Unlike the 20 year wait I had for a sequel to Last of the Panzers, the Panzerwrecks team have published Panzerwrecks 2 only a year after their first title (thank goodness! ).  Picking up from where Panzerwrecks 1 left off, Lee Archer and William Auerbach have released the second title in the Panzerwrecks series.  Once again, we are treated to many rare photos of some extraordinary German vehicles from the last years of the war.

In the familiar 8 ½ x 11 landscape format, this book has 118 large format photographs taken by Allied photographers during and immediately after the war of captured, destroyed and abandoned German vehicles.  While some of the photos are of relatively poor quality, the rarity of their subjects more than makes up for it. 

A full list of the vehicles featured in this book can be found on the Panzerwrecks website, so I won’t repeat it here.  Instead, I’ll point out a few of rarities that were personal highlights.  Perhaps my favourite photos are a great series taken in Vienna showing American MPs playing around in a vehicle dump.  Among the gems that can be seen are a Panzer IV(70)A and a Hummel in Soviet markings and a zimmeritless Panther Ausf. D that somehow managed to soldier on throughout the war.  In the background of the Hummel photo on page 2 is a Soviet M4A2(76)VVSS that appears to have some sort of disruptive camouflage on it - something that I have never seen before.  A very rare PzBeob. IV also makes an appearance on the streets of Vienna, with a large ferris wheel dominating the skyline behind it - amazingly, this does not seem to have been destroyed in the fighting.

Another of the Panther Ausf. Gs with a steel wheel on the final station (one of only 25 manufactured by M.A.N. in March/April 1945) makes a welcome appearance here, just after some great photos of a knocked-out Sturmtiger and Jagdtiger.  Amidst the photos of various interesting StuG IIIs are a pair of photos of a rare StuG IV with vertical exhausts and a field-modified stowage rack on the engine deck.

One of the major photo spreads in this book is of a train captured in Yugoslavia carrying a dizzying variety of vehicles.  Among others are Sd.Kfz. 251/22, Hetzers, an Sd.Kfz. 231, a turretless Pz.Kpfw. II with gas generator,  and some fascinating Italian tanks and self-propelled guns that were impressed into German service.  The M15/42s and Semoventes are very liberally covered with spare tracks and other interesting modifications.

The collection of destroyed vehicles shown at Znojmo railway station in Czechoslovakia is also full of fascinating tanks.  What I wouldn't give for a chance to have wandered around there with my digital camera!

The final major photo section shows destroyed German vehicles in Berlin.  The first photo is of one of those vehicles not known to exist until this photo surfaced: a Pz.Kpfw. I Ausf. B chassis with a long 7.5 cm. gun fitted.  In the background of the photo are acouple of other features of interest: one of the big FlaK towers and a wrecked Ju-87D Stuka.  Other interesting vehicles shown include an Sd.Kfz. 223 armoured car, a thoroughly wrecked Sd.Kfz. 234/4, an Sd.Kfz. 251/21, and an early Tiger I seen near the Brandenburg Gate.

The captions are, as with Last of the Panzers, clear and informative, offering as much information as possible about the vehicle, and also very perceptive, drawing attention to details that might get overlooked.   For instance, the Panzer IV(70)V on p. 52 is fitted with curved hoods on its vertical exhausts, similar to those seen on some late Jagdpanthers.  I've never seen such a thing on a Panzer IV chassis before.  Speaking of the curved hoods fitted to Jagdpanthers, one of the Panther Ausf. Gs seen in Berlin also has the curved hoods fitted (I had not realized that these were fitted to straight Panthers).

This book is particularly valuable as a diorama inspiration.  The photos taken in Berlin in particular are sobering, and the civilians present in many photos would make fine subjects for figure manufacturers.  The various states of disrepair of these vehicles are also an excellent reference source.

Rare photos of fascinating vehicles in a high-quality package backed by excellent writing – what more could one ask?  Highly recommended - if you are a German armour modeller, this book is a must-have.  I can hardly wait to see what gems are going to be in Panzerwrecks 3!

June 28, 2006