Fotos from the
PanzertruppenThe Early Years
Lee Archer and William Auerbach
Published by Panzerwrecks
ISBN 978-09555940-2-1
http://www.panzerwrecks.com
94 pages soft cover
Review by Terry Ashley
This is the first volume in a new series Fotos from the Panzertruppen from the guys at Panzerwrecks and deals with The Early Years and again covers German Army vehicles with many detailed action shots not previously seen in the general publications.
The book is the same soft cover format as the Panzerwrecks series with 64 pages featuring mostly large wartime B&W images, many being just one to a page with the text confined to image captions to maximise the space for the images and this results in images that offer many details that would not be that clear if presented in smaller photos.
Being the Early Years the book covers the Panzer I, Panzer II and early Panzer III/IV types as well as the Pz.Kpfw.38(t) with many of the images being previously unpublished while others have been seen before and give an excellent insight into the vehicles of the early war years compared to later times and also provide excellent material for the diorama builder with some interesting shots of destroyed vehicle sand some in interesting positions due to accidents.
Pages 1 to 16 covers the Panzer I both A and B types with some excellent shots of the Schulfahzeuge (driver training vehicle) as well as other training shots including a couple that clearly show the 3 colour RAL17/RAL18/RAL28 cam scheme carried on early vehicles.
As well as the training shots there are also some excellent shots of the Pz.I in action in Poland with 3 photos showing that things didn't always go the Germans way and show what happens to a Pz.I when running over a mine or hit by an artillery shell, some interesting diorama stuff here for the adventurous. There are also shots of the kl.Pz.Bef.Wg (Sd.Kfz.265) Command Version taken on exercise for additional interest.
Pages 17 to 27 have a series of photos of early Panzer II Ausf.A,B and Cs taken on exercise as well as some action shots from the early campaigns that give good overall views of the vehicle details, markings and crew uniforms with more good diorama possibilities in the photos.
Pages 28 to 37 deal with the Pz.Kpfw.38(t) mostly Ausf.A to E with again a nice mixture of training and action shots with a couple of excellent shots of a knocked out Pz.Kpfw.38(t) in France photographed with a disabled Somua S-35, now there is a diorama waiting to be built.
There is also an interesting shot of a Pz.Kpfw.38(t) on an Sd.Anh.115 trailer and other action shots giving details of the crew uniforms and vehicle conditions for good overall interest.
Pages 38 to 51 cover the Panzer III Ausf.E to J with some early training shots as well as numerous action shots from France and Russia showing excellent overall details of vehicle markings, storage and crew uniforms with more shots of knocked out vehicles to give contrast to the service type shots.
The final pages 52 to 64 deal with the early type Panzer IV with 8 pages of excellent semi-close up training shots of the Ausf.D/E Vorpanzer (spaced armour) that should be very useful for those building the Dragon Vorpanzer kits.
There are additional action shots from Poland of Ausf.A, C and D vehicles that again offer some excellent shots of the vehicles and crew uniforms of the early war years with more excellent diorama possibilities in the photos for building the early Tristar panzer IV kits.
| Conclusion |
The size of the photos allows good details to be shown not only of the vehicles but of the markings, stowage and the crew uniforms with some excellent diorama possibilities as mentioned especially with the disabled and destroyed vehicles that always hold a certain fascination.
This should prove to be a worthwhile series to compliment the later war photos in the Panzerwrecks series.
Highly recommended
6 pages shown with mostly single photos per page
Thanks to William Auerbach of Panzerwrecks for the review book.