Tiger Tracks - The Classic Panzer Memoir (Wolfgang Faust's Panzer Books)

This quickly became one of my favorite reads. The brutal honesty, respect for his adversary and account of his time during the war is top notch. I will warn that it’s a fairly graphic book as far as the author describing/retelling the events he lived through so just be mindful of that if you have a weak stomach. However that is also one of the reasons why I love this book. No punches are pulled, no sugar coating and you truly get a sense of the magnitude and horror that these men lived through. It is also very interesting to read accounts from the opposing side (American here) so you might find it as equally fascinating as I did. Hope this helps!

This was Mr Faust's 1st story of armored warfare on the Russian front. Gritty, brutal but factual. In this period of his combat experiences Private Faust is the driver of his Tiger and he tells a fascinating story of tank on tank slug fests with Russian T-34s and ultimately JS heavy tanks that were more than a match for the Tiger. He makes you feel like you are in the turret slamming a round into the breech every 3 seconds, traversing left and right to acquire new targets, hearing armor piercing rounds slam into his glacis plate... some ricocheting and some not. and learning that the mighty Tiger was a maintenance headache. No moral judgement about the Reich or war, just a good 1st person account of tank warfare seen through a vision block. His sequel story is the 'Last Panther' which is an equally good read. The war is almost over and he and thousands of others are scrambling to survive. He is now a Sergeant and TC of his own panzer.

Reading this book was like watching "Saving Private Ryan"! If one saw that movie I can tell that this book is the same or better. I started reading war books at early age and in next 38 years read many of them. Eastern front, Europe, Pacific naval battles, island campaigns, U boat war, Africa, Vietnam ... you name it I read it. However this book was so intense that I hardly could put it down before ending a last page. I have it in Kindle, but will order paper copy to join my history books collection. Only complaint I have is that it could be longer with more to read. But you know, it is what it was. Wolfgang Faust experienced deadly tankers duels from first person perspective driving a Tiger tank. No sugarcoating, lengthy describing a nature or BS of any kind, just action with almost no void space in between. Crashing rounds, burning tanks, turrets blown into air, Katyusha rockets, tanks ramming after firing last round, infantry engagements around tanks fighting, equipment breakdowns, hot, cold, no food ... it is all in there. Vividly described with amazing details of action. I did not know that tank German tank engine and transmission had to be replaced every 800-1000 km. Many did not survive no riding around since they were thrown into the battle right from the railroad cars and promptly destroyed in first engagement. I am reading now Faust's second and last book "The Last Panther" describing last days of WWII from his perspective. He survived against all odds, many of his comrades and Russian tankers were left behind burning in their machines. We are lucky that author had superb talent to write an compelling experience for us to read about. We can't tell him to write more books. Unfortunately he didn't live long enough to see his work published. Written word will still survive all times

I have just read Ben's critique and would like to add a few points of my own. In too many times, the armor (pieces) of tanks are blown off, with the crew surviving. The concussion from this alone would turn the crew (especially those immediately behind the plate) into what today is called "spam in a can". Sometimes, yes, they might survive. But too many times... ? For those who wish to study the workings of the Tiger I, the (Bovington) Tank Museum produces a fine manual on the vehicle called "Tiger Tank, Owners' Workshop Manual. (I am in no way associated with the museum and printers, just an owner of the manual.) A slight scan of it will show that it is virtually impossible for the commander to kick the driver in the back, as happens several times in the story. The commander's leg would have to be over 2 meters long, and stretch through the gunner's position. Just not possible. For German WW2 tanks wherein that is possible, perhaps the Mark I and Mark II tanks. Definitely not the higher Marks. (I'm quite familiar with the US M-60, and it is also impossible for the commander to kick the driver in that tank.) There are too many times an 88 armour-piercing round simply bounces off the "Stalin's" glacis plate. Far too many. The IS-1 was also known as the T34/85. It was an expanded turret housing the Soviet 85mm gun, which was a far better weapon than the Soviet 76.2 gun in the T-34 series and the KV-1. (The KV-2 mounted a 152mm howitzer, and so did the SU-152. It was not a naval gun, as the author states.) Where the author got it right is the SU-152 had special armour-piercing ammunition. This was supposed to defeat a Tiger at a long range. The fault was in the sights, which like all Soviet tank sights, never rose to the German (or western) standards until the Soviets had control of the Czech glass industry, after WW2. I can say Tiger Tracks is a good yarn, with lots of action and attention to (some) detail. But a true and accurate recollection? Based on my technical knowledge, and familiarity with armoured vehicles, my vote is "no".

