Panzers in the Sand: 1935-1941

Book excerpt: In September 1939, the tanks of Panzer-Regiment 5 swept into Poland, a devastating part of the German blitzkrieg that opened World War II with a terrifying display of military force. The following spring, the regiment rumbled across France, again showing the destructive power of the panzer. But the unit's greatest fame would come in the North African desert, where Panzer-Regiment 5 joined Erwin Rommel's vaunted Afrika Korps as it battled the British back and forth beneath the scorching sun of Libya and Egypt. Combat history of a renowned German tank regiment in World War II Covers the unit's formation, its campaigns in Poland and France, and its first months with the Afrika Korps Firsthand accounts from tank commanders and crews with hundreds of photographs, many of them not available anywhere else