I am so happy to be able to recommend this offering from Adam Makos. It's not your run of the mill World War II book. I was immediately drawn in by the conversational tone of the book. The descriptions were so detailed that visualizing the situations was easy. I did not know much about tank warfare, but Mr Makos brought it to life for me. Well worth the read, spectacularly done.
I received my copy through NetGalley under no obligation.

A very good book from the look of war though the gunner of a Sherman tank. The 3rd Armored Division actually fought more battles and longer in Europe than the other Armored Divisions, they just weren’t led by big named leaders, just by men who got things done. They also lost more tanks by being in more battles. You follow Clarence Smoyer and the men in his Sherman. The author also is able to give you the look of the war from the Germans side through Gustav Schaefer who becomes a gunner with the German Panther tank. Following both you see the look of battle after D-Day and the continue struggle, through the country side, leading up to the Battle of the Bulge and then there fight to Cologne and the show down with Gustav. Gustav and his tank mates are given the task to hold off the American army by themselves, and you get their thoughts on that. By the time the battle of Cologne starts Clarence and his crew have one of the new Pershing tanks which if they had at the beginning of the war or sooner probably would have saved many tankers, for it was a much superior tank than the Sherman and fired a 90mm round as opposed to a 75mm round. Through the different battles you also get a ground look from the Doughs the Infantry unit that was with the 3rd Armored. This all leads you to an ending where the men met many years later where they had that tank battle in Cologne and how it still showed on the men who were in their eighties. I found this to be a very good book and one I am glad I read. Being a son of a WWII vet who was with the 82nd Airborne it is always good to see and hear about it from a different side. A very good book.

I received a complimentary ARC copy of this book from Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

5* easy!

This is a true story of WWII tankers and doughboys involved in the Spearhead assaults against the German war machine and it is riveting! The book also takes into account the perspective from a German tanker that brings the book full circle as the soldiers’ lives become forever intertwined! If you enjoy reading WWII books that follow the lives of real soldiers and real battles, this book is for you! In fact, there’s video documentary film about some of the battles the author describes on his website that you can view after reading!

The book is very well written for the reader to draw a picture in their minds of the battles. The suspense pulls you in and you can almost feel yourself there thanks to the writer’s descriptions.

Here’s an example of a passage that characterizes the authors talent that really stuck out to me:

“Without a fuss, DeRiggi switched to an HE shell and Clarence sent the projectile flying toward the clock. The 23-pound shell landed smack in the middle of the clock’s face. The tower ruptured with a sidelong blast as bits of clock and brick came tumbling down, generating a massive cloud of dust. The crew roared in approval as Clarence smirked at the sight of the truncated tower. He had been half hoping to hear a giant chime. In the opening shot of the battle for Cologne, time stood still.”

Another few things that really stood out to me are:

1) The amount of research it must have taken to bring this book together! It’s quite Herculean the energy that had to be put into this. It’s so well done you can tell the author didn’t cut corners in getting his info!

2) The afterword and the story about how some of the people from the book reunite is wonderful!

3) The maps included in the book to help describe battles were extremely helpful.

I want to point out for the author/publisher that there was an error in my copy of the book that looks to be a misprint. Hopefully, this is just in the ARC version I received by email but as hard as the author worked on this book I’m sure he wants it right! It’s listed below.

1) location 2490 “The HE shell blasted the German soldier straight through the through the house he was standing in.”

The date of review was 2/2/19 and the book was reviewed here on NetHalley & on Goodreads. It is the same review here and on Goodreads but the link is attached to the review.

I read this historical gem free and early, thanks to Net Galley and Random House Ballantine; it’s among the top ten percent of the military histories I have read, and it’s one of the few that I have recommended to friends and relatives. Makos’s introduction tells us what he has done to lay his groundwork, and it’s impressive:

"We traversed the battlefields of the Third Reich—with the men who made history…In 2013. Clarence Smoyer and three other veterans traveled to Germany and allowed us to tag along, to interview them on the grounds where they had once fought. We recorded their stories. We recorded what they remembered saying and hearing others say. Then we verified their accounts with deep research. We drew from four archives in America and one in England. We even traveled to the German Bundesarchiv in the Black Forest in search of answers. And what we found was staggering. Original orders. Rare interviews between our heroes and war reporters, conducted while the battle was raging. Radio logs of our tank commanders’ chatter, allowing us to time their actions to the minute… Is the world ready for a book about tanks? There’s one way to find out. Shut the hatches. Tighten your chin strap. It’s time to roll out.”

