A Better Comrade You Will Never Find by Helmut Schiebel

[ForbesHutton]

A Better Comrade You Will Never Find
Author: Helmut Schiebel
Publisher: JJFedorowicz Publishing ISBN 0921991 97-7
Release date: July 2010
A Better Comrade You Will Never Find presents Eastern Front experiences of Helmut Schiebel from 1941 to the end of WW II. The author took part in the invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941 as a member of the 43 Motorcycle Infantry Battalion of the 13 Panzer Division. In September he left for an Officer Candidate course in Germany, returning as a Leutnant and platoon leader to the division’s reconnaissance battalion at the end of April 1942. He was wounded at the end of June and retuned to Russia in September 1943. On the way to the 18 Panzer Division, he found out that the division was being dissolved and opted to transfer to the antitank branch. He arrived at Panzerjager Abteilung 88 in October 1943 where he was given a manual for antitank troops and soon after became a platoon commander on a Marder tank destroyer.
After heavy losses, in November 1943 the unit was transferred to Mielau Poland, where it trained on and was equipped with the heavy Hornisse tank destroyer. When the battalion was sent to the Eastern Front in mid-February 1944, the author stayed behind to receive missing equipment and additional personnel. Panzerjager Abteilung 88 was trapped in the Kamenez-Podolsk wandering pocket, and its actions there are recounted through the eyes of some other soldiers. After the battalion escaped the trap, the author rejoined it (as platoon leader) in Galicia in mid-July 1944.
Suffering heavy losses, the battalion was withdrawn to receive new equipment and train replacements. It returned to the front at the end of December 1944 in the Krakow area. By that time, Schiebel was the commander of the 2nd company. The unit fought across southern Poland, through Silesia and eastern Germany to the area around Karlsbad. There, on May 7, 1945, Panzerjager Abteilung 88 surrendered to American troops.
This book will keep you immersed from the first page to the last; there are hardly any breaks in the action. From the first days of the invasion of the Soviet Union, where the motorcycle troops were always at the front, to the last desperate days of the war, when the few tank destroyers were rushed from one hot spot to another, you will share the full spectrum of emotions of the author and his troops. Life was short and brutal at the front for many soldiers, comrades died suddenly nearby, experience and luck was needed to survive. The descriptions of the combat are detailed and there is much to be learned about armour tactics. This is not just another memoir; the author was an excellent commander and imparts many valuable lessons for those that are interested in small-unit actions.
Hard cover, 6" x 9", 272 pages, 5 B&W images, 12 colour images, 45 photos, 4 colour 3D drawings.

This is a great read. If you read the description above and it sounds like "Tigers in the mud" but with Nashorns, it is. I found the writing more "human" than Otto Carius's style, which was a little too robotic for me. Schiebel talks about being scared, and the sense of loss when comrades are lost. They even swearing and have insulting nicknames for rear-echelon personnel (a German version of REMF?).

Only some of the pictures are of Nashorns, Marders and motorcycles, most are of people and crews or scenery.

The book could easily inspire plenty of models:
-The motorcycle machine gun troop worked in three man teams, driver, gunner and gunner's assistant, all on one motorcycle/sidecar with all their personal gear plus weapons and ammo. I can't find any 1/35 figures to be the rear seat passenger, so a model of this would have to have one or more of the crew dismounted. If anyone does know of a rear seat rider, please let me know.


-One of the company's motorcycle messengers, who gets mentioned several times towards the end of the book, insists on using a motorcycle with a sidecar as he always has his dog with him, riding in the sidecar.

-Marder IIs and Nashorns. It depends on how wild you want to go. There are 2 colour drawing of each the Marder II and Nashorn.

-For those who want to build a diorama, it seems the Nashorns were often positioned on the edge of villages so a building and fence would work well. Out of town they tried to get the Nashorns behind bushes or trees and prefered to get hull-down on the reverse of a slope (with only -3 degrees of gun depression the slope would have to be VERY gentle).

I haven't found this winter wash with stripes left anywhere but the cover of the book, however I must build this:


After some research I've found that if you want to use the Panzerjager Abteilung 88 marking:


The marking only comes with the Tamiya and AFV Club Nashorns. None of the Dragons seem to have them. If you have to have a Dragon, Peddinghaus has a set of decals for the Nashorn (EP1621) that has one decal of the Abeilung 88 insignia.

[Coen]

Oh WOW!!!
NICE!
Ok... off in search!
Thanks Forbes.

[ForbesHutton]

Oh WOW!!!
NICE!
Ok... off in search!
Thanks Forbes.

WAIT!!!!

[Coen]

As the hang out fellas so elequently put it... Huh?

[ForbesHutton]

You'll see. Don't order anything.

[Coen]

Ok. I found a copy in the UK, I'll keep it on my wish list then.

[ForbesHutton]

Go open your Christmas present...

[Coen]

Ah.... ok haha. That will have to wait another couple of hours. Cate would never forgive me after I just spent the last 4 hours denying her access to her presents only to go creeping upstairs at 330 in the morning to open one of mine haha.
I'd die a horrible death.

Expect a few more of those annoying thank yous in a little while bud
Merry Christmas Nick

[Coen]

And work begins...
I've cracked open my kits and started planning the build my friend.
This will be a small but epic thing I think.
Muhaha ahah ahahahahahahahah!!!

[ForbesHutton]

I'm waiting on the edge on my seat to see this....

[Coen]

Once I get things started up I'll start a thread up and maybe a few vids.