Osprey Vanguard 28 : The 6th Panzer Division 1937-1945

Text and original wartime photographs by the author Oberst A.D. Helmut Ritgen. This well-informed account of the 6th Panzer Division is especially useful because the author fought with the 11th Panzer Regiment. It documents the inception, formation and structure of the division and chronologically follows its progress throughout the war. It offers a detailed examination of life in the Panzers whilst simultaneously documenting their relentless progress. Feared by Allied infantrymen and devastating in their swift prosecution of the early war the Panzers were the modern German fighting men; well equipped, superbly motivated and unstoppably successful. Until the Allies were able to consolidate their troops, re-engineer their equipment and redraw their tactics the Panzers dominated Europe with a thunderous conquering power. This book offers an insight into the Blitzkrieg doctrine that toppled Poland, follows the Panzers into France in 1940 through the Maginot line and back across Europe towards Leningrad. Detailing the numerous re-organisations and the attempt to relieve Stalingrad it concludes with the bitter withdrawal from Russia. Superbly illustrated and faultlessly authoritative, Helmut Ritgen's history of the 6th Panzer Division offers an objective account of this formidable fighting force.

Contents

• Introduction
• 1937-40
• 1941-42
• 1943-45