Iron Cross

Iron Cross is the UK’s only magazine of German military history from the First World War to the end of the Second World War. Covering all aspects of German military history including the Imperial German forces of the Great War, the Weimar period and the Nazi period. Iron Cross prides itself on the highest quality production with stunning content in the unique and ground-breaking features, often revealing untold stories and publishing photographs that have never been seen before. Iron Cross features specially commissioned and innovative artwork in all issues.

Iron Cross

Editorial

CONTRIBUTORS

The Wehrmacht’s Workhorse • A pre-war devolpment, the Panzer IV formed the backbone of Germany’s Panzer divisions. Historian and Panzer expert Thomas Anderson takes a close look at the tank and its performance against its Allied adversaries.

Germans of ‘The Longest Day’ • Many of the German actors in the epic war movie The Longest Day had actually seen service during the Second World War. Here, Robin Schäfer looks at the military careers of some of them.

BOOK REVIEWS

Cross of Onyx • The most extraordinary award of the Third Reich was the Grand Cross of the Iron Cross in onyx. Dietrich Maerz reveals its confusing story, the unique presentation to Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring and the tale of a decoration that has seen enduring controversy.

Letters From Stalingrad • Letters to home from men at the front, censorship aside, have always held a powerful immediacy in the telling of events as they happened. This is especially so in letters sent from the men of a beaten German army at Stalingrad.

3rd Interim Report

Hitler’s Flemish Lions • The Waffen-SS was the Nazi’s armed élite of Aryan supermen who would build the Thousand Year Reich. They were the very cream of German manhood - except they weren’t all German, as Jon Trigg explains.

OSWALD VAN OOTEGHEM – INTERVIEW WITH AN ‘OOSTFRONTER’

TREAT YOURSELF OR A LOVED ONE!

Panzerschreck • The Panzerschreck was a vital component of the German army’s arsenal in the latter part of the Second World War. Robin Schäfer looks at the development and operational use of the weapon through surviving German archives.

EXPERIENCE REPORTS • ‘AOK 17 (98. Inf.-Div.) to OKH, Panzeroffizier, 9 December 1943

Next Issue • The next issue of Iron Cross (Issue No 11) will be on sale 17 December 2021 and the following features will be included as just some of the magazine’s exciting content.

The Hornet’s Sting • The Nashorn SdKfz.164 ‘Hornisse’ tank destroyer proved a useful tool in the Wehrmacht’s armoury. It was also responsible for the disabling and capture of the first IS-2 Josef Stalin 2 tank to fall into German hands.

Withdrawn from Action? • Across the decades following the war, the Junkers 87 has been perceived as a failure during the Battle of Britain, with unacceptable losses resulting in its withdrawal from operations. Andy Saunders examines the real story of the Stuka in 1940.

Defensive Tactics

Panzermann • Ignoring the widely published plethora of misinformation on the subject, Robin Schäfer gives an outline of Dr Franz Bäke’s extraordinary career as a tank ‘ace’ which is based around accredited modern sources and period documentary evidence.

The day summarised

The Victoria Station Dornier 17-z

COMPLETE YOUR COLLECTION

COMPETITION

Dornier Mystery Solved • When the wreckage of a Dornier 17 Z-3 was found on a French beach in 2013, its identity eluded investigators until the story was recently unlocked by Iron Cross magazine, as Andy Saunders explains.

An eye-witness on the day…

Digging History • Rounding-off our Conflict Archaeology section for this issue, Andy Saunders reflects on the subject and how it has...