Model Armour

Panzerwrecks 8

Publisher: Panzerwrecks

Authors: Lee Archer & William Auerbach

Price: £16.99 (Reduced if pre-ordered)

Softcover; A4, 96 pages

ISBN: 9780955594052

Introduction

It was difficult to see how Lee & Bill could do it again, but they have!  Continuing the idea of producing titles within the Panzerwrecks theme with a more specific aim, this title looks at German wrecks encountered by the Allied forces as they fought their way off the Normandy beaches and across Europe to the Fatherland!

The Contents

The same format as previous Panzerwrecks titles is maintained in this volume, ie. 96 pages of period photographs showing in most cases wrecked German armour from the advance across Europe.  Most of the pages contain one large photograph, although some do contain smaller multiple examples to a single page.

The images are culled from many different sources for this edition, some of which include the US National Archives, the Imperial War Museum, and personal photographs of the men who took part in the battles, or their families.

One of the strengths of these books is of course, the captions that indicate exactly what we can see...as you can imagine since most of the photographs show wrecks of some description, it's not always obvious.  The captions are well though out and descriptive, and where possible, along with the authors, various contributions are made from other sources, such as a former Canadian AFV Intelligence Officer who examined many of the wrecks in the field, an OWI photographer who witnessed the aftermath of Operation Cobra, and a Normandy historian.

Although it appears that the bulk of the photographs are from still images, the authors have used multiple images from movie footage where necessary where it serves to illustrate or show details not apparent from one image or angle.

The book is broken down roughly into different 'areas', not really corresponding to chapters as such, the first of which shows images of German field guns on the Lorraine Schlepper chassis. The most curious of these is shown on page 13 and you can see it in the sample page, it's image 3.  

There's a short section on various Tiger wrecks, followed by a section of diverse vehicles such as StuG III's showing various Zimmerit patterns off clearly, Panthers, Marder II, Jagdpanzer IV, Wespe, and even a selection of the Sd.Ah.116 trailer with StuG's and Panzer IV's on.

Another main section is that showing various wrecked Panzerwerfer 42's.  These vehicles have always been amongst my favourite vehicles, I've yet to model one though.  When I do, the kind of pictures offered here are ideal, not just showing excellent detail, but offering lots of options for how you might include the vehicle in a diorama setting and showing exactly how the vehicle reacts to various forms of damage.

The final section of the book shows images of wrecked vehicles during the aftermath of Operation Cobra, the American offensive to take advantage of the German preoccupation with British and Canadian activity around Caen.  Again, a wide variety of wrecks are on offer, from various Panzer IV's, a 250/9, 251's, some great pictures of a 250/7 Pioneerwagen and various Panthers, some of which are completely upside down!

Conclusion

They've done it again....and dug out some great images of vehicles that not only provide some great reference and even better inspiration for the model maker, but are also of interest to the historian and military vehicle enthusiast.  Great period photographs and informative and comprehensive captions make this a must have.

My thanks to Lee Archer of Panzerwrecks for the review sample!