The Panther Battalion ‘Brandenburg’ 1945

The Panther Battalion Brandenburg 1945 book by Wolfgang Ockert & Axel Urbanke

The story of the Panther Battalion Brandenburg and its history as I Battalion, Panzer-Regiment 26 played out against the background of collapsing fronts in the final 18 months of World War 2. The reader is immersed in the fighting withdrawals in the landscapes of southern Russia and Romania, the battles on the East Prussian border and the Baltic States. He is encircled with the battalion at the Memel bridgehead in late 1944 and experiences the relief attempt towards Budapest in late 1944/early 1945. Finally, in February 1945, follows the transfer of the newly renamed battalion to the Oder Front near Küstrin, where the Panthers were one of the last Panzer battalions opposing the Russian drive to Berlin. The descriptions involve the reader not only in the battalion’s actions but the overall events at the Oder in the final weeks of the war. He directly experiences the collapse of the entire Oder front, the retreat and destruction in the Halbe Pocket. The descriptions are so vivid and compelling that one cannot escape the drama of the events. Whoever wants to understand what happened can take a journey through time with this book.

Based on ten years of research, this is a book that eclipses many other books about Panzer units and the final months of the war. More than 200 action photographs from every front, almost all of them previously unseen, and 27 colour maps supplement the text. Panther Battalion Brandenburg is a unique documentation that, once again, took advantage of the opportunity to allow the last eyewitnesses to have their say.

This is the latest reprint, with 16 extra pages and 21 more photos!

The book supplied will have a German cover, but the content of all Luftfahrtverlag-Start’s books is dual English & German.

Book Data

Author: Wolfgang Ockert & Axel Urbanke
Language: German/English
Pages: 368 (16 more than the previous reprint!)
Photos: 236 black & white, 34 colour photos, 27 maps
Physical: Hardcover, 290x245mm, landscape

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Chapters

• Introduction/Foreword
• 1942-43 – The Creation of the I. Abteilung Panzer-Regiment 26
• Action in the Southern Sector of the Eastern Front
• Action in the Baltic States and the Memel Bridgehead
• Rest and Refit in the Reich and the Battle before Budapest
• Formation of the I. (Panther) Abteilung Panzer Regiment ‘Brandenburg’
• The I. Abteilung Panzer-Regiment ‘Brandenburg’ Arrives at the Oder Front
• The Battle for Klessin Strongpoint
• The Fighting in the Oderbruch
• The Soviet Offensive
• In the Halbe Pocket and the Breakout to the 12.Armee
• Bibliography