Spearhead is equal parts memoir and history, and Makos is known for using a “You are there” writing style, though he is new to me. He writes about the most riveting parts of their service there, and though each of these four men starts the war in a different place, at the end they are joined together when they reach Cologne.

The congenial narrative is enhanced with photographs of the men then and now, along with pictures of other men they served with, some of whom made it out alive as well as many that didn’t, or who survived the war but emerged crippled. There is a great deal of comfort, when reading a tale that must include so much carnage, in knowing from the get-go that Clarence Smoyers, Buck Marsh, Gustav Schaefer, Chuck Miller, and Frank Audifred will survive. There are a lot of names and faces, and here I was grateful to be reading digitally on Kindle, because I could use the “search book” feature to quickly regain the identity of participants I couldn’t recall when they came up again.

There are some poignant moments; after all, they were really just kids. Sometimes they made it through battle because their commanders made wise decisions; sometimes they lived on in spite of incompetent or negligent commanders; and sometimes they found themselves in command.

I never knew much about how tanks are operated. I believed that the guy whose head sometimes pokes up out of the hatch was the driver; that’s not so. And I had never given any thought to where the tankers sleep at night, or where they go to the bathroom. And the scandalous lack of safety for the men in Sherman tanks wasn’t clear to me till I read that the British called the Sherman as the “Tommy cooker,” the free Poles named it a “burning grave,” and Americans called it a “crematorium on wheels.” Ultimately this made it into the press when journalist Ann Stringer reprinted the comment that “Our tanks are not worth a drop of water on a hot stove.” The Pershing tank would be a tremendous improvement, and would be largely responsible for keeping our veterans alive to tell about it.

There are some amazing high-tech photographs and diagrams that were unavailable during this conflict; I went back to them several times as I became more acquainted with the lives of the men inside them. The maps could be better, but then you can’t have everything.

For those interested in World War II military history, or for those that read war memoirs, Spearhead is hard to beat. You can also visit the author’s website at AdamMakos.com. This book will be available to the public February 12, 2019. Highly recommended.

Tank versus tank! Pershing versus Panther! And caught on film? No, this is not a war movie, rather this is a World War II tale worth making into a movie. Adam Makos met with Clarence Smoyer in 2012 and that launched a journey that led to this book.

Clarence Smoyer was a tank gunner in the 3rd Armored Division lead by General Rose. He came ashore in France 3 weeks after D-Day as a loader and was promoted to gunner in a Sherman tank in August. As the book opens, the 3rd Armored Division was laying an ambush for the German army trying to escape France at Mons, Belgium. A German tank pulled in next to Clarence's tank during the night and the fight was on. The fight continued through the Battle of the Bulge, receiving a Pershing, the conquest of Cologne which included a one on one between a Panther and a Pershing, and the attack at Paderborn against the German Panzer Training Cadre.

But this is not just the tale of Clarence and his exploits. It is also the tale of Gustav Schaefer (German tank crewman), Buck Marsh (infantry scout in 3rd Armored Division), and Chuck Miller (officer from 3rd Armored Division). Their stories are entwined with Clarence during the war and afterwards when in 2013 all four met in Cologne, Germany, to discuss what happened there and the influence that had on their lives since.

In Spearhead, Adam Markos delivers a well written World War II account of action from the 3rd Armored Division illustrated with pictures of the participants and maps of the battles. the author also researched the details given by the individuals to verify details. A very interesting read!

Adam Makos has a SKILL for bringing the reality of war to the written page. In a recent election when WAR WAS NOT mentioned this unique perspective of Clarance, the gunner we follow, brings to the forefront what OUR troops are going through. Now you can get this from many books but in Spearhead the author carries the important story afterwards. Very, very good here whether you are a history buff or not. .

I’m a fan of this author’s works, and was excited to receive a copy from netgalley. Once again, The author brings reality and humanity to his book, making you feel as if you’re in the ground with the soldiers and facing their constant difficult choices with them. He excels at humanizing the men he writes about and focusing on them as people instead of just their military actions. Another great read for history buffs. My father will be receiving a copy for Christmas for sure!

Thank you netgalley for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you net galley for the advance read copy of this novel. This was an excellent job fiction account of tank warfare towards the end of WWII. This is not my typical genre but I very much enjoyed this book. It read like an action film rather than just facts and figures of who did what when. I highly recommend this for history buffs and for my fellow historical fiction readers. Well written, face paced and emotionally rewarding!