I first came across William (Bill) Auerbach’s books over 35 years ago in a hobby shop. I bought a book called ‘Last of the Panzers’ and was very impressed with the quality of the captions and the unique photos contained therein. One in particular that stuck in my mind was of a Jagdpanzer 38 with a baby elephant marking. The crew may have been veterans from the StuG III unit with Elephants painted on their Topfblende which all books, at the time, called Boars (perhaps since they erroneously called the cast mantlet armor a Saukopf).
Bill is the co-author of the new Panzerwrecks series along with Lee Archer. Lee is a master modeler with many unique items in his portfolio based on photos from his collection. This team has brought about a series of books covering the remains of the German army as found by the victorious armies.
This is their seventeenth volume and it follows the first book’s format of landscape with perfect binding and high quality gloss soft covers. It 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. The contents are called 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.
On to the photos! There are 124 black and white photos of varying detail quality. I am aware the rear cover states 126 photos but I did not count the insets with cropped views of insignias. Some of the photos are blurry but are included for their rarity and I totally agree with this decision. There are so many photos, most of which are one to a page, that a few pages have four. Of all these photos, only a dozen are of collections with the rest focusing on a vehicle. Most are grouped into features:
- Panther Recovery, pp 1-6, 15 photos (Dragon Wagon also featured).
- 15cm Panzerwerfer 42 Evaluated, pp 15-23, 12 photos (including interior).
- S.Pz.Jg.Abt.654 in Normandy, pp 36-49, 20 photos (including a repeat on the front cover).
- Concreted StuGs: Normandy Edition, pp 52-62, 12 photos.
- Francheville: Windhund and Lehr, pp 86-92, 8 photos (featuring a Sd.Kfz. 9/2).
Vehicles include:
- PzIV/L70(V) 3 photos
- Tiger II 2 photos
- 10.5cm le.FH18(Sf) auf GW 39H(f) 2 photos
- 10.5cm le.FH18(Sf) auf Lr.S 2 photos
- 7.5cm PaK40/3 aud Sfl.38 (Ausf.M) 2 photos
- Panther 25 photos
- Panzer IV 13 photos
- AB41 201(i) 2 photos
- 2cm Flakvierling 38 auf Bussing-NAG 4500A9 photos
- StuG III 14 photos
- Sd.Kfz. 7, 2 photos
- SdKfz. 251 6 photos
- Flakpanzer 38 (t), 2 photos
- SdKfz 10 (1 photo)
- Pz.Kpfw.35R 731 (f) 1 photo
- Gepanzerter Munitionsschlepper Renault UE 630 (f), 2 photos.
- Tiger I 3 photos
- Schimmwagen, 1 photo (in background)
The captions are quite detailed and it is a pleasure when the authors really know their vehicles, locations, units, and details. Since the focus is on the German AFVs, no mention is made of the Shermans in seen some photos, or the Allied trucks (a Diamond T wrecker being a great subject for the new Mirror Models kit).
This is an excellent reference book and an inspiration to modelers who want to see the unusual, such as the captured vehicles. Diorama enthusiasts will also learn a lot from the damage caused to the buildings which is evident in many photos.
This book, like its predecessors, will be a classic and is highly recommended to get one before they sell out. My thanks go out to William Auerbach for the preview sample.
