ISBN 0-921991-60-6
663 pages

Publisher's Acknowledgements; Editors' Remarks; Introduction; Acknowledgements; tables; photos; maps; documents; sidebars; scale drawings; color plates; organigrams; Bibliography

Appendix: Armored Vehicle Allocations

   When J.J. Fedorowicz published Karlheinz Munch's Combat History of Schwere Panzerjaeger Abteilung 653 in 1997, Munch promised that he would deliver a companion volume on Schwere Panzerjaeger Abteilung 654. Five years later, Munch made good on his word with a new book on the 654th, a tome even thicker than his massive work on the 653rd. Was it worth the wait?
   Overall, the two volumes are very much alike, so anyone who liked the first will almost certainly like the second, but there are some differences as well as some similarities.
   The history of the 654th opens with a bit of a jumble, jumping from a short Introduction to a two-page outline of the battalion's history to two pages of alphabetized Acknowledgements to a six-page overview of the unit's organizational evolution. Munch then offers "Establishment and Operations (August 1939 to March 1943)" for the unit's initial incarnation as Panzerjaeger Abteilung 654 (equipped with towed anti-tank guns), amounting to about sixteen pages, which mostly comprises first-hand accounts contributed by veterans of the 654th plus sidebars such as soldiers' Pay Book records with day-by-day entries of where they were and what they were doing. The first section of photos follows, with snapshots from September 1939, fighting in France, and operations in Russia.

   Panzerjager-Abteilung 654 was decimated in the fighting in the east in the winter of 1942-43 and lost most of its vehicles. The battalion was subsequently transferred back to Hamburg-Harburg in Germany for refitting.
   By the end of April 1943 the unit was almost completely up to strength in personnel. It was originally intended that the battalion would be equipped with Hornisse (Hornet) tank destroyers. The decision was reversed at the last minute, and the battalion received orders to equip with the Ferdinand tank destroyer (Tiger P VK 4501). At that time, the Ferdinand was the heaviest armored vehicle used by the Wehrmacht.

   Munch's "Establishment and Operations of Schwere Panzerjaeger-Abteilung 654" runs to about fourteen pages, carrying the story through the beginning of September 1943 with his own text, more first-hand accounts contributed by veterans, tables of data (such as vehicle complements and lists of commanders), after-action reports, lists of repairs, etc. Most of this material centers around the battalion's role in the Battle of Kursk. This text is followed by almost 150 pages of black and white snapshots along with a few reproductions of wartime documents and pages from technical manuals. The photos are especially interesting, almost all of them featuring the gigantic Ferdinands, which—whatever their weaknesses—certainly were handsome behemoths. As an aside, one minor difference between the two unit histories is that in the 653rd the photo captions are in both English and German, whereas in the 654th the captions are only in English.
   The next section of the book is "War Diary No. 8 of schwere Panzerjaeger-Abteilung 654 (draft)," which covers the period 1 January 1944 through 22 June 1944. Munch explains that this war diary (and the other two sections of the 654th's diary included in the book) is a unique document since most German Army war diaries for units smaller than divisions were destroyed in Potsdam in 1945. Diaries 8, 9, and 10 for the 654th survived because they were in private hands, and have since been made available to the author. Diary No. 8 totals approximately 35 pages and includes a great deal of day-to-day detail about exactly what was happening in the battalion. After the diary, Munch presents ten pages of diagrams illustrating combat formations, then segues into War Diary No. 9, which runs from 23 June through 31 December. Here's an extract:

31 July 1944: Starting 0700 hours 3 kilometers south of la Bigne. Weather: Sunny and very warm. During the night of 30/31 July 1944 the Kampfgruppen were committed as follows or the following changes occurred:

   1) Jagdpanther under the operational control of the 276. Infanterie-Division:

   Kampfgruppe Heyn with 3 Jagdpanther remained in place. No new reports available.

   By order of Grenadier-Regiment 987, Kampfgruppe Schnepf with 2 Jagdpanther moved into the area 1.5 kilometers northwest of Feuguerolles. Two vehicles temporarily disabled with steering problems. At the present time Kampfgruppe Schnepf is not operational.

   2) Jagdpanther under the operational control of the 326. Infanterie-Division:

   After arrival of the division order delivered by a division liaison officer, the Jagdpanther under the operational control of the 326. Infanterie-Division were deployed as follows to seal off the enemy breakthrough in the direction of St. Jean and la Ferriere:

   Kampfgruppe Luders with 4 Jagdpanther moved into the la Ferriere area with orders to seal off the advance by enemy tanks in the direction of St. Jean. This mission was completed successfully.

   In conjunction with Kampfgruppe Zschenderlein, the enemy tanks advancing from the direction of la Ferriere on the St. Martin - St. Pierre - Coulvain road were stopped south and southeast of la Ferriere.

