Tigers in the Mud: The Combat Career of German Panzer Commander Otto Carius (Stackpole Military History Series): The Combat Career of German Panzer Commander ... Carius (Stackpole Military History Series)

Carius served in several tanks throughout the war, from the small Panzer 38(t) to the Tiger I and briefly, the huge Jagdtiger. He fought against the Russians and the Americans, although the majority of the book is mainly concerned with his 'Tiger' actions against the Russians. It is an interesting book for anyone who likes personal accounts of armoured warfare during the Second World War.
Personally, whilst I enjoyed the book, I thought it was a bit too sanitized for my tastes, as regards his re-telling of the various actions. He does not go into great detail about them, perhaps in an effort not to seem to be gloryifying his many successes, but I felt that in reading it, I was never really 'there' with him, if you know what I mean.
Many other memoirs recount the sights, sounds, smells etc., of battle, painting a mental picture which helps to give an understanding of what the author went through and that was what I felt this book was lacking.

The lowest score for this book.....why ? (2/3 people found this helpful)

Ok I noticed when I gave this 3 stars it was the worst score this book got .... So I feel I need to justify this clearly. Firstly let me say I am a fan of Historical war novels and books. I've read a number of them from the German's point of view and I can't recall too many I didn't like. The trouble with this book is it's hard to get engaged. I read books at a fair old rate of knots and normally I've have read this in 2-3 days max. However a week later and I'm a hundred pages in. Why ? well simply put this translation is very poor and lacking details. It's frustrating as hell. The transaltion itself is clinical and lacks any colour. There's no sense of a story, nothing to draw you in. It's like a clinical set of observations. Let me give two example. In the book he mentions they are billeted in a house overnight near the front lines. That night the house is hit by incendaries from the Russians. He goes on to say 'We fought our way out of the burning house and escaped'. That's it !!! Nothing about what happened no details ... nothing. Another example... 'We used a crypt in a graveyard as a bunker...in peace times this would be an outrage but this is nothing to what we saw the Russians do in a graveyard' That's it...nothing more...nothing about what the Russians did, what he saw...zip. It's really frustrating as hell. It feels like the whole book was made up of combat reports that ware sterile facts on paper. When one of his crew is killed it literally is reported as 'We took a hit and one of the crew died' then it moves on.... there's just no sense of a story whatsoever. :( I don't know...perhaps if you want a clinical objective report then this book will suit you well, but I wanted a story and this certainly wasn't it. Sorry. 3 stars=It's Ok according to the rating guide.

fascinating account of Otto Cariu's career (11/12 people found this helpful)

"Tigers in the Mud" is a wonderful volume written by Otto Carius on his military career during WWII, mostly his action as commander of a company of Tigers(Tiger I). Most of the action takes place on the Eastern Front against the Russians although there is a brief excerpt against the Americans where he commanded Jadgtigers.

His accounts of the the individual actions is very interesting as well as the atmosphere of being surrounded by reliable comrades. Throughout he describes his interaction with men he had to rely upon and their deep comradeship. He doesn't fail to mention some people who really had no idea of what they were doing or those who did but simply couldn't get on with the men under their command. He also points out some of the aspects of military action as practised by the Germans and the Russians. Whereas there were never very many Tigers available at any time and so their use was carefully orchestrated so that losses were lept to a minimum the Russians tended to throw T-34's into action quickly and without concern as to losses. It demonstrates why he had so much success fighting the Russians in comparison to their success against his tanks. Nonetheless he never fails to say when things went awry due to basic mistakes in comand or just simple errors during combat.

It also becomes clear that even in late 1943 and early 1944 it was still possible for the Luftwaffe to maintain air superiority on the Eastern front. The kind of massed bombing carried out by the US and Britain in the west was never practised by the Russians to the same extent even though the size of their airforce was greatly superior to the Germans. Mind you the Russians never had access to the superb P-51 Mustang whereas the Germans had the Focke Wulf.

It was obvious that German tanks were generally superior to the Russian models, except the later JS-1's and IIs, and provided they were used properly i.e. taking into account their problems with transmission, road wheels/transport etc they would almost always defeat larger numbers of the enemy. Carius knew how to use his Tigers, as well, he knew how to cooperate with infantry and knew all of his company tank commanders well. It is through this kind of understanding he was able to have so many successes against larger numbers of Russian T-34s. I certainly have no problem believing that he could knock out 10 T-34s with a single Tiger.

It is important to understand that Carius took the initiative at the right moment or whenever he was able to given limitations of supply and orders from above. He attempted as much as possible to make use of the element of surprise and it is this which helped him during his destruction of the 17 Russian tanks in the village of Malinava.

Throughout the text Carius never blew his own trumpet, the actions are described matter of factly and it is clear that he wished to make sure people such as Kerscher and "The Graf" got the accolades they deserved. His meeting with Himmler is also informative in terms of the man's character.

All and all an excellent book.

Classic Tiger Tank Story (28/30 people found this helpful)

Writing as an afficiando of WW2 books and accounts this is one of the best German tank books I have. The author is actually a funny and likable guy too, some of his exploits are laugh out loud type. Not too serious but immensely informative from the man on the line point of view. A gripping WW2 account.
Its likely that his perspective on National Socialism and the Third Reich may be disorientating at first. However there is really only thoughtful commentry. Its well worth digesting these views for an open minded exploration of the 'other side's' mentality. Good Book.

I would have won, if my team hadn't let me down... (32/44 people found this helpful)

This autobiography covering the wartime career of Otto Carius is an interesting for for anyone interested in personal accounts of armoured warfare during the Second World War. Carius served in several tanks throughout the war, ranging from the small Panzer 38(t) to the Tiger I and, briefly, the huge Jagdtiger. He fought against the Russians and the Americans. The majority of the book is concerned with several actions in Tigers against the Russians.

The book is let down somewhat by a map that is difficult to relate to the text and some battle results that are a bit hard to believe (such as the destruction of 17 Russian IS-II tanks by Carius alone in a single encounter). Also, at several points throughout the book, Carius rails against those he considers weren't giving quite the full effort against the Russians and later the Americans. The fact that by 1944 a lot of Germans (military and civilians) realised they couldn't win, and wanted the fighting to stop, seems to have eluded him.

Carius respected his Russian opponents, but is critical of the US forces. The Russians would stand and fight, but the US tended to withdraw and rely upon overwhelming artillery and airpower (as you would do if you had overwhelming artillery and air superiority).

The negatives aside, the book gives a fairly good account of the strengths and weaknesses of the Tiger tank from a soldiers point of view.

Tigers in the Mud: The Combat Career of German Panzer Commander Otto Carius (Stackpole Military History Series): The Combat Career of German Panzer Commander ... Carius (Stackpole Military History Series)

Otto Carius

Reader Reviews:

A worthwhile read (1/1 people found this helpful)

The lowest score for this book.....why ? (2/3 people found this helpful)

fascinating account of Otto Cariu's career (11/12 people found this helpful)

Classic Tiger Tank Story (28/30 people found this helpful)

I would have won, if my team hadn't let me down... (32/44 people found this helpful)

Similar Products

Categories