Panzerwrecks
4German Armour 1944-45
Lee Archer and William Auerbach
Published by Panzerwrecks
ISBN 978-0-9754183-3-8
http://www.panzerwrecks.com
96 pages soft cover
Review by Terry Ashley
This forth volume in the Panzerwrecks series continues the excellent quality of the first three and is devoted to images of destroyed or disabled German armour in the last years of WWII with a number of photo series which tell a story better than a single image.
The format of the book has mostly large 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 would not be of much interest if presented smaller showing additional details.
Many of the images are previously unpublished while others have been seen before and give an excellent insight into the ferocity of war and also provide excellent material for the diorama builder with the surrendering images being of particular interest as are some of the disabled and destroyed vehicles.
Pages 1 to 7 have a series of 8 photos showing a single Jagdpanther of s.H.Pz.Jg.Abt.559 after being knocked out by a Polish Sherman Firefly in November 1944, with the images mostly showing the front and left sides for an interesting diorama scenario.
Pages 8 to 17 have a series of photos showing knocked out Panther Gs and Pz.IV/70(V)s which graphically illustrate how the Panther torsion bars collapse with the heat of resulting fires after being hit. There are multiple shots of a couple of the Panthers and the Pz.IV/70(V)s taken from different angles that give a better perspective of the vehicle and surrounding areas.
Pages 18 to 24 have a series of shots showing the surrender of Stabskp./Pz.Afkl.Abt.20 with the vehicles featured being the Sd.Kfz.234/2, 234/3 and a shot of a 234 fitted with the Schwebelafette 20cm turret usually fitted to the Sd.Kfz.251/17 and the shots offer some interesting detail as these vehicles are still intact being surrendered and not destroyed, well not yet anyway.
The next 22 pages have assorted images of captured and knocked out vehicles including the Bergpanzer III, Hummel, Hotchkiss H39, Pz IV Ausf.D, Panther G and five pages on the 4.7cm Pak(t) auf R35 with shots taken from all four sides for avery good overview. There are 3 pages with shots of the Ersatz M-10, one of the FT17 and finally four pages of knocked out StuG.III Gs all offering some interesting diorama potential.
Pages 48 to 65 have a series of stills from a movie sequence showing the surrender of Stabakp./Korps Pz.A.A.FHH in May 1945. The vehicles shown are mainly various Sd.Kfz.251 Ausf.Ds, Sd.Kfz.234/4s and various support vehicles. Being from a film sequence some shots are not the best quality but have some interesting details of the vehicles and uniforms of the crews and accompanying troops.
Pages 66 to 83 again have a series of varied pics showing destroyed vehicles with shots of Pz.IVs, RSOs, a Pz.Kpfw M42 738(i) (3 photos), Marder IIIM and some StuGs, Panther Gs and a Panzer I that made it all the way to this stage of the war presumably not in front line units the whole time for more interesting overview shots.
The final section is entitled "A trip to the Tiger factory" and has 10 pages with shots taken by a USAF cameraman of the Henschel & Sohn plant in Kassel-Mittelfield showing Tiger IIs in various stages of assembly, there are shots of stacked hull and rows of turret waiting to be mated together as well as a pile of Maybach HL 230 P30 engines abandoned out the back for some good shots of the various components.
Conclusion:
As with previous issues this is another excellent collection of photos that offer excellent diorama potential
as well as conveying the intensity of wartime actions and the surrendering
unit photos with the vehicles intact showing the markings of the time as
well as good shots of the accompanying personnel uniforms.
The size of the photos allows good details to be shown not only of the vehicle but of the cam schemes including where not obliterated by fire and the the insightful and informative captions also add to the value of the photos and this series continues to be an invaluable reference for the modeller of late war German equipment.
Highly recommended. 8.5/10
Thanks to William Auerbach of Panzerwrecks for the review book.