MICHAEL WITTMANN AND THE WAFFEN SS TIGER COMMANDERS OF THE LEIBSTANDARTE IN WWII, Vol. 2 (Stackpole Military History) | 
 enlarge | Author: Patrick Agte
Publisher: Stackpole Books
Category: Book
List Price: $19.95
Buy New: $3.97
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New (28) Used (11) from $3.97
Avg. Customer Rating:  3 reviews
Sales Rank: 140596
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 382
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 6.1 x 1.1
ISBN: 0811733351
Dewey Decimal Number: 940.541343
EAN: 9780811733359
ASIN: 0811733351
Publication Date: September 1, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: New, unread, unused and in perfect condition with no missing or damaged pages, may have a remainder mark.
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Book Description
German Panzer ace Michael Wittmann was by far the most famous tank commander on any side in World War II, destroying 138 enemy tanks and 132 anti-tank guns with his Tiger. This classic of armored warfare is both combat biography and unit history, as Patrick Agte focuses on the life and career of Wittmann but also includes his fellow Tiger commanders in the 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler. Volume Two follows Michael Wittmann and his unit into Normandy to defend against the Allied invasion. A week after D-Day, Wittmann achieved his greatest success. On June 13, 1944, near Villers Bocage, the panzer ace and his crew attacked a British armored unit, single-handedly destroying more than a dozen tanks and preventing an enemy breakthrough. The exploit made Wittmann a national hero in Germany and a legend in the annals of war. He was killed two months later while attempting to repulse an Allied assault, but the book continues beyond his death until the Leibstandarte's surrender.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Waffen SS Tiger Aces in Action, 1944-45! February 20, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Patrick Agte wraps up his history of the 101st/501st SS Panzer Battalion and its most famous member, Michael Wittmann, in this 380+ page paperback from Stackpole Books. Wittmann and Company fought in some of the fiercest battles of the Western and Eastern Fronts, compiling an enviable combat record.
Though the 101st was never able to launch traditional blitzkreig operations while stationed in Normandy, they placed a crucial role in delaying the Allied advance. Time and again 101st Tigers decimated opposing U.S., British and Canadian units. Wittmann's one-man attack on the British 7th Armoured Division on 13 June 1944 is the classic example of the devastation one skillful Tiger commander could inflict on opponents.
Wittmann was killed in combat on 8 August but the Battalion fought on, joining in the German retreat eastward. Eventually re-equipped with the unstoppable but mechanically unreliable King Tiger, the Battalion took part in the December Ardennes offensive and later served in Hungary and Austria. To the end of the war it remained a first-class combat unit manned by skillful, seasoned fighting men.
As with the previous volume, Volume Two is a mixed blessing. It presents a great deal of information on Wittmann and other 101st tank commanders and crews but Agte is no wordsmith. Volume Two reads a bit better than One but it still plods along. Then too Agte's fawning tone towards Wittmann and several other Battalion luminiaries grates on the nerves. Wittmann and the others may have been superbly skilled warriors and tacticians but they surely had flaws, weaknesses, etc. You wouldn't know that from Agte's book.
The book is illustrated with over 280 photographs, some of which are poorly reproduced, and over a dozen maps, most of which are so badly done as to be useless.
In summary, Volume Two is worth a look but don't expect a sparkling text and objectivity. That's unfortunate because fighting men like Wittmann, even if they served the world's most evil empire, deserve to have their exploits chronicled in a fair-minded fashion.
 MICHAEL WITTMANN AND THE WAFFEN SS TIGER COMMANDERS OF THE LEIBSTANDARTE IN WWII, Vol. 2 (Stackpole Military History) January 11, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Great book. Read Vol I first. You wouldn't want to put the book down. Great story about Michael Wittmann, a true German war hero, and his many panzer comrads in WW II.
A bit better than Volume One November 15, 2006
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
Purchased Volumne One and Two for the sole purpose to learn all about MICHAEL WITTMAN the first was far more involved about the SS Tiger Aces than Michael Wittman, the second which starts from DDay has a lot more information especially his spectacular battle on the road to Villers Bocage but this tends to get repeated again and again, more background from 1914 but unfortunately he was killed a couple of months after DDay so the book follows his battalion until the end of the war but if you have read Patrick Agte book on Jochen Pieper you would already known this.
So three stars if your interested in Michael Wittman four stars if your interested in the 101 Tank Battalion.
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