Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I started reading this book with high hopes. Tiger Tracks purports to be a memoir written by a veteran of the Panzer force, but it became quickly apparent that it's really a very gory and lurid piece of fiction being fobbed off as fact on those who don't know any better."Wolfgang Faust" is conveniently a pseudonym, so the true author's military service records could never be checked. He is the lone survivor of the Kampfgruppe he starts the book with, so the veracity (or it's lack) cannot be cross-checked. The author has a basic understanding of tanks and their mechanics, but an understanding that could have been gleaned from such sources as the Panzerfibel without requiring any hands-on experience. There is a great deal of writhing in flames in this book. Everyone hit in the head is decapitated, hollow-point bullets literally blow men apart (they don't). All the violence is very Hollywood, and over-the-top. There are a number of historically inaccuracies or outright impossibilities. There are an even greater number of decisions and actions undertaken by persons depicted in the book, which from a military point of view are ludicrous and suicidal (I should mention here for the sake of credibility, that I am a former member of a mechanized infantry unit). Examples: - an experienced Tiger tank commander takes custody of a female Soviet prisoner and chains her up inside the tank. NO. There's absolutely no room inside an armored fighting vehicle for extra personnel. Even those who belong there are cramped and crowded. The danger this prisoner would interfere during a battle makes this action tactically absurd. - Panzergrenadiers remain inside their halftracks during a stationary defensive battle while under assault by aircraft and enemy armor. Thus they contribute nothing to the fight, but contribute lurid depictions of slaughter to the story. No way they'd do this, the halftracks were death traps. - Moving through a forest, Tigers lead the group, despite the presence of Panzergrenadiers who could scout ahead and clear the way. Again, tactically absurd, the experienced commander the author describes "Helmann" as would never have done this. - A single Tiger tank takes off on it's own, at night, to track down a Soviet rocket launcher and crew. They manage to sneak the steel beast up on the enemy, unheard, and observes the enemy first. At night. Again, despite the presence of ample German infantry in the area, the Tiger does this without any dismounts...NO - After destroying the Russian position, the commander orders one of his tank crew to dismount and scout around. By himself. In an unsecured area. At night. No battle buddy. Naturally, this man gets his head blown off...THAT, at least, is believable. - Our valiant Kampfgruppe happen to stumble upon two German nurses wandering the steppe who somehow got left behind by their field hospital. These ladies join the panzer unit and are of course delighted to dispense a little sexual relief to the soldiers, in exchange for food, coffee, sugar, etc. Yeah, sure... - The sheer amount of detail described by the author is simply not credible for a man whose view of the battle was limited to the vision slit of a Tiger driver. These were (and remain) notoriously limited in field of view. In reality, he'd have been able to see straight ahead and a few degrees to either side. - The author claims to see a shell caroming around inside a Soviet tank turret, THROUGH THE VISION SLIT OF THE OTHER TANK'S DRIVER! No. Just No. - Describes fighting Soviet tanks which, by his detailed descriptions of their hull and turrets, were JS-3's. These tanks didn't see action until the very last month of the war, yet our increasingly-implausible story purports to take place in October, 1943. - He states at one point his family was killed in an RAF bombing of Munich in 1942. He later claims to have killed a British prisoner in Sicily the same month that his family died. Problem is, the Allies didn't invade Sicily until July of 1943... As war-porn, the book is fine. As a memoir, it's complete crap. If anyone believes this author to truly be a veteran of the Eastern Front, and believes that his descriptions of the battles are accurate, then you must logically also believe that the German army was composed of tactically inept soldiers led by callous and incompetent officers, because that would be the conclusion of any military professional reading the actions taken by the protagonist and his unit.