Pansarchef Under Rommel

by Hans von Luck

A stunning look at World War II from the other side.... From the turret of a German tank, Colonel Hans von Luck commanded Rommel's 7th and then 21st Panzer Division. El Alamein, Kasserine Pass, Poland, Belgium, Normandy on D-Day, the disastrous Russian front - von Luck fought there with some of the best soldiers in the world. German soldiers. Awarded the German Cross in Gold and the Knight's Cross, von Luck writes as an officer and a gentleman. Told with the vivid detail of an impassioned eyewitness, his rare and moving memoir has become a classic in the literature of World War II, a first-person chronicle of the glory - and the inevitable tragedy - of a superb soldier fighting Hitler's war.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, World War II, Military Fiction, Biography, War, Military History

320 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1989

About the author

Hans-Ulrich Freiherr von Luck und Witten (a.k.a. Hans von Luck) was a German army officer from 1929 until he was captured by Soviet forces in 1945; by which point he had earned the Knight's Cross, German Cross in Gold, and Iron Cross 1st & 2nd Class. By that time he had also been promoted to the rank of Colonel. He served in several theatres during World War II, including France and North Africa, where he was under the command of Erwin Rommel.

After the war, von Luck wrote a memoir which was highly praised; this led to his acquaintance, and ultimately friendship, with both historians of the war and also Allied officers he had fought against.

Reviews

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hans Von Luck (pronounced like the English name "Luke" not the English word "luck") was a "good German," which makes his memoir an interesting story that has certain elephants constantly lurking in the back of the room. Luck addresses them a few times, though perhaps not to the satisfaction of those who really want to know about the moral calculus of serving as a willing officer in Hitler's army.

I found his account compelling and sometimes riveting for his first-hand accounts of war and all its accompanying terror, as well as the years he spent as a prisoner in Russian camps at the end of the war, before he was finally released back to Germany.

However, his war stories, while detailed, meticulous, and sometimes dreadful, were somewhat lacking in the technical and tactical details that made Japanese Destroyer Captain a much better read. If you want to know all about tank warfare and what is was like to drive Panzers, Luck talks surprisingly little about the machines and the maneuvers themselves. He covers the battles he was involved in as if giving an AAR (After Action Report), narrating his campaigns from the Eastern Front to North Africa, where he served under Rommel, and finally, to the bitter end defense of Berlin, which led to his being captured by the Russians and spending the next five years as a POW.

In the foreword, he issues a plea for tolerance and peace in the hope of "never again" repeating the mistakes his country made, and throughout the book he gives the impression of being a conscientious man who always had his doubts about Hitler, but was just being a loyal soldier. He certainly wasn't anti-Semitic, as his girlfriend throughout the war was 1/8 Jewish, and they were told by the High Command that for that reason, he could not marry her. (He observes indignantly that reserve officers were allowed to marry a 1/8 Jew, but active army officers could not.) Actually, his romance with Dagmar became an ongoing "subplot" in the story, as he would frequently manage to speak to her briefly even while he was in the field and she was back in Germany (in areas being bombed), and at one point she basically hitchhiked through a war zone to meet him! Spunky woman. I won't "spoil" the ending by telling you whether or not they wind up marrying.

All that being said - I experienced some skepticism about Luck's studious disavowals that he or his fellow officers really knew what was going on with the Jews. Dagmar's own father was locked up in a camp (just a prison camp; they hadn't become death camps yet) and Luck tried to exercise his influence to free him. There are also an awful lot of stories about how noble and generous he and his men were to local civilians, and how grateful they were, and it was only in other places where less honorable German soldiers treated non-combatants with less humanity. Not that I doubt Luck's personal conduct — I'm sure he was a conscientious commander who followed the Geneva Convention. But still, he never seems to encounter anyone who actually dislikes Germans, or has reason to.

Later, Luck relates the increasing desperation of the German army as they realize (from about 1943 onward) that the war is lost and they are fighting for survival and increasingly diminishing chances of being allowed something more than unconditional surrender. As this happens, he talks about how Hitler and the High Command were increasingly detached from the reality at the front, how Hitler was trying to micromanage divisions (which often no longer existed except on paper), and how the Nazi police state even affected officers at the front. At one point, one of Luck's platoon sergeants is summarily executed by one of the infamous "flying drumhead" judges who were going around shooting soldiers for any reason they could drum up. Luck is furious, but even a highly decorated colonel can't do anything about it.

This was a good book for its look into the mind of a Wehrmacht officer, but I found the anecdotes like those above more interesting than the actual war, which Luck describes in dry detail. The chapters about life in a Russian labor camp were interesting too.

[Metodi Markov · Rating 1 out of 5]

Мисля, че този фон Лук дори и през далечната от края на ВСВ 1989 година не си е позволил да бъде дори частично откровен с читателите на този негов "мемоар"...