   Kampfgruppe Luders destroyed one enemy tank (Churchill II) with handheld antitank weapons. In addition, 6 prisoners (English) were taken, including two officers. The prisoners were handed over to the division during the day.

   Kampfgruppe Zschenderlein with 5 serviceable Jagdpanther also moved into the la Ferriere area with the same orders as Kampfgruppe Luders. The enemy tanks advancing east from the direction of St. Jean on the St. Martin - St. Pierre - Coulvain road were headed off.

   The former corps reserve with 10 Jagdpanther was designated Kampfgruppe Wittmoser and moved into the St. Martin area with orders to seal off a breakthrough by enemy tanks south from the direction of St. Jean. During the march five Jagdpanther broke down; the remaining 5 reached the St. Martin area and sealed off the breakthrough by other enemy tanks north of St. Martin.

   3) Enemy losses:

   10 enemy tanks (Mark II or Mark IV)
   1 enemy tank damaged, probably destroyed, same type
   1 enemy tank (Sherman)
   1 enemy tank (Churchill II), destroyed with handheld antitank weapons
   1 enemy scout car

   4) Own losses due to enemy action: None.

   Note: A Jagdpanther written off on 31 July 1944 (Turret Number 311; gun commander Leutnant Scheiber) was entered under 2 August 1944 as it was blown up on that day.

   Serviceable tank destroyers: 11 Jagdpanther and 3 command tanks
   Short-term repair: 14 Jagdpanther
   Long-term repair: 1 Jagdpanther

   Personnel casualties in the month of July 1944: 5 killed; 27 wounded (1 officer); and, 3 missing.

   Following War Diary No. 9, a further ten pages contain personal accounts from battalion personnel in Normandy. This material leads to War Diary No. 10, covering 1 January 1945 through 2 April 1945 and amounting to some thirty pages. The next section shows a brief chronology of the 654th from 16 November 1944 through 8 February 1945 based on material found in army and army group war diaries. Then come more personal accounts, some very lengthy and detailed, of action on the western front. This leads to a section comprising over 180 pages of black and white photos of the 654th in France and Germany, these featuring the Jagdpanthers with which the battalion was equipped on the western front.
   Munch concludes the book with ten pages of detailed scale drawings and cutaway views, about thirty-two pages of gorgeous color plates displaying the battalion's vehicles from multiple angles, and almost twenty pages of organigrams showing the 654th's TOE and names of tank commanders, etc.
   In sum, the history of the 654th offers considerably more information than the history of the 653rd, mostly because Munch has been able to include three significant chunks of the battalion's war diary. Given its overall dimensions, page count, lengthy text, hundreds of photos, and wealth of other supporting materials, this battalion history puts most divisional histories to shame. For most other battalions, this might actually prove to be overkill, but—given the amazing vehicles with which the unit was equipped and the heavy fighting it saw—the 654th is well-served by such a massive history. The size of the volume and the amount of information exacerbates the only real problem with the book (but not a huge problem), and that's a somewhat jumbled organization. Very few of the words actually belong to Munch, and the other text tends to be scattered over fairly large areas—even when it relates to the same operations and incidents—rather than synthesized into a single narrative. For example, readers would need to look under the separate sections "War Diary No. 9," "Appendices to War Diary No. 9," "Accounts of Personnel," "Summary of Operational Dates," and "Post-War Accounts" in order to glean all the details about the unit's actions in November 1944.
   At least one reader has complained about the poor quality of some of the photos in the book. There's no denying that these are not all of museum quality. For example, they can't be compared to the exquisite images in The Regiment that Built the Alaska Highway. Here's what the author has to say on the subject:

   One particularly difficult aspect of the project was locating period photographic material from former members of (schwere) Panzerjager-Abteilung 654.
   This is due in part to the almost total destruction of Panzerjager-Abteilung 654 in Russia in the winter of 1942-43, during which the battalion lost almost all its personal equipment, documents and other records. In addition, the destruction of a Ferdinand or Jagdpanther tank destroyer almost always resulted in the loss of all of the crews [sic] personal possessions. Most were fortunate to escape with their lives. Those documents that were rescued from abandoned or knocked-out tank destroyers were mostly taken away or destroyed when the men were later taken prisoner.
   Those photographs that were found are therefore photographic rarities and the reader should judge them as such. Instances of poor quality are due to the circumstances at the time and the age of the photos.

   Despite some photographic imperfections, it's hard to see how anyone could fail to be impressed by The Combat History of Schwere Panzerjaeger Abteilung 654. Definitely worth having a look.
   Available from online booksellers, local bookshops, or directly from J.J. Fedorowicz.
   Thanks to Fedorowicz for providing this review copy.