Panzertruppen - The Early Years
Author: Lee Archer & William Auerbach
Softback: 65 pages
Publisher: Panzerwrecks
Price: £11.99
ISBN: 978-095559402-1

Image 1
Pic 1, Pic 2, Pic 3, Pic 4,

Introduction

Lee Archer and William Auerbach have made a name for themselves with the excellent 'Panzerwrecks' series of books, and now turn there talents towards presenting us with a series of photographs of German AFV's taken by the men who crewed the vehicles.

The book

The format of the book is much the same as the Panzerwrecks series, in that the book is A4 landscape, softcover, and presents a series of black & white photographs of German WWII armour, this time photographed by the crew themselves. As such, unlike Panzerwrecks, the authors don't have to confine themselves to photographs of wrecked armour, but can include photographs of pristine vehicles. You'll still find the odd wreck within these pages, but only because another German soldier has photographed it!

As can be inferred from the title, the book purports to cover the early years, and as such, has a large selection of photographs showing early war armour ranging from A huge selection of Panzer I variants, including the best depiction of three-colour camouflage I've ever seen from a black & white photograph! You can also find great photographs of Panzer II's, III's, and IV's with a good selection of various other early war armour to.

Apart from being interesting in their own right, the real wealth in a title such as this is the detail that can be gleaned, such as the picture of a Panzer I with broken tracks clearly showing a mixture of open and close guide horns...now there's something you'd have to have nerves of steel to model and then display!

The authors have gone to great lengths to try and correctly caption each of the photographs as regards what type of vehicle is shown, as well as Units etc., where they can be ascertained. To this end they consulted the Panzer Tracts series as well as numerous experts mentioned in the foreword.
Image 1
Pic 5, Pic 6, Pic 7, Pic 8,

Conclusion

I have to admit, that although I am a big fan of the Panzerwrecks series, I often leaf through them and wish that there were more photographs showing the vehicles before they were destroyed! I think this is because I am primarily a modeller, and like to see details I can use, and unless I start modelling destroyed vehicles, I'm more likely to find these in photographs of vehicles being used. Well, this is exactly what we get in this book. Most of the photographs are enlarged from their originals, and yet most are very sharp indeed and show great detail, such as the distinctive wear pattern on the tracks of a Pz.Kpfw.38(t), and coupled with the extremely accurate and helpful captions offered by the authors, I just think this book is a must-have. I sincerely hope that their sales justify turning this into another series of books, bceause I can't wait to see what photographs they turn up next! Very highly recommended!

My thanks to Lee Archer for the review sample.

For full information and ordering please see the Panzerwrecks website: PanzerWrecks.