През цялото време го играе умряла лисица - не знаели, не разбирали, армията била аполитична и прочие глупости! Описва така събитията и чувствата си, щото да пасват чудесно на пост ВСВ света, в който немците са презряно победени. Не знам, и защо му е било нужно така грозно да се слага на британците и американците.

Както на повечето участници във войната, "необвързани" с националсоциалистите и SS (или поне недоказано свързани), на него не му е забранено да изживее живота си в абсолютно нормални условия - създал е семейство, бизнес и е живял охолно.

Бойните действия, в които е участвал са описани безинтересно и повърхностно, изобилстват тривиалните детайли и случки, а те направо дразнят и принизяват събитията. Имах желание да науча повече за войната в Северна Африка, но няма да е от този пасквил.

Фон Лук за мен е един нечестен човек и съответно и писанията му са ми неприятни, до гнусни.

P.S. Не можах да се насиля да довърша този текст, успях да прочета 201 страници. Освобождаването му от руския концлагер в началото на книгата е просто смехотворно.

[Nikola Jankovic · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kao dete, imao sam rođaka, tada već u odmaklim godinama, koji je bio poznati pukovnik jugoslovenske vojske za vreme 2. svetskog rata. Kasnije, kad sam počeo da se interesujem za istoriju, bilo mi je žao što ne mogu da razgovaram sa njim o njegovim vojničkim danima. Nakon čitanja memoara ovog nemačkog tenkovskog pukovnika, možda ne bi trebalo preterano da žalim.

Hans von Luck je bio jedan od najmlađih oficira u nemačkom Wehrmachtu 1939-te godine. Spisak ratišta na kojima se borio, čita se kao spisak najvećih bitaka Trećeg rajha (sa izuzetkom Staljingrada): Poljska, blitz-krieg u Francuskoj, ratovanje sa Romelom u Severnoj Africi, Dan D i povlačenje iz Francuske i na kraju odbrana Berlina od Žukova i Konjeva. Nakon rata, preživeo je pet godina u sovjetskom logoru za ratne zarobljenike. I nakon svega toga, imao je tek 42 godine.

Sa takvim doživljajima, čovek skoro da ne može da omaši. Ali ti doživljaji, a posebno bitke, su opisane suvoparno i dosadno. Von Luck nije pisac, naravno, ali koliko puta možeš da pročitaš "u 1400 časova, naš bataljon je krenuo da opkoljava elemente američke 7. divizije sa njihovog desnog boka"? Opisi bitaka su kao ratni dnevnik te jedinice, sa činjeničnim opisom dešavanja na ratištu tog dana. Pošto je knjigu napisao skoro 50 godina nakon rata, moguće da su tako i nastale. Nema tu mnogo emocija, a užasi sa ratišta skoro da ne postoje. Opisi su otprilike takvi kao kad mi sednemo da igramo društvenu igru na tematiku 2. svetskog rata, pa onda uzbuđeni prepričavamo šta se sve tu izdešavalo.

Osim opisa ratovanja, interesantno mi je i razmišljanje vojnika na gubitničkoj strani. Zbog čega su ratovali, kako su se motivisali i kako su posle rata gledali na to. Von Luck ovde radi još lošiji posao. D DAY Through German Eyes - The Hidden Story of June 6th 1944 i Japanese Destroyer Captain: Pearl Harbor, Guadalcanal, Midway - The Great Naval Battles As Seen Through Japanese Eyes ovo čine mnogo bolje. Pogotovo kratki intervjui sa nemačkim vojnicima iz Normandije, koje je autor radio 10 godina posle rata, mnogo realnije opisuju motivaciju tih vojnika. Oni kažu da su se borili "za ujedinjenu Evropu, protiv američkog i britanskog imperijalizma", i vidi se da su u to zaista verovali.

Von Luck prikazuje i sebe, a i sve koji su ratovali sa njim, kao "dobre Nemce". U vojsci skoro da nije bilo nacista, niko nije znao za koncentracione logore i pravu sudbinu Jevreja, a uvek se ratovalo na džentlmenski način. Oficiri po pravilu nisu voleli Hitlera, a odnos Wehrmachta prema lokalnom stanovništvu je bio idiličan. Francuzi, Ukrajinci, Rusi, Beduini, Gruzini - svi su se oni jako simpatično ophodili prema okupacionim silama.

