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Seemed to be the most logical place for this thread


Ok, picked up 'Wolfgang Faust' 's book, Tiger Tracks, for a buck on Amazon, and....


I'm not sure if it's legit or not. And, apparently, neither is the internet.

Reading through it, there are parts that make a lot of sense (and if it's legit, it would seem to be taking place during the fighting along the Dnieper. River late in 1943) and parts that I just shake my head at.

It's very clear that the person who translated it (if such took place) was British and, one of the sticking points people seem to have with it I can more or less explain just because humor does not usually translate, so it makes sense that the translator would instead insert a joke in a similar vein instead of using a literal translation of a joke. There are also what may or may not be editing issues.

The other issues with narrative might be explained by him writing after the war (supposedly in 47) and the fact he was high as a kite on meth throughout the events. And so were some of the rest of the crew, so good decision making seems to be a bit absent at times.

Anyone else read this one? What are your thoughts?

The book was originally a serialised memoir in a German post-war magazine I think.

The authors name is a pseudonym and I imagine the book is made up of various heard and past on stories, embellished with a gory sense of imagination and wrapped up as a 'memoir'.

To me its a work of fiction and should be judge as such.

Big P wrote:
The book was originally a serialised memoir in a German post-war magazine I think.

The authors name is a pseudonym and I imagine the book is made up of various heard and past on stories, embellished with a gory sense of imagination and wrapped up as a 'memoir'.

To me its a work of fiction and should be judge as such.

Ok, but minus the pseudonym, St Claire Mulholland's The story of the 116th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers in the War of the Rebellion has... well, all of those. But it's not considered a work of fiction.

Frankly, that part is pretty understandable, considering Germany post war and the fact he shoots the prisoner at the end. Reading through some of the things he says, the author clearly had driven a Tiger (and, most likely, a Befelswagen Command Tiger) because most people don't know about the glass block that was used to protect the drivers from someone shooting through the view-slit. If it's a modern forgery (since no one has been able to find the magazines it supposedly came from) that's a really obscure piece of info to know, particularly when at the same time, the author gets the (current in 1947) IS-3 confused with the (Current during the War) IS-2's turret shape. (A common problem when writing post war, as current knowledge imposes itself on the past)

I can say that, based on their casualties, they're around Krivoi Rog from Oct 18-20th of 1943, and he was in Panzer-Regiment Grossdeutschland (only two day action where any unit loses 10 or more tigers in 1943). Now if i can just get my hands on a full casualty list, one of the command tigers will have two, survivors. Whoever the driver is/was, that's our 'Wolfgang Faust'.