The Tank Killers

A History of America's World War II Tank Destroyer Force

De: Harry Yeide

Narrado por: Bob Souer

The Tank Killers is the story of the American Tank Destroyer Force in North Africa, Italy, and the European Theater during World War II. The tank destroyer (TD) was a bold - if some would say flawed - answer to the challenge posed by the seemingly unstoppable German blitzkrieg. The TD was conceived to be light and fast enough to outmaneuver panzer forces and go where tanks could not. At the same time, the TD would wield the firepower needed to kill any German tank on the battlefield. Indeed, American doctrine stipulated that TDs would fight tanks, while American tanks would concentrate on achieving and exploiting breakthroughs of enemy lines.

The Tank Killers follows the men who fought in the TDs from the formation of the force in 1941 through the victory over the Third Reich in 1945. It is a story of American flexibility and pragmatism in military affairs.

Tank destroyers were among the very first units to land in North Africa in 1942. Their first vehicles were ad hoc affairs: halftracks and weapons carriers with guns no better than those on tanks and thin armor affording the crews considerably less protection. Almost immediately, the crews realized that their doctrine was incomplete. They began adapting to circumstances, along with their partners in the infantry and armored divisions.

©2007 Harry Yeide (P)2018 Tantor

Dry and without detail

The best thing I can say about this book is that it's pretty factually correct. Unfortunately it's also a pretty dry compilation of facts that seems to do it's best to avoid drawing conclusions, diving into details, or providing anything really Tank Destroyer specific. Instead it reads more like basic history of the war with occasional assurances that tank destroyers were involved. I feel like this is on the cusp of being a great book but never got there. The narrator does his best, but I think even he starts dozing off a little at the end.

Loved it

If you love tanks, you love killers, then you'll love this book. much like other WW2 books of similar nature it focuses on the stats of the war. but we get to see some things that we haven't seen or heard.

Very Technical but worth a listen.

It is worth a listen if you like military history. It is a testament to the ingenuity of the United States in bridging the gap from the tanks of WWI to the modern tanks of today.

It’s like listening to after action reports

I did not know much about tank destroyers. There was definitely new information but the recitation of what really did sound like after action report over and over made it so that I had to stop.

Good information, clear dictation of the book, but very little emphasis or change in a voice one dictating the book

Good information. It’ll take a while to get into the book. The reader could’ve changed his tone a bit more to make the book a bit more interesting.