Ipak, ima solidnih delova. Njegove godine u logoru u Gruziji su opisane bolje od samog rata, a zapamtiću i anegdotu iz Severne Afrike. Von Luckov izviđački tenkovski bataljon često je zarobljavao pojedince iz britanskih jedinica. Jednom prilikom im je tako u ruke pao oficir, za koga se ispostavlja da je nećak vlasnika najvećeg duvanskog proizvođača u Evropi. Kako su to saznali, Nemci su ga pitali šta misli o tome da ga zamene za cigarete. "I koliko mislite da vredi vaš život?" Šta ćeš, Englez postavljen pred takvo pitanje, nije mogao da odgovori sa manje od milion. Kontaktirali su Britance, na šta su ovi rekli da mogu da ponude najviše 600,000 cigareta. Sam oficir je istrajao na milion, a taj broj je na kraju i bio 'isplaćen'. Nekoliko nedelja nakon toga, Nemci su odobrili određenu količinu lekova kao razmenu za njihovog lekara, koga su zarobile iste britanske trupe.

[Karl Lazanski · Rating 5 out of 5]

What can I say about this book that hasn't already been said by others! This memoir is really easy and enjoyable to read. Whether it is intentional or just plain honesty it is hard not to like and respect, not just the officer but the man that was colonel hans von luck!
He describes in depth every theatre of the Second World War he was involved in, not just briefly but I believe in a very easily understandable way. His experiences were and still are relevant for today's people, of not just the brutality but the human side of war, of being himself able to understand and forgive harsh treatment in the gulags of Russia!
This is a book that could be read quickly like a novel, but in doing so one will miss the opportunity to ponder on things that are said by a very human individual that has experienced war at its worst!

[Bill Forgeard · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best war memoirs I've read. The author is balanced and realistic about war, about the nazis, about his own point of view, about his opponents. He was present in virtually every theatre of war from the first day until almost the final day, and often involved in the crucial battles, so the account is full of interest from a historical point of view -- not to mention his close connection to Rommel. Von Luck was clearly an outstanding soldier and his battle accounts are fascinating, but the outstanding feature of the book is the maturity and compassion of Von Luck's writing, especially in describing his relationships with the many people who fill out the story.

[Jeff Clay · Rating 4 out of 5]

"What madness to fight to the knife and then become good friends!"

This is a deceptively simple book, written in a matter-of-fact voice, as almost a travelogue of Colonel von Luck's experiences and travails in war and imprisonment. I wondered, more than once whilst reading, if the dispassionate distance of 40 years -- the approximate length of time from events to writing -- might have allowed a bit of a selective memory patina to colour his discourse. The Ukrainians welcomed the invading Germans, the Georgians embraced them, even many French took a "c'est la vie" attitude towards the 'sale Boche.' Of course, even though it is hard to know the exact truth, it is well-known that many denizens of the various SSRs (Soviet Socialist Republics), for a multitude of reasons, had no lack of antipathy for Russians, Stalinists, or both. As well, the French are survivors. But in von Luck's account the Russians are not the villains either. Merely soulful children under the cynical boot of Stalin and his corrupt and inept functionaries. Perhaps a bit too simple of a caricature.

Regardless, this neither a deep political thesis nor a memoir of military strategies and tactics. In then end it is a experiential personal story of survival, reconciliation and renewal. And as such, it shines.

"As a professional soldier I cannot escape my share of the collective guilt; but as a human being I feel none. I hope that nowhere in the world will young people ever again allow themselves to be so misused."

Would that it were so.

[Dj · Rating 4 out of 5]

I know I have said this before and I will most likely say it again. I am not a big fan of first-person memories of the war. With that said I was happily surprised that this was such a fine read. Colonel Luck starts before the war and discusses his training, but as with most of the book, he doesn't detail what he is doing involving the Army as much as what he is doing and who he is meeting outside of the basics of what is going on. All through the book he generally gives shortness of scope of the military actions he is involved in. It isn't until you get to Normandy that he gives much attention to the actual battles, but even then he talks quite a bit about what is going on with others than with himself and he is still talking about others, ranging from other Army Officers, Friends both French and German. So it is much more a look at the psychology of the people at the time and less a description of military battles.

His outlook is very interesting, he generally has nothing bad to say about most individuals and doesn't really have anything bad to say about them. There are exceptions, but they are a rarity. Even then it doesn't sound as if he is trying to cover anything up. He comes off as a generally decent human being.

He also touches on Rommel's change of heart with Hitler. He never states that Rommel would have or was involved in the plot to bring Hitler down, but it is clear from what Luck writes that Rommel felt that the war was lost and it was Hitler's fault.

He doesn't just stop with the war itself. He continues on through his experiences as a Prisoner of War in Russia and about his run to life when he returns to Germany 13 years later.

All in all, it is one of the very good self-written books about the author's experience during the war. I highly recomend it.

