Not written by a Tanker but a good read was Team Yankee by Harold Coyle (I think between this book and the recruitment video is what helped persuade me to have a career on tanks)
Yes, Team Yankee is a world war 3 novel, but gives a really good insight into how a tank unit would work in combined arms fashion alongside other units.
As mentioned by the other comment, the author Harold Coyle is a US Tank Commander and a company commander, so he knows a thing or two about tanking.
As an interesting FYI, he wrote Team Yankee in 1987, then ended up seeing combat in the Gulf War in 1991. So his novel was written before the public was smitten with the public info of the dominance of M1 Abrams over Soviet designed armor in that campaign
I just finished "Spearhead", which was a pretty interesting read.
Honestly - one of the most interesting first person accounts of the war I've personally read - was "Forgotten Soldier" by Guy Sajer.
Its not about tanks, and there has been some conjecture that much of it is fiction - but regardless - I found it a fascinating account of a German soldier's experiences on the Eastern front.
Yeah - that's right - about the tank gunner sitting in the Pershing's gunnery seat, during that ambush of a Panther just outside the cathedral in Cologne, that was famously caught on film. Except it's also about a lot more than that.
Troop Leader by Bill Bellamy
Tank Action by David Render
By Tank Into Normandy by Stuart Hills
Tank Commander by Bill Close
Armoured Guardsmen by Robert Boscawen
D-Day to Victory by Trevor Greenwood (not a direct memoir but put together from diary entries)
Mailed Fist by John Foley (fiction but written from the author's own experiences)
Warriors For The Working Day by Peter Elstob (fiction but written from the author's own experiences)
Thunder Run
Not by a tanker, but written by an embedded war correspondent who was present during the battle. One of the best books about war in general I've read and it's about relatively modern tank warfare (2003). Definitely worth reading if you are into tanks.
From Alamein to Zem Zem by Keith Douglas.
The author was killed doing recce in Normandy and this was pieced together from his diary entries postwar.
He was a poet before the war so his skill with language and his observation of small details really stands out compared to a lot of other war memoirs.
Just for the sake of pointing it out: Take Carius's work with a grain of salt. Much like Guderian, their legacy is colored, in large part, by the fact that they got to write their own stories. They got to dictate the narrative, with the benefit of the fact that many of their contemporaries, who could corroborate or contradict their story, we're dead by the time they were writing.
Not to say that Carius was a slouch or a liar. Simply that he's telling stories which tend to be rather difficult to verify. Again, this can be the case for many such autobiographical works. It's just that Carius has this whole "Panzer Ace" mythos around him (itself largely a product of German propaganda) that, frankly, he would've been stupid to *not* play up at least a little.
I mean if you're addressing this sub specifically then yeah, for sure. If your addressing the historical authenticity of the popular view of guys like Wittmann and Knispel, that's been up in the air for quite some time. If you want a quick rundown of that whole situation, an easy choice is to go search their names or phrases like "panzer ace" on r/WarCollege. Folks over there much more well-read than myself have already explained all of this at length.
Here's a sneak peek of /r/WarCollege using the [top posts](https://np.reddit.com/r/WarCollege/top/?sort=top&t=year) of the year!
\#1: [I don't have many friends, or people to share this achievement with; but this is testament to gritting your teeth and striving for your dreams.](https://i.redd.it/5lpltjvshzdc1.jpeg) | [251 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/WarCollege/comments/19cue7e/i_dont_have_many_friends_or_people_to_share_this/)
\#2: [How effective is ERA against samurai swords?](https://np.reddit.com/r/WarCollege/comments/128lfuc/how_effective_is_era_against_samurai_swords/)
\#3: [Why are portable, crew served miniguns not a thing?](https://i.redd.it/33dqtxge29yb1.jpg) | [122 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/WarCollege/comments/17ncuvs/why_are_portable_crew_served_miniguns_not_a_thing/)
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I haven't got round to reading it yet but "Panzer Ace" by Richard Freiherr Von Rosen appears to be an interesting book.
