A general-turned-historian reveals the remarkable battlefield
heroics of Major General Maurice Rose, the World War II tank commander
whose 3rd Armored Division struck fear into the hearts of Hitler's
panzer crews.
“The Panzer Killers is a great book, vividly written and shrewdly observed.”—The Wall Street Journal
Two
months after D-Day, the Allies found themselves in a stalemate in
Normandy, having suffered enormous casualties attempting to push through
hedgerow country. Troops were spent, and American tankers, lacking the
tactics and leadership to deal with the terrain, were losing their
spirit. General George Patton and the other top U.S. commanders needed
an officer who knew how to break the impasse and roll over the
Germans—they needed one man with the grit and the vision to take the war
all the way to the Rhine. Patton and his peers selected Maurice Rose.
The
son of a rabbi, Rose never discussed his Jewish heritage. But his
ferocity on the battlefield reflected an inner flame. He led his 3rd
Armored Division not from a command post but from the first vehicle in
formation, charging headfirst into a fight. He devised innovative
tactics, made the most of American weapons, and personally chose the
cadre of young officers who drove his division forward. From Normandy to
the West Wall, from the Battle of the Bulge to the final charge across
Germany, Maurice Rose's deadly division of tanks blasted through enemy
lines and pursued the enemy with a remarkable intensity.
In The Panzer Killers,
Daniel P. Bolger, a retired lieutenant general and Iraq War veteran,
offers up a lively, dramatic tale of Rose's heroism. Along the way,
Bolger infuses the narrative with fascinating insights that could only
come from an author who has commanded tank forces in combat. The result
is a unique and masterful story of battlefield leadership, destined to
become a classic.