[Dhiraj Sharma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Col. Hans Von Luck served under all theatres of WW-II be it France, Africa or the ill fated Operation Barbarossa in Russia.
If you want to read a book from the German Army's prespective this is the book for you.
The author writes in a crisp and precise manner and gives an insight into the German's soldier's mind and the reader comes to know how a professional army officer should behave. The book also touches upon the charismatic personality of one of the greatest german Field Marshalls 'Erwin Rommel" under whom Col Luck mostly served during the War.
The book ends up with Col Luck getting released from Russian Prison camp after spending harrowing 5 years as POW and trying to start a new life in post war Germany.
Highly recommended for militory history buffs and for anyone aspiring to be an officer in the armed forces.

[Olethros · Rating 3 out of 5]

-Si bien su fuerte no era narrar, estuvo allí y eso es lo que cuenta.-

Género. Biografía.

Lo que nos cuenta. Autobiografía del Oberst der Panzerwaffe Hans von Luck que, tras comenzar hablando de la parte final de su cautiverio en manos rusos tras la guerra, nos muestra su juventud, su formación militar y, a partir de ahí, la parte del león que consiste en su intervención en los combates de la Segunda Guerra Mundial para, después, contarnos su destino al terminar ésta.

¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:

https://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com...

[Cerisaye · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am about a quarter of the way through the audio version (for some reason the voice actor puts on an obviously fake German accent and reads with a downbeat tone, which take a bit of getting used to) of this Second World War memoir. Von Luck has reached Smolensk, on the road to Moscow, and I want to jot down a few thoughts on the book so far.

It certainly makes an interesting, total contrast with my previous wartime read/listen, Guy Sajer's Forgotten Soldier. Hans von Luck- the 'von' is key here- was a professional career soldier in an elite motorised unit, from an old Prussian military family, educated, cultured and multi-lingual. Before the war he hobnobbed within an international elite 'set', so he later encounters opponents on the field whom he'd last seen in an English gentleman's club. Unlike Guy Sajer, whose wartime experience was limited to the Eastern Front, mostly during its retreat phase, von Luck saw action in Poland, France, North Africa, Italy, Normandy, and Russia. He was there for the invasion of Poland in 1939, and for Belgium and France in 1940. It all sounds rather jolly seen through his eyes, war as a gentlemanly, chivalrous affair. Welcoming locals, minimum of bloodshed, good behaviour, honourable intentions. In France he takes the opportunity to build up his wine collection, making clear he pays for the fine bottles he is able to collect and send back to Germany for safe-keeping. All the while, von Luck is at great pains to point out he was never a Nazi nor had any sympathies with Hitler or National Socialism. He makes disparaging comments about Party functionaries, shows distaste for Himmler and the SS including the Waffen SS, set up, he says, to make sure the Wehrmacht could be kept under control.

The memoir begins with a brief account of von Luck's postwar captivity in a Soviet work camp for German POWs, where he was kept for 5 years before his release and return to civilian life. Von Luck seems surprisingly forgiving of his Russian captors and displays no bitterness or anger. He wrote these memoirs nearly forty years later, and time is a great healer, but he seems truthful and honest. Von Luck comes across as fundamentally decent, a gentleman, the kind of man who would make convivial company.

Von Luck represents the ideal German officer from a generation that grew up during the Weimar years before Nazi propaganda took control of hearts and minds. He supports with the regime's initial moves to win back German pride and control of territories lost by the punitive retribution of the Treaty of Versailles. Yet he makes sure to distance himself, and the Wehrmacht, from politics and ideology. It's the old line, "We were soldiers merely doing our duty in fulfilment of a binding oath". I suspect there's a bit of a gloss going on in von Luck's account, but the fact he appears to have become friends with some old adversaries signifies the respect this German officer had from those in a position to judge fairly. I will update.

********************************

At the halfway point, I must call attention to the way von Luck's service in the desert marks the stark contrast between the experience of war by the men of the Afrika Korps and those sent to the Eastern Front. For e.g., von Luck describes the 'Gentleman's agreement' between his battalion and a nearby British unit, whereby at 5 o'clock each day hostilities ceased and information exchanged as to their respective captured prisoners, with messages of respect and goodwill, and taking of tea. Unimaginable on the Russian Front, where at the same time the Sixth Army suffered appallingly in Stalingrad from a combination of ruthless winter, starvation, and merciless savagery (understandable given what was done to Soviet prisoners by the advancing Germans). Of course von Luck's anecdotes are selective, and there was undoubtedly savagery in the Africa campaign, too, but it was a different experience, nonetheless, with Bedouin locals lending hospitality and assistance to both sides, as recalled by von Luck in glowing terms, not at all like Partisan attrition in Russia. In Africa and Russia alike German forces were bedevilled by chronic lack of supplies, materiel and poor decision making in Berlin.

