Otto Carius - Tigers in the Mud: The Combat Career of German Panzer Commander Otto Carius

The Stackpole Military History Series

THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR

Cavalry Raids of the Civil War

Ghost, Thunderbolt, and Wizard

Pickett's Charge

Witness to Gettysburg

WORLD WAR I

Doughboy War

WORLD WAR II

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Battle of the Bulge, Vol. 2

Beyond the Beachhead

Beyond Stalingrad

Blitzkrieg Unleashed

Blossoming Silk against the Rising Sun

Bodenplatte

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The Brigade

Bringing the Thunder

The Canadian Army and the Normandy Campaign

Coast Watching in World War II

Colossal Cracks

Condor

A Dangerous Assignment

D-Day Bombers

D-Day Deception

D-Day to Berlin

Destination Normandy

Dive Bomber!

A Drop Too Many

Eagles of the Third Reich

The Early Battles of Eighth Army

Eastern Front Combat

Exit Rommel

Fist from the Sky

Flying American Combat Aircraft of World War II

For Europe

Forging the Thunderbolt

For the Homeland

Fortress France

The German Defeat in the East, 1944-45

German Order of Battle, Vol. 1

German Order of Battle, Vol. 2

German Order of Battle, Vol. 3

The Germans in Normandy

Germany's Panzer Arm in World War II

GI Ingenuity

Goodwood

The Great Ships

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Hitler's Nemesis

Infantry Aces

In the Fire of the Eastern Front

Iron Arm

Iron Knights

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The Key to the Bulge

Knight's Cross Panzers

Kursk

Luftwaffe Aces

Luftwaffe Fighter Ace

Luftwaffe Fighter-Bombers over Britain

Massacre at Tobruk

Mechanized Juggernaut or Military Anachronism?

Messerschmitts over Sicily

Michael Wittmann, Vol. 1

Michael Wittmann, Vol. 2

Mountain Warriors

The Nazi Rocketeers

No Holding Back

On the Canal

Operation Mercury

Packs On!

Panzer Aces

Panzer Aces II

Panzer Aces III

Panzer Commanders of the Western Front

Panzergrenadier Aces

Panzer Gunner

The Panzer Legions

Panzers in Normandy

Panzers in Winter

The Path to Blitzkrieg

Penalty Strike

Red Road from Stalingrad

Red Star under the Baltic

Retreat to the Reich

Rommel's Desert Commanders

Rommel's Desert War

Rommel's Lieutenants

The Savage Sky

Ship-Busters

The Siegfried Line

A Soldier in the Cockpit

Soviet Blitzkrieg

Stalin's Keys to Victory

Surviving Bataan and Beyond

T-34 in Action

Tank Tactics

Tigers in the Mud

Triumphant Fox

The 12th SS, Vol. 1

The 12th SS, Vol. 2

Twilight of the Gods

Typhoon Attack

The War against Rommel's Supply Lines

War in the Aegean

Wolfpack Warriors

Zhukov at the Oder

THE COLD WAR / VIETNAM

Cyclops in the Jungle

Expendable Warriors

Flying American Combat Aircraft: The Cold War

Here There Are Tigers

Land with No Sun

MiGs over North Vietnam

Phantom Reflections

Street without Joy

Through the Valley

WARS OF AFRICA AND THE MIDDLE EAST

Never-Ending Conflict

The Rhodesian War

GENERAL MILITARY HISTORY

Carriers in Combat

Cavalry from Hoof to Track

Desert Battles

Guerrilla Warfare

Ranger Dawn

Sieges

TIGERS
IN THE MUD

The Combat Career of German Panzer
Commander Otto Carius

Otto Carius
Translated by Robert J. Edwards

STACKPOLE
BOOKS

English Copyright 1992 by J. J. Fedorowicz Publishing, Inc.

First published in paperback in 2003 by

STACKPOLE BOOKS

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All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. All inquiries should be addressed to J. J. Fedorowicz Publishing, Inc., 104 Browning Boulevard, Winnipeg, MB, R3K 0L7, Canada.

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Printed in the United States of America

10 9 8

FIRST EDITION

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Carius, Otto.

Tigers in the mud : the combat career of German Panzer commander Otto Carius / by Otto Carius ; translated by Robert J. Edwards.1st ed.

p. cm.(Stackpole Military history series)

ISBN 0-8117-2911-7 (pbk.)

1. Carius, Otto. 2. World War, 1939-1945Personal narratives, German. 3. World War, 1939-1945Tank warfare. 4. Germany. HeerOfficersBiography. 5. Tiger (Tank) I. Title. II. Series.

D811.C27735A3 2003

940.54'1343'092dc21

2003008243

ISBN 978-0-8117-2911-6

eBook ISBN 978-0-8117-4388-4

Publisher's Acknowledgments

(For original English translation)

I wish to thank the following individuals who have contributed to the original publishing of this book in English.

Robert J. EdwardsTranslation

George RugeniusProofreading

Brian MolloyCover Art

Brian MolloySigning Box

I also wish to thank you the reader for purchasing this book and all those of you who have written to me with your kind words of praise and encouragement. It gives me the impetus to continue to publish translations of the best German books available. More excellent books are either being prepared or negotiated, thanks to your helpful proposals. These will be announced as they near completion.

The photos in this book come from the personal photo album of Mr. Otto Carius. I am forever grateful to Mr. Carius for allowing me to use these photos [most never published before] in this book. I am also grateful, and very moved, that he agreed to have J. J. Fedorowicz Publishing bring out his book in English.

John Fedorowicz

Foreword to the English-Language Edition

We soldiers of the former German Wehrmacht are thankful to Fedorowicz Publishing for the English-language editions of German books concerning World War II. Through these publications, the defamation of the German soldier in film, television, and the press has been countered, and the picture of the Wehrmacht has become a more objective one by means of the help offered by many sources.

We are especially grateful when we think of our fallen comrades who, together with volunteers from all countries of Western Europe, fought to be saved from communism and whose memory has been stained by defamation.

Unfortunately, we have had to experience firsthand how war memorials have been destroyed and desecrated in our own country while memorials in honor of the unknown deserter have been ceremoniously dedicated in Bremen, Hamburg, and Bonn. This despicable behavior is probably unthinkable in any other country.

(It must be noted: Up until December 31, 1944, there were 1,408 deserters registered in the Wehrmacht out of approximately seven million members of the Wehrmacht during five years of war!)

No other people had been so audaciously and (which embarrasses me) so successfully lied to as the German people after 1945. Despite the latest sources, the historical picture has not been corrected. With the help of a lot of former propaganda people of the Third Reich, the reeducation was a complete success. Tradition is smiled at; the achievements of the Wehrmacht and of our entire people in World War II are recognized, at best, by our former opponents. In some cases, they are even admired.