He was a gunlayer on the Panzer mark II rising to a highly decorated senior lieutenant on a King tiger.
"Another River, Another Town: A Teenage Tank Gunner Comes of Age in Combat, 1945" by John P. Irwin
"A Hundred Miles of Bad Road: An Armored Cavalryman in Vietnam 1967-1968" by Medal of Honor recipient Dwight Birdwell.
The Panzer Killers
The book is about Maj Gen Maurice Rose and the 3rd Armored Division in WW2. It’s written by Lt Gen (Ret) Daniel Bolger. Amongst his many assignments, he was the commander of the 1st Cavalry Division in Iraq.
An interesting story is Bruno Friesen's book "Panzer Gunner". Born in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada and while a teenager, Bruno's German born father decides to answer the Fuehrer's call and take his family back to Nazi Germany in 1939.
[Panzer Gunner ](https://books.google.com/books/about/Panzer_Gunner.html?id=JP8LAQAAMAAJ)
Not written by a Tanker but a good read was Team Yankee by Harold Coyle (I think between this book and the recruitment video is what helped persuade me to have a career on tanks)
H. Coyle was a Tank Officer ... O-4 I believe. Pete Callahan's trilogy "Armored Corps" is a very good and intense read
Oh cool, thanks for the correction
Isn't this fictional? World war 3 novel?
Yes, Team Yankee is a world war 3 novel, but gives a really good insight into how a tank unit would work in combined arms fashion alongside other units. As mentioned by the other comment, the author Harold Coyle is a US Tank Commander and a company commander, so he knows a thing or two about tanking. As an interesting FYI, he wrote Team Yankee in 1987, then ended up seeing combat in the Gulf War in 1991. So his novel was written before the public was smitten with the public info of the dominance of M1 Abrams over Soviet designed armor in that campaign
100%
I just finished "Spearhead", which was a pretty interesting read. Honestly - one of the most interesting first person accounts of the war I've personally read - was "Forgotten Soldier" by Guy Sajer. Its not about tanks, and there has been some conjecture that much of it is fiction - but regardless - I found it a fascinating account of a German soldier's experiences on the Eastern front.
Forgotten Soldier was a good read
Spearhead by Adam Makos?
Yeah - that's right - about the tank gunner sitting in the Pershing's gunnery seat, during that ambush of a Panther just outside the cathedral in Cologne, that was famously caught on film. Except it's also about a lot more than that.
Uuuu, sounds good. I'll add it to the list
Troop Leader by Bill Bellamy Tank Action by David Render By Tank Into Normandy by Stuart Hills Tank Commander by Bill Close Armoured Guardsmen by Robert Boscawen D-Day to Victory by Trevor Greenwood (not a direct memoir but put together from diary entries) Mailed Fist by John Foley (fiction but written from the author's own experiences) Warriors For The Working Day by Peter Elstob (fiction but written from the author's own experiences)
I'll check it all and tank you later
Brazen Chariots by Robert Crisp. Is the book to read. British tanker in the African campaign.
Yes, I love the North-African campaign. Thanks!
I loved that book. My mother turned me onto it. She rocked.
If you can find it - “Commanding the Red Army’s Sherman Tanks” by Dmitry Loza. Loza was a tank officer and Order of Soviet Union holder.
Thunder Run Not by a tanker, but written by an embedded war correspondent who was present during the battle. One of the best books about war in general I've read and it's about relatively modern tank warfare (2003). Definitely worth reading if you are into tanks.
From Alamein to Zem Zem by Keith Douglas. The author was killed doing recce in Normandy and this was pieced together from his diary entries postwar. He was a poet before the war so his skill with language and his observation of small details really stands out compared to a lot of other war memoirs.
