Command Heinz Guderian

Heinz Guderian is one of the few German generals of the Second World War other than Erwin Rommel and E. von Manstein, whose name is readily recognizable to a fairly public. Battistelli's short biography does a fair job of revealing Guderian's actual contributions, which were substantial, but a component of Germany's overall military modernization in the 1930s. The author's narrative is effective at busting the mythology surrounding Guderian's name, but makes only modest progress in depicting Guderian's abilities and flaws as a general. The introductory sections of the volume are quite short and cover the first four decades of Guderian's life in just a couple of pages, with a single paragraph devoted to his activities in 1914-18. The hour of destiny' section (about 30 pages), examines Guderian's role in the creation of the panzertruppen in 1934-39, his leadership of panzer units in Poland, France and Russia in 1939-41, his role as General Inspector of Panzer troops in 1943-44 and his final role as Chief of the German General Staff in 1944-45. This text is supported by maps, battle scenes also the photos are generally pretty good. The author effectively demonstrates that Guderian hyped his own contributions in his post-war memoirs and that the development of Germany's panzer forces is attributable to the efforts of a number of individuals, of whom Guderian was initially only a minor member. This books are excellent for introducing us to this commanders and I recommend it for that, for more in depth understanding it take many more pages.