Fire Brigades, The Panzer Division, 1943-1945

[Igorn]

Gents,

I have pre-ordered the Kamen's book alone with another bestseller Soldiers of Leibstandarte. Since Kamen always added value in many discussions in different forums I ordered his book without any hesitations and doubts. Kamen is one of the very few authors on Feldgrau who possess equally good knowledge of events from both German and Russian perspectives and his opinion is often underpinned by the first class data and sources. I wish him personally many success and look forward to getting my copy of Fire Brigades.

Best Regards from Russia,

[Commissar D, the Evil]

Kamen is one of the very few authors on Feldgrau who possess equally good knowledge of events from both German and Russian perspectives and his opinion is often underpinned by the first class data and sources. I wish him personally many success and look forward to getting my copy of Fire Brigades.

I think Igorn, that your sentiments match those of anyone else who has ever asked Kamen for help. Maybe we'll read "Fire Brigades" at the same time and question each other about it in the spirit of mutual friendship!!!

Best,
David

[Frederick L Clemens]

Congratulations to Kamen! I look forward to seeing the book as well.

[Joe Cleere]

I hope he does one for Panzer Grenadier Divisions. He could call it Fire Brigades II.

[Kelvin]

Hi, I purchase it and get the book in early April. It is excellent.

Kelvin

[Jason Long]

I just received this book this afternoon. It's even better than I'd expected although it will take me quite a bit of time to work my way through the densely packed information in its 900+ pages. This is a must if you're seriously interested in the late-war armored divisions, both Heer and SS. I'll do a more in-depth review once I've had some more time to read through it, although all I can say right now is awesome. It's hard to beat a combat narrative that covers major movement dates as well as some organizational data, specific histories of each of the sub-units that covers the multitude of reorganizations, monthly strength reports for both personnel and equipment (although tanks are oddly missing) and AFV deliveries by month. This isn't a picture book by any means, so don't expect much in the way of photos.

I truly hope to see companion volumes dedicated to the earlier history of the panzer divisions as well as coverage of the motorized infantry/panzer-grenadier divisions.

[Jason Long]

Found one error on page 7 where he references the panzer division structure for Barbarossa. He says that they only had one Schützen-Rgt., but they actually had two. But actually looking through the unit histories will correct this minor point.

Jason

[Commissar D, the Evil]

I received this book today. MONUMENTAL!!! Is the word that comes to mind. This book is not for the faint-hearted!

I suspect that, for the next ten years, it will be the reference book on its subjects. Of course, this also means ten years of debate about it

Bestens,
David

[Kelvin]

Yes I agree with you, 10 years

Kelvin

[Dubliner]

I received my copy yesterday and spend around 3 hours jumping around in the text and digging into Jentz's "Panzer Truppen 2" to compare relative bits of organizational history. I am not the person to write a detailed review, but I am very pleased with "Fire Brigades." Its amazing to me the shear volume of data that Nevenkin fit into 900 pages without turning the book into a phone book.

[Reb]

Ah David - how satisfying it is to have pals who ponder the meaning of "honor" and consider it of importance! May we all get out of this world with our honor intact!

cheers
Reb

[phylo_roadking]

...whereas some of us just hope to get out of this world with our heads intact....

[Commissar D, the Evil]

Hi Reb! Well, truth be told, it has occurred to me over the years, that when one speaks of "honest help", "comrades" "honor" and other such concepts, that the best places to find folk who understand what you're talking about is on websites devoted to Military History and, in particular, German Military History.

I don't know quite why this is, but, if you look at the contributions made over the years by Kamen, Doug Nash, Hans Weber, Martin Block, Christoph Awender, Timo and any number of other valued enthusiasts whose names don't immediately spring to my mind, I think that their totally unselfish revelations of hard-earned personal research on the internet (for all to read) sets a standard of "personal honor" that demands respect.

IMHO, "unselfishness" is not exactly a welcomed concept in 2008 and I suppose that "honor" is an equally alien word to a lot of folk on the internet. But I don't think that those people who don't understand these concepts are long-term or regular members of Feldgrau or AHF.

It's an odd world. Kamen freely sent me his information on the 4th Panzer Division--as it appears in his book--nearly two years ago. Only because I asked and without any hesitation, even though it must have taken him many months to discover, interpret and assemble the information. He didn't even know, at the time, if I would turn out to be a b*st*rd who would reveal or publish his work as my own. He sent it to me simply on trust.

How could I ever describe his actions as being anything less that GENEROUS and HONORABLE?

I know I'm sounding preachy here and I'll shut up after saying this last word. From personal experience, I know how hard it is to swallow the price tag on "Fire Brigades". But, I swear to anyone who will listen that--based on my decades of interest in German Military History--I can guarantee you that this book will be recognized as a fundamental resource on late-war Panzer Divisions and one would be far better off investing in it than in any of the very many works of vastly lesser quality that infest the publication of books on the World War II German Military.

Very Best Regards,
David

[Dubliner]

After my first pass through Karmen's Fire Brigades, I was reminded of the day I first picked up Shelby Stanton's Wold War II Order of Battle: US Army Ground Forces 39-46. The scopes and the writing styles are different, but the impression was the same, "This is some good...(edited for content that may not translate well)"

[Commissar D, the Evil]

Stanton's "U.S. Army Order of Battle" for both WWII and Vietnam are two books that the military historian, amateur or professional, cannot ignore without losing the title of "historian", IMHO. I agree with you that Kamen's book is on the same level, in fact, due to his listings of the distribution of armored fighting vehicles to each German division at particular times, I would sincerely argue that his work surpasses Stanton's.

But that is not to imply that Shelby Stanton is, in any way, a second-rate-author--in fact, his "U.S. Army Order of Battle in World War II" is a definitive work on the U.S. Army in that period and I don't think that the subject can be honestly studied without reference to it.

Very Best,
David