Panzer Ace

Richard Freiherr von Rosen was a highly-decorated Wehrmacht soldier and outstanding panzer commander. His memoirs, richly illustrated with contemporary photographs, including key confrontations of World War II. After serving as a gunlayer on a Pz.Mk.III during Barbarossa, he led a Company of Tigers at Kursk, later a company of King Tiger panzers at Normandy and in late 1944 commanded a battle group (12 King Tigers and a flak Company) against the Russians in Hungary in the rank of junior, later senior lieutenant (from November 1944, his final rank.) Only 489 of these King Tiger tanks were ever built.

They were the most powerful heavy tanks to see service, and only one kind of shell could penetrate their armour at a reasonable distance. Every effort had to be made to retrieve any of them bogged down or otherwise immobilised, which led to many towing adventures. The author has a fine memory and eye for detail, his account is easy to read and not technical, and adds very substantially to the knowledge of how the German Panzer Arm operated in the Second World War.

About the Author

Richard Freiherr von Rosen served as a gunlayer on a Panzer tank during Operation Barbarossa; led a company of Tigers at Kursk; a company of King Tiger panzers at Normandy and in late 1944 commanded a battle group against the Russians in Hungary. He was awarded the Iron Cross Class I and II; the German Cross in Gold being the highest Wehrmacht award for bravery, awarded on 28 February 1945; the Panzer Combat Badge II Grade and the Wound Badge in Gold.

Rosen died in 2015 aged 93, two years after his memoir was published in Germany. He was married to the daughter of Caesar von Hofacker, a German Air Force officer who was executed for his role in July Plot to assassinate Hitler.