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Panzer Wrecks has quickly become one of my favorite reference books thanks to several reasons. For one, Bill Auerbach and Lee Archer have done a superb job of adding text to interesting photos illustrating German panzers in a natural late war state. This is their fifth and a sixth is announced on the back cover.
The style begun with Panzer Wrecks 1 has been maintained. It is in a landscape format with section sewn binding and high quality gloss soft covers. The book measures 8.125 inches tall by 11 inches wide and has 96 pages within. A great thing about the binding is the added creases to allow the covers to open further without stressing the binding.
The front inner cover has a table of contents, acknowledgements, and a brief introduction by Mr. Auerbach. Much of the content is grouped into features and the outside edges of the pages repeat the feature title in a vertical format. This is a quick and easy to use design for realizing the photo’s location. The 96 pages are on a very good quality semi-matte paper which can reproduce details in a photo quite well. Photos are large, with many one to a page, and some consist of a series (whether by photographers or from a film) and help illustrate vehicles from different views and/or different lighting conditions.
There are 157 photos including the outer cover photos and several inset images showing close-up details. I learned long ago to ignore the conservative photo count (153 in this case) shown on the rear page blurb! The front cover photo appears on page 46. On the rear page the photo appears on page 33.
The features mentioned in the table of contents include:
01. Panzerwrecks 1 Revisited page 1
02. Tiger II Joyride page 36
03. Wrecks in Russian Newsreels page 50
04. Three Maus at Meppen page 86
The first feature is spread over twenty seven pages and contains 44 photos adding a lot of new photos and information to those which appeared in Panzerwrecks 1. More photos of the panther with additional roof armor, Panzerdraisine, detail photos of the TBF2 from the Panzerbeobachtungswagen III, King Tigers, (my personal favorite in this feature) Beutepanzer M4A4 and Firefly, Sturmpanzer IV, and Elefant.
The next eight pages have thirteen photos which show several vehicles, Tigers, Panthers and Panzer IVs, all which are destroyed. These photos cover the vehicle from different angles and aren’t always very sharp. They do illustrate the effects of damage and weather to the vehicles as some are liberally strewn with snow.
The next feature follows with thirteen photos on seven pages of a Tiger II which was repaired and driven by men of Co.B, 129th Ordnance Battalion. This is one vehicle that interested me since I first saw photos several years ago. However, now there is coverage of all the sides with proof of the number 2 on the turret.
The following seven pages have 1o photos of various vehicles including a Panzer IV Ausf.H about to be destroyed by men of the 327th Combat Engineer Battalion, a Wirbelwind on a Pz IV Ausf.G chassis, a Hummel and a Hummel munitions carrier.
The next feature is a ten page essay of German AFV wrecks from Russian newsreels. While the quality of the images is good, at best, the content is indeed interesting. Many of the photos show the wrecks under a coat of snow. Certainly, this is something for the diorama builders.
Twenty six pages with thirty three photos follow which include 4 photos of a stripped Sd.Kfz.251, and 5 of a stripped Sd.Kfz.250 both of which are running. Of great interest to me are the captured and recaptured items such as the ex-Polish TKS, ex-Soviet T-48 57mm Motor Carriage, and several photos of the inspiration for Miguel Jimenez’ wrecked Panzer IV. Other photos include StuG IIIs, Tigers, and a Pz. 38(t) with a famous contemporary wrestler.
Another feature follows. Seven photos illustrate the three Maus hulls and chassis found at Meppen. A lot of insight which will help a modeler building Dragon’s kit can be gleaned. It also shows how close the Germans were to finishing another three examples of this behemoth. Each photo is printed one to a page.
The final section contains eight photos on five pages of Marder II captured and destroyed by the Bulgarians. Again, these will provide inspiration for modelers tackling Dragon’s recent kit of the vehicle.
In the end, this continues the excellent work provided by the Panzerwrecks team. Only one photo, for those of you counting along, is unaccounted for and it is of a Signal Corps technician working with two models of Panzer IV on the title page.
My sincerest thanks go to William Auerbach for providing this advanced copy for this review. Buy directly from Panzerwrecks by visiting:
http://www.panzerwrecks.com
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