Klapdor, Ewald Panzerkampf im Osten. Mit dem SS-Panzerregiment 5 "Wiking" an der Ostfront

In 1942, SS-Panzerregiment 5 of SS-Division "Wiking" was initially deployed in the Caucasus. This was followed by retreat battles on the Manytsch and Don rivers. During the fierce fighting in 1943 in the Ukraine, always in the front line, followed the securing of the Dnjepr crossings, in spring 1944 the breakout from the Cherkassy cauldron and the holding of Kowel against attacks of a huge Soviet superiority.

In summer 1944, the regiment together with other German units succeeded in bringing the Russian major offensive before Warsaw to a halt. In 1945, SS Panzer Regiment 5 took part in the last German offensive in Hungary before being forced to retreat. The author served in the war as a platoon leader, adjutant, chief of a Kradschützenkompanie and commander of the II Battalion of SS Panzer Regiment 5. He was wounded four times, was one of the graduates of the last course of the German Army War Academy and achieved the rank of Sturmbannführer. By combining the sober language of the war diaries with contributions from many comrades as well as excerpts from personal diaries, a
truthful, vivid and captivating picture of everyday life at the front emerges.