Ravenstein: Portrait Of A German General
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Worn/faded, no tears
Pages: Good
Markings: Previous owner
At the crossroads of duty, honour, and the brutal machinery of the Second World War stands Johann von Ravenstein — one of Germany's most distinguished Panzer commanders — whose remarkable story is chronicled with precision and humanity in Rowland Ryder's Ravenstein: Portrait of a German General. Capturing the life of a man who served the Wehrmacht with distinction yet retained an uncommon moral integrity, the biography traces Ravenstein's career from the battlefields of North Africa, where he commanded the 21st Panzer Division under Rommel, to his capture by New Zealand forces in 1941 and his subsequent years as a prisoner of war in Britain — a period that, far from diminishing him, revealed the depth of his character. Ryder constructs a nuanced and compelling portrait that challenges the monolithic image of the German military officer, presenting a subject who cultivated genuine friendships with his captors and earned widespread respect across enemy lines. Drawing on meticulous research and a clear-eyed narrative style, the work sits firmly within the tradition of great British military biography — rigorous in its historical detail yet deeply personal in its human focus. For readers who seek to understand the Second World War not merely as a clash of armies but as a collision of individual lives and moral choices, this is a biography that lingers long after the final page.
Author: Rowland Ryder
Format: Hardback
Genre: Biography
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Worn/faded, no tears
Pages: Good
Markings: Previous owner
At the crossroads of duty, honour, and the brutal machinery of the Second World War stands Johann von Ravenstein — one of Germany's most distinguished Panzer commanders — whose remarkable story is chronicled with precision and humanity in Rowland Ryder's Ravenstein: Portrait of a German General. Capturing the life of a man who served the Wehrmacht with distinction yet retained an uncommon moral integrity, the biography traces Ravenstein's career from the battlefields of North Africa, where he commanded the 21st Panzer Division under Rommel, to his capture by New Zealand forces in 1941 and his subsequent years as a prisoner of war in Britain — a period that, far from diminishing him, revealed the depth of his character. Ryder constructs a nuanced and compelling portrait that challenges the monolithic image of the German military officer, presenting a subject who cultivated genuine friendships with his captors and earned widespread respect across enemy lines. Drawing on meticulous research and a clear-eyed narrative style, the work sits firmly within the tradition of great British military biography — rigorous in its historical detail yet deeply personal in its human focus. For readers who seek to understand the Second World War not merely as a clash of armies but as a collision of individual lives and moral choices, this is a biography that lingers long after the final page.