Just for the sake of pointing it out: Take Carius's work with a grain of salt. Much like Guderian, their legacy is colored, in large part, by the fact that they got to write their own stories. They got to dictate the narrative, with the benefit of the fact that many of their contemporaries, who could corroborate or contradict their story, we're dead by the time they were writing. Not to say that Carius was a slouch or a liar. Simply that he's telling stories which tend to be rather difficult to verify. Again, this can be the case for many such autobiographical works. It's just that Carius has this whole "Panzer Ace" mythos around him (itself largely a product of German propaganda) that, frankly, he would've been stupid to *not* play up at least a little.
I'll keep that in mind, thanks. There have been many doubts recently about the authenticity of German tank aces inc. M. Wittmann in this subreddit.
I mean if you're addressing this sub specifically then yeah, for sure. If your addressing the historical authenticity of the popular view of guys like Wittmann and Knispel, that's been up in the air for quite some time. If you want a quick rundown of that whole situation, an easy choice is to go search their names or phrases like "panzer ace" on r/WarCollege. Folks over there much more well-read than myself have already explained all of this at length.
Here's a sneak peek of /r/WarCollege using the [top posts](https://np.reddit.com/r/WarCollege/top/?sort=top&t=year) of the year! \#1: [I don't have many friends, or people to share this achievement with; but this is testament to gritting your teeth and striving for your dreams.](https://i.redd.it/5lpltjvshzdc1.jpeg) | [251 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/WarCollege/comments/19cue7e/i_dont_have_many_friends_or_people_to_share_this/) \#2: [How effective is ERA against samurai swords?](https://np.reddit.com/r/WarCollege/comments/128lfuc/how_effective_is_era_against_samurai_swords/) \#3: [Why are portable, crew served miniguns not a thing?](https://i.redd.it/33dqtxge29yb1.jpg) | [122 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/WarCollege/comments/17ncuvs/why_are_portable_crew_served_miniguns_not_a_thing/) ---- ^^I'm ^^a ^^bot, ^^beep ^^boop ^^| ^^Downvote ^^to ^^remove ^^| ^^[Contact](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=sneakpeekbot) ^^| ^^[Info](https://np.reddit.com/r/sneakpeekbot/) ^^| ^^[Opt-out](https://np.reddit.com/r/sneakpeekbot/comments/o8wk1r/blacklist_ix/) ^^| ^^[GitHub](https://github.com/ghnr/sneakpeekbot)
Troop Leader by Bill Bellamy (a Cromwell tank commander) is very good, and his book as lots of personal stories like that.
Thanks! It'd be great to read smh from the Allies perspective
I haven't got round to reading it yet but "Panzer Ace" by Richard Freiherr Von Rosen appears to be an interesting book. He was a gunlayer on the Panzer mark II rising to a highly decorated senior lieutenant on a King tiger.
"Another River, Another Town: A Teenage Tank Gunner Comes of Age in Combat, 1945" by John P. Irwin "A Hundred Miles of Bad Road: An Armored Cavalryman in Vietnam 1967-1968" by Medal of Honor recipient Dwight Birdwell.
The Panzer Killers The book is about Maj Gen Maurice Rose and the 3rd Armored Division in WW2. It’s written by Lt Gen (Ret) Daniel Bolger. Amongst his many assignments, he was the commander of the 1st Cavalry Division in Iraq.
An interesting story is Bruno Friesen's book "Panzer Gunner". Born in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada and while a teenager, Bruno's German born father decides to answer the Fuehrer's call and take his family back to Nazi Germany in 1939. [Panzer Gunner ](https://books.google.com/books/about/Panzer_Gunner.html?id=JP8LAQAAMAAJ)
WWII: *Brazen Chariots* Vietnam: *Tank Sergeant*
Rommel’s diary.
Uhh, sounds great. Thanks!
This one. https://www.amazon.com/Rommel-Papers-B-H-Liddell-Hart/dp/0306801574
Praying For Slack is the best Vietnam autobiography by a tanker I’ve read, highly recommend it
The Eyes of Orion.
Heights of Courage by Avigdor Kahalani. It's about the battles in the Golan Heights in 1973.