General Hermann Balck: An Interview, January 1979

Short but interesting interview with this guy. A bit chopped up but still worth the time.

Enjoyable read, plenty of insight and opinions, with some acerbic wit. Good pick-up if you have an interest in German commanders of WWII. I'd rate it a bit above many of the German memoirs in terms of candor and interest, even though this is just a long interview. Balck's full memoirs have just been published in English for the first time, looking forward to reading that based on this.The author is probably best known for his conduct of the Chir River battles during Stalingrad, but saw action on nearly every front at one time or another.

I thought it was a well written most interesting read.I enjoyed his accounts of the German procurement issues and also how they dealt with Russian attacks.

Great but much too short read. The greatest missing account of WWII is an English translation of General Balck's memoirs (that and continuing access to Russian archives -- tightly controlled again by the Putin-Medvedev governments after a short honeymoon in the 90s). This pamphlet is a teaser of the General's pithy, 'no time for idiots and failures' approach to warfare and the German High Command of WWII. Excellent, scathing reviews of some personalities -- even Guderian -- obviously admired by Balck -- gets an unvarnished review. A must read -- until someone ponies up to translate the full memoirs.

Unbelievable historical perspective, both because of the late date (1970s) at which point the interviewee's perspectives on the war and his experiences would have matured, and because of the unbelievable qualifications and experience of the interviewee. In my opinion if Germany had lasted a few more months, General Balck was the next Field Marshal.

Quick excellent read. General Balck's clearly focused lessons learned from operational though tactics, techniques and procedures. Especially interesting were his thoughts regarding American decision cycles compared to Russian and intelligence indicators regarding American operations and battlefield problems regarding panzer maintenance.

The most cleaver German General of wwII. An imperdible interview, with realistic and creative answers.

Must read book on a wise and true leader who also cared about his soldiers; and was a realistic contrarian thinker. Thought outside the box... and changed strategies, as he called,"Each situation unique".