Background

“Jagdpanzer”, or tank destroyers, assumed an increasingly important role in Germany’s army as WWII progressed.   Equipped with a more powerful gun than the tanks on which they were based and typically having strong frontal armor, they were well suited to the stand-up defensive battles fought by the Wehrmacht during the final years of the war.  Their fully enclosed fighting compartments provided their crews with considerably more protection than the earlier open topped Panzerjaeger.  Their relative ease of production was also an advantage in addressing German industry's inability to produce armored vehicles at the rate the Allies could.

Over the last 10 years the major model kit manufacturers have collectively released new 1/35 kits of each major war-time Jagdpanzer.  In most cases modellers now have a choice of manufacturers and/or production periods for each subject.

Contents

This book is part of Tom Jentz and Hilary Doyle’s Panzertract series and shares the series’ easy to use format.  As each of the Panzerjager that entered production is addressed in turn with its own section, this format makes it very easy to quickly locate key information when building a model or dating a vehicle in a photo.  Like all of the authors’ work this book is based on careful research using primary materials such as factory documents and period photos.

The typical format for a vehicle is:

* 1 page of text describing the production history of the vehicle including details of when modifications (particularly external changes) were made.

* Several pages of photos, often taken in the factories.  Some of these photos were new to me, while others will be familiar to many readers. The photos are clearly reproduced and well chosen to highlight technical points.

* Full set of 1/35 plans by Hilary Doyle, generally with views from one side, top, front and rear.

* One page of technical specifications such as automotive performance and armor thickness.

All illustrations are in black and white and there is no discussion of the combat history or the camoflague schemes applied.  In most cases such as for the Ferdinard, Jadgtiger and Elefant the scale plans are of the same production period as popular kits, but for the Dragon Jagdpanzer 38 and Jagdpanzer IVs, modellers will need to consult the text for details on small modifications.  

The following vehicles are covered with scale plans as noted:

* Jadgpanzer 38 (commonly known as the “Hetzer”) (May 44 and May 45)
* Jadgpanzer 38 Starr (1 set)
* Jadgpanzer IV L/48 (circa April and May 44)
* Jagdpanzer IV L/70 (V) (March 45)
* Panzer IV L/70(A) (Jan 45)
* Jagdpanther (early - April 44 and late - April 45)
* Elefant (early 44)
* Ferdinard (May 43)
* Jagdtiger (2 sets: Porsche and Henschel suspensions)

Summary

The combination of accurate scale plans, authorative text and clear photos makes “Jadgpanzer”, an ideal concise reference for modellers.   I have found this book very useful as it provides answers to the majority of technical questions modellers for about a dozen popular kits.  Highly recommended.


Neville Lord


Other Books on Jagdpanzers

The German language titles “Leichte Jadgpanzer” and “Schwere Jagdpanzer” by T. Jentz, H. Doyle and W. Spielberger, provide a more comprehensive study of this topic and additional scale plans.  This book is also based on primary source material.

More detailed information on the Jadgpanzer 38 "Hetzer can be found in the New Vanguard book by T. Jentz and H. Doyle on this AFV. A review of this book is available on Track-Link.

JJ Fedorowicz publish Karl Heinz Munch's unit histories of two units that used Jagdpanzers. "Combat History of Schwere Panzerjäger-Abteilung 653" who used Ferdinards, Elefants and Jadgtigers and for releases in September 2001 "The Combat History of schwere Panzer-Jäger-Abteilung 654" who manned Ferdinands and the Jagdpanthers.


Suggested Kits

The following kits of Jadgpanzers are generally considered the most accurate available in 1/35 scale injection plastic.

* Elefant - Dragon (kit 6126)

* Ferdinard - Dragon (6133)

* Jadgpanzer 38 (“Hetzer”)  - Dragon has 3 versions.  Early - May 44 (6030), Mid - Sept 44 sold as a Hetzer Command with additional command aerial  and crew (6060) and a Dec 44- early 45 as made by BMM which is sold as Jadgpanzer 38 "mid"/Flammpanzer (6037).

* Jadgpanzer IV L/48 - Dragon (9021), reboxed by Revell and Gunze in some countries.  This is an early production version.

* Jagdpanzer IV L/70 (V) - Dragon (9043) reboxed as Gunze in some countries.  This represents a vehicle produced circa September 1944 with flammvernichter exhaust.

* Panzer IV L/70(A) - Shanghai Dragon's release (6082)has improvements to the hull and small detail over the earlier Dragon labelled release (6015).  The barrel on this kit lacks the distinctive taper of the real vehicle.

* Jagdpanther -  My favourite Jagdpanther is Tamiya’s recent release of the late version(35-203).  Dragon has released both early (9012) and final versions (9016 boxed as a Jagdpanther Command version), which have been reboxed by Revell and Gunze.

* Jagdtiger – Dragon has released 3 versions:  Porsche suspension (6051), Henschel suspension with combat tracks (6050)and Henschel suspension with transport tracks, command aerial and late production features (9036).  Revell’s Jadgtiger is based on the Dragon kit (Henschel suspension) but lacks the etched metal grilles.

Other Kits Available

Tamiya’s Jadgpanzer IV, Jagdtiger and older Jagdpanther kit, as well as Italeri’s Jagdpanzer 38 (Hetzer) and Elefant were all released in the 1970’s and are less accurate than the above newer releases. Italeri’s also released kits of the Jagpanzer IV L/70(V) and Jagdpather (late) in the 1990s.

Currently the Jadgpanzer 38 Starr is not available as an injection kit, but conversions, such as that from New Connections exist for the Dragon kit.