I really enjoyed reading, or in my case listening to this book. The book itself is a very well told narrative and would work effectively as a primary source. You must take in to consideration that this book is told by one person who was there, not a historian, so it has not necessarily been fact checked, but that doesn't really matter because this book provides a much better thing than just facts, it provides historical context for what it was like to be a Panzer driver in this state of the war for Germany. This story in particular, in addition to the historical context, has several smaller but still fascinating story lines that follow through the book. I wont spoil them, but I did find them interesting. It is just important to remember that this is a primary source written with a proximity to the story and the events in it, and to not take small details as fact. Some will say that some of the views expressed in this book are controversial, and I would say that these supposed people would be right, if the author was saying that his views towards nazism and the Russians were the correct view. He does not really say that though, it is just important to remember that that again, this was his point of view at a certain time. I don't personally agree with all of his views but that does not mean that I can't enjoy the primary source. Whether you are looking for an interesting read or a primairy source, I would highly recommend this book, and faust's other book, the last panther. I bought this book in MP3 CD format. I had no problems with it.

This short memoir covers about three days of a disastrous German retreat and defeat somewhere in the Soviet Union. The story has immediacy, is intense, fast moving and grim. Did all of the events described actually happen during those three days? I don't know. Usually, I'm reading two or three books at any given time. Once I started this one, I put the others down until I was finished a day later. As a first person account of total war, I think that this is an excellent bit of work. Given the events described, it seems a miracle that the author survived the war, and apparently not as a prisoner of the Soviets (as he wouldn't have been home to write and publish the book by 1948). My only disappointment with the work is that we have no idea what happened to the author after the war. However, that's not on the author, that's on the editor(s). I highly recommend the book to anyone who is interested in materials of this sort.

As far as fact or fiction is concerned I could not have cared less. I'm an occasional reader that ordered this book and read it cover to cover because I could not put it down. Faust puts you in the tank with him and the action is non stop. I have read where people say they felt as though they had been had while reading this. I felt the same when 2 nurses show up with a returning patrol after having been abandoned when their unit pulled out. Really? A pilot is shot down and joins them immediately after they have already take a female Russian prisoner? Then 2 nurses come along? Then I talked to my wife about it and decided that it seemed to me as though there were years of combat memoirs, we will call it "Big Picture" that were condensed down and combined all together to produce a memoir that would fit on the "Big Screen" in a few hours. I enjoyed Last Panther just as much as this book,but if you don't like the graphic descriptions of death in this book you will hate Last Panther. If these are made into movies I will be there to see them. I have already reread the books about 5 times since Thanksgiving 2019. Fury was an interpretation of memoirs and I enjoyed the battlefield scenes but skip or sleep through the Hollywood added crap that stops it in it's tracks. Just my opinion.......Thanks!

Written w/o blinders or exaggeration; a bit like watching a film in the tension I felt as I read. The battles come one after another and there seems to be no respite for the reader as well as the poor soldiers! Often difficult to put down and then, difficult to pick up later as one anticipates the intensity and anxiety of what one will be reading!! Any romantic notions about war, combat, good guys vs bad guys? This should clear things up unless one is quite close-minded as to the misery, violence and destructive waste that is war. Having read this while the Ukraine is under attack from the sociopath Putin offers any human encouragement to sympathise with the plight of Ukraine and others in similar situations today!!

This is an excellent read, a tight story, very well told. Really gets the excitement, horror, and futility of war across. I am just dubious about the veracity of the backstory, there are too many things that don't add up: Tiger tanks were usually deployed in heavy tank battalions which were corps troops and commanded by a major or a lieutenant colonel not a full colonel let alone a major general. German tactical doctrine required leadership from the front by the commander but his deputy would be at staff headquarters directing the overall battle. The decoration featuring prominently in the story was the knight's cross not the iron cross. Finally, I doubt whether this book would have been published in 1949 in Germany when the allied occupation authorities still controlled the press. Still, even with those small flaws it is a cracking read well worth the price.

Parfait pour les fans de matériel Allemand World War II.

The same author of The Last Panther, Wolfang Faust recalls with simplicity and apparent detachment his life in a Tiger during the Russian campaign. Battles over bridges, violent skirmishes with the Russian tanks, the painful retreat in the snow, the fate of an unfortunate female prisoner: all this flow in the words that sound really true, because they do not hide or exacerbate anything. It's just what happened, and it was bad enough.

Despite the controversy about the accuracy and reality of the narration, it feels like a crazy and bloody WWII movie, incredible, but reflects the bloodthirst waste of lifes in the eastern front, Is funny how many westerners, mostly americans, really bellieve that the real fight todo defeat Hitler was in the western front

Me ha encantado el libro salvo xq apenas tiene ilustraciones.