Von Luck makes very clear, too, that Rommel by late 1942 told him the war was lost and the best course for Germany was to sue for peace with the Western Allies, getting rid of Hitler, to unite against their true enemy, Stalin. Would the Field Marshall really have been so frank with a junior officer, even one who was a special favourite with longtime service under Rommel? It seems unlikely. I do get the impression von Luck's memoir bears more than a tint of rose-coloured hindsight, charming as he is in the telling of his story. In this he is perhaps more like Guy Sajer than it might at first appear. Sajer wanted to shine light on the appalling suffering of the ordinary German soldier in the East, whereas von Luck's (worthy) agenda is to bring together former enemies in an embrace of mutual respect, forgiveness, tolerance and understanding, unity to make sure the conflict that engulfed the world 1939-45 is never allowed to happen again.


************************************

Finished. I enjoyed this memoir very much. I don't know how typical Hans von Luck was of the German officer class. He comes across as being quite special despite what seem genuine natural modesty and reticence. Interestingly, during the section covering his time in the gulag he gives his account in third person, we not I, shared suffering and endurance. He learns to knit and churns out socks to replace inadequate cotton foot coverings, even has guards buying them! As he says early in the book, what the Germans had that their enemies never matched, was unit cohesion and as a consequence, a strong sense of comradeship...They will fight and die for their units and for their comrades. It comes down to this: no one wants to look the coward before friends, or to let them down at critical moments. Very Prussian.

Von Luck was resilient, resourceful, held himself to a very high standard and expected the same from fellow officers and soldiers. He observes during the early days in Poland how the stalwart and robust-seeming men often lost their nerve under combat conditions, while the supposedly weak proved to be strong and kept their heads. He has emotional reunions with old fighting comrades and fellow POW camp survivors who share a common feeling of solidarity. Luck never appears to waver, no matter what came at him. He also had a fair degree of the luck his name implies (pronounced Look, I know). In later years, von Luck gave talks to British, Swedish and American audiences and military groups, and attended commemoration ceremonies with former enemies: What madness to fight to the knife and then become good friends. As an aside, it amused me greatly when von Luck in Hamburg after his release finds a job in an international hotel as Night Manager...I now can't help picturing him as Tom Hiddleston.

I'm not sure what to make of his claim not to have known anything about the camps before learning of the fate of his prospective father-in-law in Sachsenhausen. Perhaps a case of not wanting to know? Or a busy, preoccupied, fully engaged professional soldier seldom exposed to the realities of the home front? He never mentions atrocities. Feels sympathy for officers he knows forced from the Wehrmacht into SS service without choice or possibility of refusal. In any case, von Luck did his time for five years as a Russian POW, without any suggestion he had been anything other than a 'good' German officer and commander.

I have often felt that in the first half of my life I was, in a double sense, a prisoner of my time, trapped on the one hand in the Prussian tradition and bound by the oath of allegiance, which made it easy for the Nazi regime to misuse the military leadership; then forced to pay my country's tribute, along with so many thousand others, with five years of captivity on Russian soil. Some might see this as self-serving apologia, that the Wehrmacht and cultured, educated men like von Luck were quite happy to go along with the Nazis, until the tide of war turned so disastrously against the Reich. On the basis of his memoir, I am prepared to give him the benefit of doubt. He accepted his share of collective guilt as a professional soldier, but as a human being I feel none, and dedicated the remainder of his life to making sure it could never happen again. I can't help thinking he would be disappointed by the direction things have taken in Europe today, that lessons have not been learned, or, forgotten, as the Second World War recedes from popular memory.

[Brendan Monroe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Your feelings about this book are almost certain to be determined by your willingness to believe that there were "good Germans" serving in Germany's armies in WWII. The only way these Germans may have existed, you may think, is for them to have had no idea of what went on in the German concentration camps.

German Colonel Hans von Luck claims that he and his men had no idea of what went on "behind the barbed wire" of the concentration camps, which then raises another question - is it possible for a German who served in such a high position in the military during that time to have remained ignorant of Nazi atrocities in the camps?

Luck only brings up the Nazi position on the Jews at a couple of points during this recounting of his wartime experiences. Once when retelling how various Muslims tribes encountered in Africa praised the official German position and then later when reporting how he tried to get his fiancée's Jewish father out of Sachsenhausen, the Nazi prison and concentration camp outside of Berlin. Luck does, however, make his disdain for Hitler and other high-ranking Nazi officials like Himmler and Goebbels clear at numerous points.

Luck also references a conversation he had in Africa in 1942 with legendary German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel in which Rommel declared that Germany's best hope was to sue for peace with the Allies as it was even then clear that Germany no longer had any realistic chance to win the war.

Regardless of whether Colonel Hans von Luck knew of the atrocities happening in the concentration camps or not - and I am inclined to believe him when he said he did not - I think a strong case could be made that Luck and many men like him weren't fighting for Hitler and the spread of Nazi ideology but for the survival of their own friends and family.

