World War II Database

1.  Bill says:
9 Feb 2011 07:06:08 PM

Correction to above photograph:

Father of the Panzer, General Heinz Guderian
inspects a Tiger.

Hitler watching a demonstration of tanks in 1933, turned to Guderian, and said: That's what I want. That's what I mean to have...

Suggested reading:

GUDERIAN:
Creator of the Blitzkrieg
By Kenneth Macksey
Published by Stein and Day 1975

2.  Bill says:
9 Feb 2011 07:11:44 PM

General Heinz Guderian is the Officer to the right of the black uniformed panzer officer
forgot to put this information into my first comment.

3.  Bill says:
10 Feb 2011 02:40:53 PM

GENERALINSPEKTEUR DER PANZERTRUPPEN:

General Heinz Guderian, Germany's greatest armor theorist felt that the primary mission of the heavy tank was to kill the enemy's tanks. The Tiger was designed to attack and to clear the battlefield leading the way for other forces to follow through the breakthroughs.
As Generalinspekteur der Panzertruppen, he
understood the value of the Tiger either in the offense or in the defense. As the war turned against Germany, the Tiger proved to be the most effective weapon in defensive operations.

4.  Bill says:
13 Feb 2011 06:35:37 PM

SHOP TALK:

General Heinz Guderian Father of the Panzer
is on an inspection tour, and is listening to a briefing by SS-Humptscharfuhrer Kling, the black uniformed officer on the Generals left.

5. Anonymous says:
6 Mar 2011 03:55:21 AM

Bill is correct in every detail. The tiger has an unusual plate welded between the mg and drivers vision port. It is also an early model without the extra reinforcing rib through the sight holes on the gun mantlet and doesn't appear to have the co-axial mg either.

6. Lucian says:
6 Mar 2011 03:59:23 AM

I think the command model didn't have a coaxial mg.

7.  Bill says:
11 Mar 2011 09:47:34 PM

WARS END:

General Guderian with his staff surrendered to US forces May 10, 1945. The General remained in US Custody as a POW, until his releasse in 1948. Despite protests from the
Soviet and Polish Governments, he wasn't charged with any war crimes.

During the 1950s he was active advising the
W.German Army, the Bundeswehr, Guderian died in 1954 at age 65. His son, Heinz Guderian
became a Bundeswehr General in the post-war
W. German Army.

Suggested Reading:

ACHTUNG PANZER!
The Development of Tank Warfare
Heinz Guderian
Sterling Press
ISBN 0-304-3528-3

"The Germans didn't show the world how to built tanks, it showed the world how to use them".

8.  Bill says:
18 Oct 2014 06:45:46 PM

FATHER OF THE PANZER:

After WWI, Heinz Guderian stayed in the German Army and was assigned various staff positions.
Guderian became interested in armored warfare,
and started to read various British books and other technical material.
He started to develop new ideas about tactics, training and armored units as the spearhead of an advancing force. Continuing to develop air support
artillery and mobile infantry tactics working with the panzer divisions. This became the start of a new kind of warfare called Blitzkrig.

LEGACY:

The Germans didn't show the world how to build tanks, they showed the world how to use them...

9.  Bill says:
7 Dec 2014 12:13:07 PM

HEAVY METAL: FATHER OF THE PANZER CHECKS HIS BABY

General Heinz Guderian inspects Tiger I tank #100
s.Pz.Abt.507