Mark, Jason D. Panzerkrieg. German Armoured Operations at Stalingrad. Volume 2

In this long-awaited second volume of a series examining German tank operations at Stalingrad, the combat history of Panzer Regiment 2 is examined in detail. This regiment was one of the first tank formations to be established in the mid-1930s and took part in most of the campaigns that established the reputation of the Panzerwaffe: in the Sudetenland, Poland, France, the Balkans, and the Soviet Union. The regiment led many deep advances during Operation Barbarossaat Verba, Monastyrishche, Pervomaisk, Voznesensk, Nikolayev, and in the Kiev Pocketand often found itself on the eastern side of a pocket. Although they ended victoriously, all of these pocket battles took a terrible toll on the regiment's men and machines. In the dramatic winter of 1941/42, the weakened regiment was deployed in company-sized detachments with various infantry divisions along the southern front. The regiment's finest hour came during the 1942 campaign, when it led the 16th Panzer Division from the Don to the Volga north of Stalingrad in a single day, a bold advance that sent shockwaves through the Soviet leadership and threatened the Red Army's hold on Stalin's city. It then played a crucial role in defending the northern flank of the 6th Army for nearly three months while infantry units attempted to capture the city outright. When the Soviet counteroffensive began on November 19, 1942, the regiment was pushed westward to repel the armored spearheads rushing toward the Kalach Bridge. After this failed mission, the remaining tanks were withdrawn into the emerging encirclement, some held in reserve for a possible breakout, others used for local counterattacks to hold back the increasingly powerful Soviets. The regiment resisted until fuel, ammunition, and morale were exhausted; a few lucky ones made it out, but the majority survived the last days of the battle and made their way into captivity. Access to the casualty reports allowed for a detailed analysis of the regiment's life and death. The narrative is enriched by hundreds of rare photos that the author painstakingly collected from private collections and provided by veterans themselves. One of the most famous army officers of the German Wehrmacht, Major Hyazinth von Strachwitz, served in Panzer Regiment 2, and although much has already been written about this highly decorated officer, his deeds are presented here in a new light and with new, previously unknown photos. Access to the files of the German Service (WASt) makes it possible to reconstruct the history and demise of Panzer Regiment 2 with previously unknown accuracy. The text is accompanied by a large number of rare and largely unknown photos, some of which come from official archives and private photo collections or memory albums of veterans of the Panzer Regiment.