Didier Lodieu

Worked with Lodieu on an English translation of his '45 Tigers' book before the publisher (Ysec Editions) pulled the plug on the project. While Didier is not the world's greatest writer (it was hard work!) he has an unerring knack for seeking out the veterans, collecting their histories and locating fine, never-before-seen photos as this book amply demonstrates. Unfortunate that the in-house translator Alan McKay once again ruins what could have a been a great title from publisher 'Histoire et Collections'..… (altro)

I produced a translation of this work, but the French publisher holds all the rights and was unwilling to relinquish them. A shame. Quite a lot of work for nothing. While Didier is not the world's greatest writer by any means ( I had to work hard to bring the text up to a certain standard) he has the knack of ferreting out veterans and eliciting their accounts & opening their albums. Of course much of this story is now quite well known, von Rosen in particular has contributed to many works on the subject, especially those dealing with Goodwood. Nonetheless, this work is recommended for armor buffs..Here is my translation of the book's Foreword..

Foreword

From the opening shots in Russia during the summer of 1941, the German Wehrmacht found itself pitted against enemy tanks that were largely superior to their own. It was with some consternation that the Germans realised that both the Panzer III and IV were out-matched in firepower and out-classed in armour protection. In fact the opening German successes of the campaign in Russia owed more to the qualities of the crews and the tactical doctrines espoused than to the tanks themselves..
Faced with evidence of these shortcomings Hitler himself outlined the specifications for a new main battle tank superior to anything that was then on the battlefield. He urged his engineers to come up with a design that would represent a leap forward in German tank technology. Despite limited design time (the prototypes were to be presented to the Führer on his birthday, 20 April 1942) and its pre-war antecedents, which failed to take account of innovations like sloping armour, the result was formidable; endowed with frontal armour up to 100 mm thick and armed with the awesome 88mm cannon, the new tank could out-punch anything else on the battlefield. A legend was thus born; the scourge of the fearsome 55 ton Tiger.

Three new heavy tank battalions were equipped with the type and a further seven heavy tank battalions were subsequently established. Three of these heavy tank battalions were to be deployed in Normandy following the Allied landings. Designed to be subordinated to army or corps headquarters, these heavy tank battalions were attached to divisions as needed and employed at the most critical points on the battlefield. Two of the battalions committed against the Allied invasion were Waffen-SS units. The third was a regular German army (Heer) battalion, schwere Panzer Abteilung 503 or heavy tank battalion 503 – this is the diary of that battalion’s deployment in the crucible of the battle for Normandy.… (altro)