“Panzer: A Pictorial Documentation of the German Battle Tanks of World War II”, by Horst Scheibert

 

272 pages, Schiffer Publishers, ISBN-13: 978-0887402074

Panzer: A Pictorial Documentation of the German Battle Tanks of World War II by Horst Scheibert is a very German book: well organized, thorough and ruthless…well, maybe not ruthless, but it is organized and thorough. The author is unusually well-qualified to write such a book, having served in many of the vehicles he depicts (FYI); however, like many front line troops, he only paid attention to the technical differences that actually affected the tank’s fighting abilities, and so he can be rather vague when it comes to accurately identifying exact production subtypes. Panzer is a large-format work in which the pictures tell the story, each beautifully rendered in which the details of each tank are clearly visible. Be prepared, though, for, as would be expected in a book called Panzer, only German tanks are covered, along with several Czech-built tanks used by the Wehrmacht, while other armored vehicles, such as self-propelled guns, recovery vehicles and half-tracks used by the Germans, are not included. However, while the pictures are great, the captions leave much to be desired, with several vehicles mislabeled along with many mistakes in the descriptions. But so long as you are armed with other technical references, this is an excellent addition to your WWII library.