The Tank Killers

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

By: Harry Yeide

Narrated by: Bob Souer

Length: 9 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

Interesting

This book provided the information I have sought for a while concerning the history and role of the tank destroyer units of World War II.

Great account of TD contributions to the war effort.

The conventional account of Tank Destroyers is that they were pointless and a waste of resources. If you want a definitive, well research account of TD action, from the North Africa campaign all the way through the Mediterranean through France to the West Wall and the surrender of the Axis forces in Berlin, choose this.

Now this doesn’t mean it pulls any punches. It definitely talks about the failure of the towed units to adapt once in the ETO.

Overall though, this is the best accounting of the TD controversy I’ve ever read or heard. Sure, it stumbled in the beginning but what about war is ever easy or efficient. This book showcases what was a solution to problem unique to WW2. Tank development towards the end of the war made them obsolete, so their contributions are often glossed over or dismissed because their textbook “doctrine” was unrealistic. The text shows however, that in the real world they were very effective on the ground, and the number of Panzers knocked out proves their worth.

If you are interested in TD’s you CANNOT miss this title.

My only gripe is the reader, while his voice is enjoyable, the chronic mispronunciation of European towns and cities was a bit annoying when you would hear it very often during a particular campaign.

excellent book

well written well-documented detailed account of the destroyer of Italians in World War II. I was not aware of their tremendous success rate

good listen for tank fans

I like all things tanks do this was enjoyable ft. or me. The book was very informative and followed smoothly in my opinion. There are not many books available about tank history so we take what we can get.

Informative, end abruptly

I went into reading this already having learned quite a bit about the tank destroyer force. There were a few things that I learned - primarily about the pre-war war games and such. On the whole the book does a great job of presenting the TD force and its battle performance. Something that its WAY overlooked in the sherman-panther-tiger obsessed debates about WW2 armor.

Going in just be aware that it is a bit dry, and while there is discussion about the tank destroyer theory and performance the bulk of the book is taken up with a chronological following of TD battalions from their formation until the end of the war (and a tad after).

I would've liked to have had a bit less 'X ' TD battalion fought with 'Y' friendly division against 'Z' Germans on 'this' day. A bit more analysis of overall performance would've been welcome.

Still well worth a listen. Especially If you want to learn about the unique American approach to tank destroyers.