Price approx. $24.95 CDN

Unusually for one of Zaloga's books, this book is laid out by vehicle class rather than by theatre or time period.  First we have Leichte Panzers (including the Panzer III and IV - not what I usually classify as light tanks!), which includes ex-French vehicles, Pz. 38(t)s, and some other tanks the 30 tons and under category.  Next are Panthers, always a popular subject.  Most of the vehicles photographed are knocked out, although one Panther A is shown in French wartime service.  Tigers follow the Panthers.  Interestingly, most of the photos show King Tigers (although there is a nice three-photo spread of a train full of Tiger Is that was captured).  Something that sets this book apart from most previous Concord books I have seen is the in-depth coverage of certain subjects.  Here, there are no less than ten photos of Tiger 332 (now at the Patton Museum in Fort Knox), showing its capture, recovery, some period interior photos and one of it on display immediately postwar.  The section on assault guns includes a plethora of StuGs plus a Brummbarr and half a dozen photos of the Sturmtiger.  Included in the Panzerjager section are some fascinating factory shots of Hetzers and eleven photos of the Porsche Jagdtiger that is now on display at the Tank Museum in Bovington; these photos also give a good view of the engine deck of the Tiger V2 prototype that is also at Bovington now, showing the snorkel cover and deep-wading exhausts that were only fitted to the earliest Tiger IIs.  Small sections on self-propelled artillery and halftracks follow, along with a section on "Other Armored Vehicles" (including armoured cars, Goliath demolition vehicles and even armoured trains) and, finally, some photos of Panzerstellungs (tank turrets in fixed emplacements).  This is where I found what is probably the only miscaptioning in the book: what is called a Panzer III turret on p. 72 is actually a Panzer II turret fitted with a 50mm L/42 gun and mount from a Panzer III turret - a very rare thing indeed. 

 

Like Panzerwrecks, this book provides some excellent illustrations of the types of damage that occur in armoured warfare.  One of my favourite examples is the heavily sagged flatcar holding a Panzer IV on p. 12, although the overturned Jagdtiger on p. 55 is also impressive.  Anybody wishing to model their vehicles with any sort of damage, catastrophic or otherwise, would be well advised to study these photos with care.

As usual, this Concord book is a great inspiration for modelling and diorama projects.  Many interesting vehicle types or variants are only known from photographs taken by Allied soldiers, so this book has obvious appeal for German AFV modellers (for instance, there are not many photos around of the sWs armoured halftrack with 15 cm. Nebelwerfer fitted, but this book has five!).  There are a couple of photos of Panther Ausf. Ds on the western front, a pretty rare sight for 1944-45, a picture of the Panzer III-based Minenraumerpanzer III mine-clearing vehicle, a Pz. 35(t) pressed into service in 1945, and overhead photos of the E100 prototype, showing the hull full of junk.  One photo that pains me to look is is of a row of AA halftracks on p. 66.  One vehicle in the row, a soft-cab sWs with 3.7 cm FlaK 43, has "CDN WAR MUSEUM" painted in white on the front right fender.  Sadly, this vehicle must have been scrapped, since it is certainly not in the Canadian War Museum's collection now!

 

I find the book more interesting from a diorama perspective, however.  It is interesting to see the different ways that the Americans in the book are treating the German vehicles: as test and evaluation subjects, objects of curiosity, photo opportunities, road obstacles, being impressed into service against their former owners, or simply scrap.  I have certainly found inspiration for a number of dioramas in these pages.

One of my pet peeves with Concord books is a minor one - the tendency to include in the (very nice) colour plates subjects that are not featured in photographs in the books.  A case in point with this title is the inclusion of no less than three ex-German tanks in French service (a Panzer IV, Panther A, and Tiger I) in the colour plates, none of which are shown in photos here.  I understand the desire to maximize coverage in these books, but much prefer being provided with both photos and colour plates of selected subjects (especially odd ones).

As usual, an excellent title from Concord.  Highly recommended for anybody interested in building late-war German armour in its "natural state."  :-)

 

January 4, 2006