"German Tank Maintenance in WWII" Topic

For those of you that are serious about WWII (and specifically for information on German Tank Maintenance in WWII) I would like to share a link for a free US Army Historical Study Pamphlet – No. 20-202. payhip.com/b/MFHe . Regardless of the country, IMHO, the unsung heroes were those who had to keep them running and recover those from the battlefield. This pamphlet was based upon the info provided by General Burkhart H. Mueller-Hillebrand who served as side to the Chief of the Army General Staff before assuming command of an armored regiment on the eastern front. he successively was appointed chief of staff of a panzer corps and a panzer army where he saw action in the Ukraine, Poland and East Prussia. The pamphlet details the organization, training and deployment of those maintenance organizations, spare parts issues and techniques used in recovery of vehicles. I hope you find this free pamphlet interesting.

I have a copy around here somewhere – very eye-opening information.

There is even more statistical details in Thomas Jentz's book, "Panzertroupen Vol. 2". How many and types of tanks down for maintenance and repairs and the estimated times for repairs and how many were total write-offs. Spare parts were also a major problem. The success of bombing raids cut deeply into the production of additional vehicles and spares. The government directed priority to use the "spares" to building new machines rather than to keep the existing ones in better shape. There also was the problem in transporting spares and tanks requiring major overhauls back to Germany due to ever reduced rail traffic capacity. This is a much overlooked aspect to why the allies won WWII--- logistics and it's effects on the warfighting capabilities of armies. One will soon discover that while the Tigers and Panthers (and trucks and Me-262's etc.) could have been potentially game changers, they could not be sustained efficiently to keep them in the front lines.

Also available without the shopping cart here PDF link

Fascinating article.

It really does justify the American and late war Soviet approaches.

they could not be sustained efficiently to keep them in the front lines.

If they can't shoot, move or communicate … they are just big paper weights. Good log & ease of maintenance/repair are a plus.

"Amateurs talk tactics, professionals talk logistics … " …

Even more relevant are the two volumes of 'Repairing the Panzers' by the Panzerwrecks team. I have both and they are excellent.

link

Exactly, and we can also add the plethora of captured vehicles "press ganged" in Wermatch service, the lack of spare parts was surely a real nightmare for the maintenance groups, imagine having to repair a Renault truck (one of the most build in occupied France ) with Opel's pieces!

The Germans seemed to be masters at using captured vehicles. And even modified some of them to suit their needs.

Being in 3 Mech Bns and having been a Bn then Bde BMO, we tracked parts on order, etc., down to the nut & bolt is need be …