Blood, Dust & Snow Diaries of a Panzer Commander in Germany and on the Eastern Front

Blood, Dust & Snow Diaries of a Panzer Commander in Germany and on

the Eastern Front written by Friedrich Sander and published by Greenhill

Books - £25 - Hardback - Pages 448

‘The infantry is only a few metres ahead of us when suddenly, on the left of our tank, a Russian stands up. The swine had pretended to be dead when our infantry came past him! That’s an old classic, pretending to be dead and then firing from the rear. But that isn’t a good idea when facing tank-men like us… floor the accelerator! Turn left and run over him!

“Unvarnished, absorbing, gritty and pulling no punches. One of the best accounts of war on

the Eastern Front I have ever read.” - Peter Caddick-Adams

The war on the Eastern Front from 1941 to 1945 was the bloodiest combat theatre in the

bloodiest war in history. Oberleutnant Friedrich Wilhelm Sander experienced this bloodshed

first-hand when serving with the 11th Panzer-Regiment. This regiment made up the core of

the 6th Panzer-Division, one of Hitler’s top armoured formations, which was involved in

most of the major campaigns on the Eastern Front; campaigns such as Operation

Barbarossa and Operation Winter Storm.

Sander recorded his experience of these campaigns in astounding detail in some recently

-discovered diaries covering the period from April 1938 to December 1943, translated here

for the first time by historian Robin Schäfer. Written during the fighting, these diaries not only

offer an honest assessment of the war on the Eastern Front, but also provide an insight into

the mind of a young and highly politicised officer, and offer an intimate glimpse into the

close-knit community of a German Panzer crew.

A brutally honest, immediate and unfiltered personal account, Sander’s translated diaries

make for some uniquely fascinating reading about some of the most important campaigns

of the Second World War. Supported by more than 100 photographs and maps from the period,

Blood, Dust & Snow will be of great interest not only to readers studying the war on the

Eastern Front, but also to any historian researching the Second World War.

Blood, Dust & Snow is a diary from German Panzer Commander Friedrich Sandler

from WW2 who served mainly on the Eastern Front. In this diary, we obviously we have

translated from German which is done very well, and we seem to get a lot of books

now published where English is not the primary language. But I have to say that this

book is one of the best I have read for a while, not only the translation but also the

writing is very descriptive and informative which makes it stand out from the crowd.

The book brings across the hardships of being a Panzer commander and the vivid

descriptions and battle accounts are very realistic and make for a great read. The

map is also supported by a good number of photographs which really help support

the story. A hit for me, would happily recommend to other WW2 history buffs.