Panzerwrecks 1 German Armour 1944-45

First in a series, it features a collection of photos, some of them very rare, of destroyed, abandoned and captured German armoured vehicles. Also included is the odd Allied type used or evaluated by the German, but later recaptured – such as the Sherman 17pdr Firefly, M3 Stuart and M20 armoured car. All pictures are captioned and where unit identities are known these are given.

Many of the images are previously unpublished and give an excellent insight into the ferocity of the engagements resulting in the state of the vehicles in the photos and also provide excellent material for the diorama builder with most of the photos being from the European (France to Germany) and Italian theatres.

Each issue will feature specific vehicles/units as well as many individual photos of different vehicles and Issue 1 starts with 12 pages on the modified Panthers of I./Pz.Rgt.26 in Italy late 1944-45. The modifications included metal covers over the air intakes and exhaust louvers on the engine deck and supplementary spaced armour on the turret roof with a number of shots clearly showing this feature.

The second featured vehicle is Jadgtiger “323” of 3.Kp/s.Pz.Jg.Abt.653 abandoned in Neustadt am der Weinstrasse, Germany, March 1945 and has four pages of photos showing both sides and front of the vehicle with one showing half a dozen hits from Shermans and M10s which simply bounced off the thick frontal armour of these monsters.

The third featured vehicle is the Panzer IV/70(A) with eight pages showing several different destroyed vehicles from different angles giving good details of the hull and other details.

Other vehicles included are; Elefant, Pz.IV H/J (several photos), PzIII G/N, Schienenpanzerspähwagen (armoured train), Panthers (several photos, A, G), Grille, StuG III E/G, Tiger II (several photos), Tiger I, Lorraine Schlepper, Nashorn, Marder III M (several photos), Turretless PZ.II (several photos), Flakpanzer 38(t), Flakpanzer Ostwind & Möbelwagen, Brummbar, Sd.Kfz.250 (several photos), Sd.Kfz.251 (several photos), Sd.Kfz.7 and Sd.Kfz.8, RSO, Sd.Kfz.223/233, Jadgpanther and captured vehicles used by German units; Sherman Firefly, M3 Stuart, M8 Greyhound.

Great photos of late war German armour - highly recommended.

Lee Archer & William Auerbach
Softcover 96pp, with 126 rare & unpublished b&w photos 2005