side its been excellent to add the German perspective to that without the political agenda one may expect. Ive no interest in agendas or rewriting history I simply want the information free from that and I find it here in these books.

The later stories are a little more political as you would expect from an SS soldier. Some reasons given as to why they joined and fought were also new information and I was surprised
10 reviews
February 19, 2019
4 Stars for fighting the Bolsheviks

Zero Stars for Fighting the allies....the problem with these books is they reused stories from in each book to make extra books which is a load of BS. Good Stories on fighting the Russians. I have read a lot of books on WWII but those stories are exceptional.
16 reviews
December 11, 2019
Good read for those who would experience the war from the opposition

Concise and well written - A bit too clean for one who has read many books on subject - Definitely worth reading!!
4 reviews
March 28, 2018
Gazza

Yet again the first 3 chapters were exactly the same as in previous books from the series that i have read.
4 reviews
May 31, 2019
We need more.

War is a terrible thing. But we need to listen to the account of both sides to truly understand the events of that day.
69 reviews
April 18, 2021
War stories of the ss

A unique set of stories from the waffen ss. These stories were transcribed years after the war. Chilling that the indoctrination continued decades later.
1 review
March 14, 2017
Extremely authentic read

This book shares a realism that makes the reader feel you know exactly what it was like for these soldiers, even the practical way in which they responded to the interviews years after the war.

The intensity of the war is palpable
Profile Image for Themistocles.
388 reviews16 followers
August 17, 2015
This book, like the rest by Sprech Media (SS Panzer - SS Voices, The Last Panther, Tiger Tracks, Hitler's Children) is a piece of fiction.

There's just too many details that point to that - from the utter and complete lack of sources or identifiable unit numbers (or ANYthing that could have led to verifications of facts) to technical and historical mistakes (for instance, the IS-3 tank appearing in a 1943 story) it's quite evident that this is not a collection of "eyewitness accounts" but merely a work of a very excitable imagination.

Other, often repeated details give that away - the fact that from what's written 9/10 soldiers killed in WWII were decapitated (really, everything, from a single bullet to a naval shell to a 60-ton tank falling on you scenes are filled with severed heads; heads on the snow, heads on tanks, heads on tree branches, you name it), experiences that the narrator absolutely could not have seen (from a complete overview of a battle through the driver's slit to a -obviously weapon systems expert- civilian at the cellar of her home), sub-stories that read like out of a bad Hollywood script (the beautiful Russian prisoner who travels chained in the tank -like there's room for it there- or nurses exchanging sexual favors for cigarettes) - EVERYTHING about these books point to someone contemporary who has read up quite a bit and then fabricated some rather sick fantasy.

Stay away!
Profile Image for Bogdan.
397 reviews57 followers
December 17, 2015
There is something fishy about this publisher and about this book. The eye-witness accounts are very similar; the interviewer's question are a bit... unprofessional, like they didn't know what they were doing; and the action is cinematic. If this were classified as fiction I would award it 3.5 stars, because it's good enough, although repetitive. Since it is regarded as "historical non-fiction" I downgrade it to 2 stars because it tries to sell it for something it's not. Which I don't like a bit. At least it's an okay value for money: you don't pay that much for a couple hundred of pages which would, at least, I think raise your interest in proper WW2 memoirs.
Profile Image for Loren.
95 reviews
August 23, 2015
This book is a bit dull due to the reticence of the interviewees. These are the hardcore members of the German military (and in this case probably Nazis as well). They seem to realize that certain information may be inadvisable to share at this point and either out of self preservation (more likely) and/or shame they refuse to give out certain information.

So the value of this book is probably the absence of certain testimony of its subjects rather than the material they do offer. The glossary is also excellent converting German jargon for tanks, etc. into understandable English.
18 reviews
May 25, 2015
This is the true grit of tank books, all by past warriors of WW2 Germany. Every one of them a hero. Its about tanks. How can I not like it? First rate.
60 reviews
December 22, 2018
Worthy of your time

Interesting accounts from individuals of SS units. Recommend this to you. Battles from the East and Western theatres are described.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews

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