"Panzer Commander" is, I am pleased to say, a riveting, fascinating book by a man who remarkably fought on all the main German fronts in the war. He was part of the initial invasion into Poland, then fought with Rommel in France and North Africa, then was back to France where he was present in Normandy for the D-Day invasion, and then finally back to the Eastern Front where he was captured by the Russians in the war's final days. He then spent nearly five years in various Russian prison camps.

Somehow, throughout, Hans von Luck maintains his unshakeable optimism and sense of purpose. Military enthusiasts may be disappointed that Luck doesn't get into the tactical details of tank warfare, but I found his more anecdotal account of his experiences and fateful encounters with former rivals far more compelling. For that reason and others, this memoir of Colonel Hans von Luck is a deeply personal one and, at many points, particularly during the many reunions at the end, I found myself deeply moved.

"I have often felt", Luck writes, "that in the first half of my life I was, in a double sense, a prisoner of my time: trapped on the one hand in the Prussian tradition and bound by the oath of allegiance, which made it all too easy for the Nazi regime to misuse the military leadership; then forced to pay my country's tribute, along with so many thousands of others, with five years of captivity in Russian camps. As a professional soldier I cannot escape my share of the collective guilt; but as a human being I feel none. I hope that nowhere in the world will young people ever again allow themselves to be so misused."

Like the man himself, "Panzer Commander" is a deeply human account that never wavers in its sense of what is good and just in a world that is too often neither.

[Frank · Rating 4 out of 5]

No spoilers.
In all my reading of World War 2, this is my first reading of memoirs of a German soldier. With that I must say that the writing was smooth, and was more of a character study ythan dates, facts numbers which was a departure.
Probably for me, the passages regarding Rommel were the best. To see the human side of a historical figure portrayed is always illuminating.
The flip side of this memoir, has been argued why this soldier didn't quit if he knew what Hitler and the Nazi's were doing. There are two sides to this argument which I will not get into at this point.
For the students of the War, they each have their own opinions.

[Joe Devonport · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's always interesting to hear both sides of every story, and WW2 is no different. It's hard to tell if Von Luck truly was as virtuous as he suggests in his book. Was he as kind and noble to those he met as he suggests? Did he really not know the goings on behind the front lines? He never appears to have made any attempts to join or take part in any of the more vile parts of Hitler's Germany, but as such a highly decorated soldier, surely he would have known about them, and could perhaps have made a greater effort to push against the goings on in his country? But that in itself asks a question of us all. How much would we have the courage to do? I do wish that he had made an effort to consider this more in his memoir, although he does eventually admit that his having grown up to believe duty to his country above all else was most important, and that this blinded him for much of the war.

That said, the book itself is a fascinating look into the many different theatres of war that he took part in, bookended by a fascinating look into his time in Soviet captivity afterwards. Oftentimes his experiences outside of combat were the most interesting, including his relationship with love interest Dagmar, and many of the characters he met during his time in the war.

Definitely worth a read.

[Jesse Kraai · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fucking great war memoir and belongs alongside Ernst Juenger's In Stahlgewittern. I'm going to just make a couple personal points.
-Like with Juenger I kept coming back to now and thinking: You think you have problems? You don't have problems. And also, as Americans, we didn't really suffer in WWI or II. The Civil War was our drama.
-As a young person reading about WWII Germany I thought, like many others, that 'I' would have done something if I had been there. Burned some shit down, I don't know. But now with Trump I have done basically fuck-all.
-Luck highlights what a disaster it is when someone like Trump or Hitler thinks they know better than the generals.
-Dude went through true shit, Hitler and five years Stalin. He never gave up and he never lost his humanity.
-The Prussian Oath is a hellofadrug.
-The father-in-law story makes me cry every time

We need a new edition with better maps, action sometimes hard to follow.

[Leigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I alway find it hard to write a review about Memoirs because its an individuals story but I will say this, it was interesting and a I felt an honest detail of Hans von Luck experience during WWII . I might write more after I have time to think about it!

[Née · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book had me hooked from the first page. And maybe that was all a clever trick on von Luck's part because by the time I got to the point in the book where the military jargon and the (sometimes) dry descriptions of various missions was annoying me - I was too hooked to give up.

I'm glad I stuck with it. Hans von Luck's story is worth reading if you're a WWII history buff because it gives a unique perspective I had yet to encounter: a story from the other side.

So much of what I've read about WWII - and I realize that I haven't even begun to touch the surface of what is out there - has been based on the Allies, the British and/or the Americans, with the Germans being the bad guys. When you do read about the German 'side' of things, it's predominantly to understand why the good side reacted the way they did.

This is why I loved this book so much. Hans von Luck was a mid-ranking military official from the pre-war years right through to the end when he was captured by the Russians and kept prisoner for five years. And he writes as though he is both staunchly proud of being German and having fought in this war, but then also very sympathetic to the other side.

