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Everybody with an interest in German World War II history is familiar with Heinz Guderian, the famous Wehrmacht general and recipient of the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves.

World War I veteran Heinz Wilhelm Guderian helped develop Germany’s strategic mechanized warfare and modern tank forces and commanded the newly formed XIX Army Corps during the September 1939 Nazi invasion of Poland.

Subsequently, Guderian was involved in the successful invasion of France and the Low Countries in May 1940 and headed the Nazi 2nd Panzer Group during Operation Barbarossa, and reached the area 75 miles south of Moscow by November 1941. On 1 March 1943, after the German defeat in the Battle of Stalingrad, Hitler appointed Guderian to the newly created position of Inspector General of Armored Troops and Guderian became the Acting Chief of the General Staff of the Oberkommando des Heeres with the responsibility of advising Hitler on the Eastern Front in July 1944.

Guderian and his staff surrendered to US forces on 10 May 1945 and he joined the US Army Historical Division in 1945. He was released from captivity without trial in 1948 and retired to write his memoirs.

Offered for sale on this USMBOOKS web page is Erinnerungen eines Soldaten (Memories of a Soldier) by Heinz Guderian. The heavy 7 x 10 inch, 462 page book has 37 maps and 23 pictures printed on glossy paper and was published in 1951 by Kurt Vowinckel Verlag in Heidelberg.

The book has chapters on Guderian’s early years and family, the creation of Hitler’s Großdeutschland in 1938 and 1939, the successful invasions of Poland and the west, and in-depth information about the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union. The first battles, the battle for Kiev, crossing the Dniepr river, Smolensk, Moscow, the highs and lows of his career.

Other chapters in Erinnerungen eines Soldaten are about the 20 July 1944 plot to kill Adolf Hitler, the Battle of the Bulge, German retreat in the east, Leading Personalities of the Reich, Adolf Hitler’s personality, the Nazi Party, other German generals, the organization of the Wehrmacht and more.

This nearly 1-½ inch thick Guderian book is in very nice condition with a tight spine and no odor. The original dust jacket still has the rare original German trade band from the time this book was published 71 years ago!