Panzerwrecks 5
PanzerWrecks 5 IntroductionThe PanzerWrecks series of books was the brainchild of William Auerback and Lee Archer, and each of the five Panzerwrecks so far in the series contains over 100 rare and unpublished images from across the globe, many said to be from private collections and little known sources. The bookThe book follows the same format as in the earlier four PanzerWreck books, with the difference that the first of the four sections contained within is a sort of 're-visited' PanzerWrecks 1...more on this later. For those of you unfamiliar with this series of books, the book is soft cover, A4 landscape format, and consists of a series of black & white photographic images of wrecked and captured German vehicles taken towards the end of WWII. The photographs are broken down into four main sections; 'Panzerwrecks 1 - revisited', 'Tiger II Joyride', 'Wrecks in Russian Newsreels' and finally 'Three Maus at Meppen'. The first section, as it's title would imply, examines vehicles that have appeared previously, mostly in Panzerwrecks 1, but through a series of previously unpublished photographs. Because of this the authors are able to point out various details and markings that were previously hidden or unknown, and correct mistakes where they've been made. Many different types of vehicle are shown, beginning with various Panthers, a Panzerbeobachtungswagen that although shown before, can now be seen without spare track links obscuring it's zimmerit application. Tiger II's, and the most interesting I found, a line of Shermans with full German markings. There's even one with a German star antennae fitted. Sturmpanzer, Elefant, and a few Panzer IV's completing the line-up in this section. The second section, again as it's title would suggest, actually does show a joy ride on a Tiger II. Some of the pictures were obviously taken from movie footage shot at the time, whereby a captured King Tiger was being examined by men of Company B, 129th Ordnance Battalion, near Gereonsweiler in Germany on December 15th, 1944. The main gun had jammed to one side as a result of an Allied round, and the series of pictures shows the men freeing the gun with the help of an M1A1 wrecker and then riding it around a field. Unbelievably, since there are so many pictures shown, the tactical number is always obscured by something or other and remains unknown! Towards the end of the section there are two Hummel pictures, one of which is a munitions carrier. |
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In the third section, which consists of a large variety of different machines, the photographs are mainly taken from old Russian newsreels, and therefore quality is not the best, although all the pictures are interesting nonetheless. Vehicles shown include Panthers, Maultier, 250's PaK 40's, StuG III's, Wespe, Panzerjaeger 38, and others, but most unusually, a T48 57mm Gun Motor Carriage...in full German camouflage scheme and markings. The last section contains a series of amazing pictures taken at the Krupp proving grounds in Meppen just after the end of the war. They are of a series of perhaps six Maus hulls that had bee fabricated by Krupp at Essen. These things are huge! The first photograph of a hull on it's side with two soldiers standing in the turret ring gives a fair indication of their size, since they only just reach past the centre of the aperture! There are also several pictures shown of turrets stacked up...again these are shown to be massive! Towards the end of this section there is also a series of pictures of a 7.5cm PaK40 auf.Sfl.II. ConclusionAnother great addition to the range! Lot's of great inspiration for modellers, and for everybody else just a really interesting read, with a fantastic series of photographs. Recommended. My thanks to Lee Archer for the review sample. For full information and ordering please see the Panzerwrecks website: PanzerWrecks. |
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