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Panzerwrecks X German Armour 1944-45 Authors: Lee Archer & William Auerbach

Panzerwrecks X

"German Armour 1944-45"
Authors: Lee Archer & William Auerbach

Photos: 114

Pages: 96

ISBN: 978-0-9555940-7-6

Format: A4 soft cover landscape - 280x210mm (L)

Price: $29.95/£16.99

Link: Here

 

 

We are lucky enough to have the chance to review some of the PanzerWrecks series. Today I have issue ten with me, and it really is an "X" in more than one way. This book covers many of the "X-files" of the German armoured vehicle world.  Many oddities and rare beasts are captured in this book which covers German armour in 1944-45

 

This book is broken up into four main parts, each focuses  on a different place or subject  with clear  large format pictures taken often by soldiers in the  field. Most of the photos are in great quality but some are  affected by the fact that the camera equipment and stock is 65 years old and the photographers were amateurs. This taken into account, the pictures here are usually excellent and sharp, and give you a good idea of what is going on in the frame and out of it.

 

The great detail shots in this book can be used by model builders as an excellent source of reference and often there are a series of pictures that can give you a complete reference for one vehicle. It is nice to see these pictures without someone's annoying watermark through them like they often are on the internet.

 

The accompanying text is insightful but not intrusive, with witness accounts and comments from the book's authors. The authors as well to their credit, note the input of independent sources who add valuable knowledge to the photos.

 

There is a small introduction and some good pictures at the start of the book including  some Panzer IV/70' s and a wooden mock up of a Panzer IV ( why did they do that ?), along with a surgically cut open Sturmgeschutz III and a Jagdtiger captured by the Americans The book then goes into its first major focus of the four parts of the book - called Panzerwrecks 2 Revisited. This goes back to the second book with further text and pictures to compliment them what was published in the second book of the series. This section shows some Italian origin armoured cars along with German vehicles captured on a train in Yugoslavia in 1945.There are as well as some images of a massive arsenal in Vienna where some smaller tanks and Panthers and Tigers were awaiting repair.

 

 

 

There are several very good pictures of Panzers and armoured vehicles of all marks disabled and shot up in the streets of Berlin, including the oddity of a Panther Turret coming out of the street.The text describing that these were dug in Panthers. What a hard target to hit !

 

The most haunting picture for me is the tanks that were shot up within sight of the Tiergarden in Berlin, as I have been there, it is interesting to see the vehicles in the streets that i have visited while on holiday there, and to imagine the carnage back then.

 

 

The section titled Panzers at Pilsen Airfield, which is  actually Bory airfield near Plzen (where the beer is named after) in Czechoslovakia. It shows some of the booty uncovered when the airfield was captured. There were also aircraft there but more importantly to us there were many armoured vehicles and rare machines stored in rows - what a target!  Panzer IV chassis with attached 88mm guns, a Schwerer Panzerspahwagen, mortar carriages and a most impressive Hummel is shown here, with GI's  (and in one picture their dates) climbing over them for the trophy picture.

 

 

 

 

A Trip to the MNH factory is next, after the British overran the factory (near Hannover in Germany) a team was sent in to investigate the damage and the vehicles inside the factory, and these were some of the photos sourced from the British Tank Museum. The late war vehicles here would make any modern enthusiasts mouth water, as they are some of the bigger, more lethal of the German army's tanks. Great detail is here of the separate parts of each of the tanks, laying next to the vehicles ready to be assembled or partly destroyed. Panthers and Jagdpanthers are shown here in various stages of construction in close up – stacked on top of each other and outside the factory – if only they had kept them all!!! ( Tankfest would be better than this year that's for sure)

 

 

The last Major section is called Freaks and Antiques and this is the "X-File" part. Some really odd vehicles are here and rare encounters, most being a "First contact"  for me - sorry... From showing a tank training school with tanks fitted with mocked up  wooden parts, some being hybrid powered training tanks run by generators , to a semi-hulled duck billed tractor. Through to Panzer I "Antiques" as well as steel wheel prototype Panthers next to a rather small looking in comparison T-34. Lots of odd stuff here I didn’t know existed.

