Tigers in the mud : the combat career of German Panzer Commander Otto Carius

407 Pages·2020·35.195 MB·English

by  Otto Carius, Robert J. Edwards

00FrtMtr_pp00i-xvi_RevWR.qxp_Layout 1 9/26/19 12:45 PM Page i
TIGERS
IN THE MUD
00FrtMtr_pp00i-xvi_RevWR.qxp_Layout 1 9/26/19 12:45 PM Page ii
00FrtMtr_pp00i-xvi_RevWR.qxp_Layout 1 9/26/19 12:45 PM Page iii
TIGERS
IN THE MUD
The Combat Career of German Panzer
Commander Otto Carius
Otto Carius
Translated by Robert J. Edwards
STACKPOLE
BOOKS
Guilford, Connecticut
00FrtMtr_pp00i-xvi_RevWR.qxp_Layout 1 9/26/19 12:45 PM Page iv
Published by Stackpole Books
An imprint of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
4501 Forbes Blvd., Ste. 200
Lanham, MD 20706
www.rowman.com
Distributed by NATIONAL BOOK NETWORK
800-462-6420
Copyright 1992 by J.J. Fedorowicz Publishing, Inc.
Stackpole Military History Series paperback published 2003 by Stackpole Books
First standalone paperback edition published 2020 by Stackpole Books
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any
electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval
systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer
who may quote passages in a review.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available
ISBN 978-0-8117-3661-9 (paperback)
ISBN 978-0-8117-6908-2 (e-book)
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper
for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
00FrtMtr_pp00i-xvi_RevWR_Layout 1 12/11/11 12:54 PM Page v
Table of Contents
Publisher’s Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Foreword to the English-Language Edition. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Dedication. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
Foreword to the German Edition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv
The Fatherland Calls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
In Napoleon’s Wake. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
The First T34s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Back With the Old Gang. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
A Catastrophe. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
In Brittany . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Portrait of the “Tiger”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
On an Express Train to the Leningrad Front . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Defensive Battle at Newel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Retreat to the Narwa. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
“Old Fritz” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
The Front Held at Narwa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Calm Before the Storm. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Ivan Attacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Mutiny in the Bunker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
“Operation Strachwitz” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
The Night Was Hell. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
v
00FrtMtr_pp00i-xvi_RevWR_Layout 1 12/11/11 12:54 PM Page vi
vi TIGERS IN THE MUD
Fact or Fiction?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
In Praise of the “Tiger” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Failure and Farewell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Knight’s Cross at the Hospital. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
The German Fighters Didn’t Show. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
“Report immediately to the unit”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Refusal to Obey Orders. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Defensive Fighting at Dünaburg. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
The Ambush. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
A Fateful Difference of Opinion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Knocking on Death’s Door! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Rapid Recovery in the Hospital . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
A Visit with Heinrich Himmler. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
The Catastrophe Looms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
The Ruhr Pocket . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
The Chaos Grows. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
A Strange City Commandant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
Approaching the End . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
The Heathens are Often the Better Christians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
In Closing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
Afterword to the English-Language Edition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
Glossary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
Documents:
Notes to First Six Documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
Document 1: After-Action Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
Document 2: Technical After-Action Report. . . . . . . . . . . . 248
00FrtMtr_pp00i-xvi_RevWR_Layout 1 12/11/11 12:54 PM Page vii
Table of Contents vii
Document 3: After-Action Report for the Period
from March 17 to 21, 1944. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
Document 4: Secret. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
Document 5: After-Action Report on the Employment of
the staff, 2nd Company, and 3rd Company
of the 502nd Heavy Panzer Battalion in
the Area of the 18th Army in the Period
from June 24 to 30, 1944 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
Document 6: After-Action Report on the Employment
of the 502nd Heavy Panzer Battalion
in the 16th Army Sector from July 4
to August 17, 1944 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
Appendix. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310
Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361
Maps:
Map 1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Map 2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Map 3: Attack against the “Judennase”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
00FrtMtr_pp00i-xvi_RevWR_Layout 1 12/11/11 12:54 PM Page viii
00FrtMtr_pp00i-xvi_RevWR_Layout 1 12/11/11 12:54 PM Page ix
Publisher’s Acknowledgments
(For original English translation)
I wish to thank the following individuals who have contributed to the
original publishing of this book in English.
Robert J. Edwards—Translation
George Rugenius—Proofreading
Brian Molloy—Cover Art
Brian Molloy—Signing Box
I also wish to thank you the reader for purchasing this book and all
those of you who have written to me with your kind words of praise and
encouragement. It gives me the impetus to continue to publish transla-
tions of the best German books available. More excellent books are
either being prepared or negotiated, thanks to your helpful proposals.
These will be announced as they near completion.
The photos in this book come from the personal photo album of Mr.
Otto Carius. I am forever grateful to Mr. Carius for allowing me to use
these photos [most never published before] in this book. I am also grate-
ful, and very moved, that he agreed to have J. J. Fedorowicz Publishing
bring out his book in English.
John Fedorowicz
ix