Drawing from post-war reports commissioned by U.S. Army intelligence,
World War II historian Steven H. Newton has translated, compiled, and
edited the battle accounts of one of Germany's finest panzer commanders
and a skilled tactician of tank warfare. Throughout most of the war,
Erhard Raus was a highly respected field commander in the German-Soviet
war on the eastern front, and after the war he wrote an insightful
analysis of German strategy in that campaign.The Raus memoir covers the
Russian campaign from the first day of the war to his relief from
command at Hitler's order in the spring of 1945. It includes a detailed
examination of the 6th Panzer Division's drive to Leningrad, Raus's own
experiences in the Soviet winter counteroffensive around Moscow, the
unsuccessful attempt to relieve Stalingrad, and the final desperate
battles inside Germany at the end of the war. His battlefield
experience and keen tactical eye make his memoir especially valuable
for scholars, and his narrative is as readable as Heinz Guderian's
celebrated Panzer Leader.