 

 

There are interludes between the sections of this book with a few series of pics of armoured vehicles, subjects like the  Panzer IV/70 and the "Drilling" and 7.5 cm Pak halftracks as well as the impressive wreck of a Tiger I and the Jagdtiger are shown. Wrecked Sturmgeschütz III's and Panzer IV's are captured in very detailed pics. There is also some interesting pictures of Panzer IV/70's as well as one at a filling station!

 

 

Of interest as well is a small series of photos  with internal and external detail of the Flakpanzer Wirbelwind Prototype are included, these serve as an interesting bridge to the sections and give the book a more "mixed" feel, breaking it up a bit more.

 

 

I thought seeing it is the first book I have reviewed from the series I thought I'd include a list Taken from the site of the vehicles captured in Panzerwrecks X:

 

Jagdtiger
Tiger I
Panther Ausf.D Schulwanne
Panther Ausf.A
Panther Ausf.G
Panther turret on stand
Bergepanther
Jagdpanther
Pz.Kpfw.IV Ausf.B/C
Pz.Kpfw.IV Ausf.C - F
Pz.Kpfw.IV Ausf.G
Pz.Kpfw.IV Ausf.H
Pz.Kpfw.IV Ausf.J Final
Pz.Beob.Wg.IV Ausf.J
Pz.Kpfw.IV Holzattrappe
Panzer IV/70(V) Panzer IV/70(A) als Befehlswagen
Sturmgeschütz IV
8.8cm Flak auf Pz.Kpfw.IV
Flakpanzer Wirbelwind Prototype
Hummel
Sturmgeschütz III Ausf.G
Sturmgeschütz III Ausf.F
gr.Pz.Bef.Wg. Ausf.D1
PzJgr 38 für 7.62cm Pak 36
Jagdpanzer 38
Pz.Kpfw.II Schulwanne (mit Holzvergasser)
Pz.Kpfw.I Ausf.A Schulwanne (mit Holzvergasser) Pz.Kpfw.I Ausf.A Schulwanne (Pz.Kpfw.III Attrappe)
Pz.Kpfw.I Ausf.A Schulwanne
Pz.Kpfw.I Ausf.A
Munitionspanzer I
kl.Pz.Bef.Wg (Sd.Kfz.265)
7.5cm Pak40/1 auf Sfl.LrS
4.7cm Pak(t) auf Pz.Kpfw.35R(f)
Pz.Sp.Wg. AMR35(f)
8cm GrW 34 auf Pz.Sp.Wg. AMR35(f)
Infanterieschlepper UE(f) (Triebgas?)
Pz.Kpfw.L6/40 733(i)
StuG L6 mit 47/32 770(i)
m.Fu.Pz.Wg. (Sd.Kfz.251/3) m.Pi.Pz.Wg. (Sd.Kfz.251/7)
m.S.P.W. (Drilling) (Sd.Kfz.251/21)
m.S.P.W. (7.5cm Pak) (Sd.Kfz.251/22)
m.S.P.W. Ausf.C (Sd.Kfz.251)
m.S.P.W. Ausf.C (Sd.Kfz.251) mit 'Drilling'
Sf. le.Zgkw.3t (Sd.Kfz.11/1) mit 'Drilling'
HK 605
Pz.Sp.Wg. (5cm) Sd.Kfz.234/2
Pz.Sp.Wg. (7.5cm) Sd.Kfz.234/3
Pz.Sp.Wg. (7.5cm) Sd.Kfz.234/4
Pz.Sp.Wg. AB41 201(i)

 

Wow! – I don’t usually just copy a list like that but I thought to get rid of any spelling mistakes….

 

 

Here are some more pictures of the book to show some more of the excellent images typical of this book and indeed the series

 

 

 

 

So what do we think?

If you are after reference for any of these tanks this whole series is excellent. Easy to read (no duel text  to sort through here) with a few nice series of pics to give you total reference for one vehicle.

This well researched very polished looking book is a great read and a valuable tool for any armour vehicle builder.

Adam Norenberg

Many thanks to the great people at  PanzerWrecks for the review sample.

 

The Panzerwrecks XI (Normandy) and a special hardcover "Repairing the Panzers" 256 page/300 picture special is coming soon, They look bloomin' good! pre orders are available HERE

 

They also have a good blog that sometimes is pretty funny (love the look alikes!) here