Author: Richard Siegert translated by Maciej Szczesny
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 978-1-52677-917-5
Pages: 140 (mixed text and photographs/diagrams/maps)
MSRP: UK 19.99 GBP; US $32.95 USD USD
Richard Siegert joined the Wehrmacht in 1941 and trained as an infantryman and AFV driver in 108th PzGrdr battalion. During Barbarossa he fought mainly around Vitebsk, being wounded in late 1943. By 1944 he was the gunner in heavy PJgr Abteilung 664 in a Hornisse around the time the Soviets started Operation Bagration. He ended up breaking out of the Vitebsk pocket with about 600 others, and 10 made it back to German lines. He was injured again and went off to military hospital. All this is glossed over in a page. The main part of the book is about Poznan/Posen.
In January 1945 he was making his way back to East Prussia after hospital and got stuck in Poznan. All trains were stopped and military personnel were made into units to defend Poznan as infantry with not much equipment. He didn't want a part of that and hid in Poznan until he spotted and befriended a Pz crewman. Long story short, once they found out he was a certified 88 gunner he was placed in the armoured force which was part of Poznan garrison. This comprised 1 Tiger 1, 2 Panthers (all of which were in the process of being repaired) and some Stugs from a training battalion with no ammunition.
The book is then a recounting of Siegert and the Tiger tank during the Soviet attack on Poznan over a period of time. The Tiger was used as a mobile pillbox and destroyed a lot of Soviet armour, AT guns and infantry before eventually becoming mechanically irreparable. It was towed to a spot which covered lines of advance for the Soviets and was used as a static pillbox, successfully.
Eventually Poznan fell (the aftermath was brutal, particularly for the wounded), and Siegert spent 4.5 years as a PoW in Karelia before returning home.
The book is chock full of skirmish opportunities and has some maps of where the Tiger was in relation to streets and enemy armour. I can see "What a Tanker" or "Hell Hath no Fury" working well with some of the scenarios.
I found it really interesting, particularly an anecdote about wiping out an infantry group:
"I ordered a demolition shell with a delayed fuse to be loaded so when I fired it, it bounced off the road about 100 metres from their position. This meant the shell would fly flat about 1 metre off the ground then explode after about 50-100 metres. Taking into account the impact of shrapnel and the blast range of the 88, the results can be predictable".
I wonder what sort of shell that was?
There is very little about Nazism or concentration camps or any of that stuff. He doesn't describe himself as a victim, fully aware that his suffering was because German lost the war, and also because of his decisions. This is a book about fighting in Festung Posen.
I recommend this book.
ponders nirvana.