While I've since read criticisms that von Luck's position in this book makes it appear as though he distances himself from Hitler and the Nazi's partly to save face, I do believe after having read his story that he was simply a good man doing his job, and was not a war criminal like so many of his counterparts.

I could go on about this book for quite some time given its astonishing depth and ability to convey a great deal of emotion, but I will leave my review at this: if you don't read any other WWII book, read this one.

I like that it made me think about the Germans on a different level, and despite my obvious allegiance to those who were oppressed by Nazi Germany for so many years (including my Dutch grandparents), I was glad to have the chance to try and understand another perspective.

[James T · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars for an excellent read, albeit one whose author had good reasons to spin parts of the story heavily in his own favor.

Fascinating history, presented by a person who was well placed to recount it. From the Eastern Front, to North Africa, to Normandy, to a Russian POW (and political prisoner) camp -- quite the journey. I recommend the book highly. I might go back soon just to re-read the parts about the Russian camp.

Others have critiqued the book at length, so here's just a thumbnail sketch of a couple of its limitations.

1. Self-serving. The Colonel here writes his own history. To hear him tell it, he never abused a prisoner; never made a major blunder while commanding; and never got free or cheap goodies from the occupied French via the implicit threat of "for else." I'm just not buying it.

For a look at the kinds of transactions in which van Luck perhaps was involved while in occupied France, I'd recommend the book The Forger's Spell. It reports that one way highly placed Nazis (such as Goering) got their hands on coveted artworks was to offer Jewish dealers (say, in Amsterdam) ridiculously low payments. Yes, the deals got done, often complete with bills of sale, but any fair interpretation of that type of transaction would be that it was extortive. So I don't share von Luck's pride in the bargains he got on, say, the many bottles in his wine collection.

2. No maps. This criticism isn't unique to von Luck's books. It's been an ongoing subject of discussion amongst me and some friends. One working theory is that maps generally are protected as intellectual property, and that their use therefore would require the publisher or etc. to pay royalties for their use. In any event, it took some work to follow the action on the ground with the help of the Internet. I did learn some interesting geography, but at times found this part a chore.

[Kris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I pick this up as an addition to my WWII library as I had already read the books about the more famous generals of the Germans and I am starting to read about some of the lesser know leaders. This is a well written account of Colonel Lucks experiences in WW II and I did get to read some of the first accounts of what it was like for German POW's post WW II held by the Russians which I had never read before. The book as a whole though seemed to lack an awareness of the human cost of the war or it might have been that Colonel Luck had such a relentless positive outlook on the future he didn't allow anything that was emotionally troubling to enter his narrative. What ever it is though I found the book a polished recounting of his experiences but I had no real awareness of how the author was impacted by the war. Interesting but not really riveting reading for a first person account.


Pithy Review - Luck is good at war

[Jan · Rating 2 out of 5]

von Luck is no great writer and his memoirs written 40 years after the vents he skirts and evades the basic issue of fighting for the Third Reich and hitler to the bitter end. Certainly the military professional will receive limited insight from his often superficial description of the battles and his personal reflections are fairly unreflective and one-dimensional. All of which is a shame insofar as he did participate in the campaigns in Poland, France, Russia, North Africa, Normandy, Lorraine and East Prussia - and spent 5 years in Soviet POW camps. Certainly that could have provided for a fascinating story.

[Hamish Davidson · Rating 5 out of 5]

As you read this book you feel as though you are right there beside von Luck on the battlefield and in his beloved Mercedes experiencing the campaigns he was involved in during World War Two. His descriptions of each country's local people are fascinating, particularly the Behouins in North Africa and the Russians during his time in captivity. Despite wearing the swastica during WWII, von Luck really does seem to be a grounded human being with a sincere heart.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

An officer of great character and ability, though his army was serving an evil cause, tells his story with clarity and humanity. Von Luck was the kind of officer under whom soldiers want to serve, because he cares deeply about them and puts their welfare above his own. A solid study in leadership under extreme hardship.

[Jaan Liitmäe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely fantastic book from 1931 till 1950 through all the theatres of war - Poland, France, Russia, Africa, Normandy, East-Germany and Russian captivity! By far the best personal find in 2022.

[Kevin Boatman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Panzer Commander: The Memoirs of Colonel Hans von Luck.
This is an autobiography of a skilled professional soldier and leader, including both descriptions of war and how the German Army survived political manipulation and terror. The tank corps was essential to the initial successes of the German Army and he paints a useful picture of how it was formed and grew. His short character descriptions of leaders are usually interesting and sometimes insightful. It is interesting to read and essentially apolitical.

