Tiger Tracks - Wolfgang Faust

[k9mike]

Well....Just finished this one. It was a very good read. It read a lot like a "Novel", and was kinda like reading the "Forgotten Soldier"...Writer seem to have a "Very" Vivid recollection of the stated events.
This was not a "Long" read, but was more of the events around a certain time frame Possibly Winter 44/45?? In end stated that writer used fake name and names of others....Overall...Really enjoyed the Read...Hard to tell if real event, or just Novel....Anyone else??
Mike

[nomis]

1948 autobiog

It is stated in the blurb that the author published the book originally in German and in his native tongue.
Presumably, that soon after WW2 the memory was still pretty fresh, especially considering the events.

I would be very interested to know if, in the original publication there are any photos in the book to complement the dialogue and that many soldiers seem to have been able to take and also retain after the war.

SF.

[k9mike]

I really enjoyed the book. was very good read. I did not see any photos in the Kindle version(and they do usually have photos in there if available).
I finished the Ardennes book an it had a lot of photos(not sure how many in comparison to hard book).
I have also been reading some of those short transcript type interviews that were found(were done in early 60's of German soldiers interviewed). these are also very good. and sound very similar in comparison. Like you stated...things were still very fresh in their minds.
mike

[nomis]

Tiger tracks

As it states that the name used is not actually the author's real name, nor his Tiger comrades, I wonder if anyone knows who they actually are.

A long time has now passed, this is an English language reprint. I wonder if any are still alive and if they were approached to discuss, or reveal more information.

WW2 veterans of all nations are fast deserting us, due to age, and I think it's important the rest of us learn from them of past events. How else are we to try and ensure such things do not re-occur.

SF.

[DonC]

Both Tiger Tracks and The Last Panzer are in print - Bayern Classic Publications. Both are excellent reads, but I do question whether they are actual memoirs or invented.

Don

[Remy Spezzano]

Gentlemen are we talking about the same book?
Have any of you even read the reviews for this ebook?
Most of the reviews make the same complaint over and over.
Here is just one I'll share with you.

Stay away of this fake memoir! Unless you are looking for fiction resemblying a really bad hollywood movie.
ByFernando Heviaon July 30, 2016

Format: Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase

This book supossedly describes a 2-day battle experience of a tank driver in a PzKpfw VI (a.k.a Tiger I) from an unamed unit in an unspecified location sometime in 1943. The whole story reads as a bad movie script putting an emphasis in special effects and gore-filled scenes, intermixed with a somewhat ridiculous side story of a russian female prisoner. Don't let the technicalities of the tank driving description fool you, the absolute nonsense of some of the actions and tactics depicted - all seen from a very small slit from the drivers position - give the author's falsehood away. A 3.56m wide Tiger uses a 3m wide T-34 as a "bridge" to cross a 4m deep ditch... close quarter battles between Tigers and "Stalins" in broad daylight in the vastness of the russian steppe, and it goes on.

About the russian tanks he faces... the description the author makes of the russian "Stalins" suggest the IS-3, which didn't see combat in WW2. Assuming the IS description is moot and he really refers to the KV-85/IS-85, a tank wouldn't see combat till end of '43 and then in very few numbers, apparently the author faced every KV-85 produced by Russia at the time. The KV-85 had a gun which could penetrate the Tiger at a distance of 1000m, the Tiger could penetrate from even more, however the fighting depicts close quarter battles where the author could see in great detail what was happening inside his victim's tank through the "crack" made by his armor piercing shell. Pure nonsense. A shame that this book is sold as a war memoir.

[DonC]

As I said: "I do question whether they are actual memoirs or invented."

Don

[Edward]

They would probably believe in this one too...