[Jean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Von Luck was born in 1911 in Flensburg, the son of a naval officer and descends from an old military family. Von Luck joined a Cavalry regiment in the 100,000 strong Reichwehr in 1929 but was soon transferred to the motorized infantry. In 1931 he came under the tutelage of Erwin Rommel. By 1936 he was a company commander. He served in every battle from Poland, Russia, Africa and France. He was a battalion commander under Rommel. He was captured by the Russian at the end of the war and put into a punishment camp in Kiev. He was released in 1950 and repatriated to West German. He obtained a job working for a coffee company. In 1960 he was on the staff of the British Military Camberley Staff College. He instructed students about the German Tank corp. in various battles in WWII and in particular the battle at Normandy. He did the same for the Swedish and French military. He made a military staff training file with Major General “Pip” Roberts. Von Luck died in January 1997.

Through Von Luck’s memoir you can obtain a rare perspective of the German soldiers and get to see a unique behind the scenes look at the German Army during WWII. Von Luck writes with an easy to read direct style. He offers no excuses and begs no forgiveness for serving his country. He fought because he was a soldier. The book contains hundreds of anecdotes and observations that bring the story to life. If you are interested in World War II this is a must read book. I read this as an audio book downloaded from Audible. Bronson Pinchot narrated the book.

[Ravi Singh · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most readable German accounts of WWII. This book has been written with a wide audience in mind and will appeal to the whole range of readers, military, non military, allied, axis , young and old. The writing is simple with the content being king. The author participated in an impressive list of significant theaters and battles of WW II from Poland to Russia to Africa and Normandy. He even survived five years in captivity in Russian camps.

Forget the criticism and some of the negative reviews, this is the kind of story which underlines "fact is stranger than fiction". This is a great first hand account of a German officer doing the best job he possibly could. He doesn't get into too much tactical details some military men would prefer but that makes it very readable for the wider audience. His personal acquaintance with some of the well known personalities like Rommel that gives the reader some interesting insight, is an added bonus.

Guy Sajer's "Forgotten Soldier" is hands down the best and most raw German account I have read and still ranks on top. However this is a a more rounded, higher level account. It's pointless to focus on the author's political correctness and "balanced views" as a flaw. He was there, he fought and survived and has written a great account of it. That's what makes this makes this a great read.

[Jean E · Rating 3 out of 5]

Makes for an interested read as von Luck seems to have been in many of the most famous battles.

I couldn't help but be a bit skeptical on his stance towards German war crimes. Maybe he didn't commit any personally but we know for a fact that these crimes were not the monopoly of the SS and Gestapo, many in the Wehrmacht and even the general public participated. It seems a bit easy to put all the crimes in the Hitler-and-SS category and then go on narrating the war as if the Germans were honorable. Agree that not all Germans are individually guilty but von Luck fails to account for the mass racism and hysteria that gripped Germany. You just can't separate Germany's military prowess from its ideology, the Wehrmacht did not exist in isolation, its recruits in 1940 were more motivated than its enemies because of the destructive ideology that consumed them, not in spite of it. Its rapid rearmament was made possible through the pillaging of minorities and neighboring countries. So thought von Luck, still hanging out to his Prussian honor, was naïve at best.

Still an interesting read, if anything it's a perspective we don't hear from often.

[Jess · Rating 2 out of 5]

Panzer Commander has interesting moments, but it's not a terribly well written memoir. Since the author was more soldier than author, that's forgivable, but then there's the very questionable way he glosses over the cause for which he was fighting. Barely touching on the very real and extraordinary evil of the Third Reich, this man, who was at the right hand of the top commanders of the German army, overplays his "I was just a soldier" card and goes a bit far in claiming he had no idea the evils being done by Nazi Germany.

Even if one sets aside the I-just-followed-my-orders approach, it's still not a terribly illuminating work from a military or historical point of view. Not terrible, but nothing special.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

The memoirs of Col. Han Von Luck is a must to obtain a greater understanding of World War II by German soldier who was able to express with common language the reality of war in a totally different light.
Any war is horrible and terrible atrocities did happen in World War II but for many soldiers from any country they were doing their duty and honoring their pledge of allegiance to their country and leaders even while not necessarily agreeing with the political reasons and leaders for the purpose or how the war is being handled.
Not everything is as black and white as we would like to look at a war and the enemy we fought against.

[Brian Mikołajczyk · Rating 5 out of 5]

German tank Colonel Hans von Luck's memoir about his service during WWII. He served on the initial invasion of France, the first invasion of Russia, in Africa under Rommel, defending Normandy, defending the western front from the Allies, and then finally the eastern front against the Russians. After the fight for Berlin, he was captured and sent to a gulag in the Caucuses for 5 years. Upon his return to Germany, he switched to professional life and eventually wrote this memoir.
A really fascinating story.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Recon Battalion commander in Russia, Normandy and North Africa. Good stuff, but it drifts into postwar events that drag on too long.