For anyone not familiar with this series of books (this is the fifth) they do exactly what it says on the tin, providing collections of black and white images of wrecked German WW2 vehicles. Now to some this may seem a slightly odd subject, but when this series was first introduced it was an instant hit with military model makers who found the books a superb source of reference for creating models of wrecked vehicles, which, as any model maker will testify, is one of the hardest things you can try and do convincingly,

This latest volume, written and compiled by Lee Archer and William Auerbach, looks at German Armour between 1944 and 1945, covering things such as the Panther, Tiger 1, King Tiger, Panzer IV and all manner of other vehicles.

Many of the photographs are taken by servicemen using their own personal cameras, taking what are in many cases snapshots of vehicles they've come across during the course of their time with the military and while not all of them are technically 100%, they do offer a valuable historical insight to the vehicles of the period.

In some ways the photos within these books could be considered as being slightly ghoulish, showing as they do these mighty armoured vehicles lying destroyed at the side of roads with their huge hulls torn apart, which we shouldn't forget in many cases will have inevitably led to the deaths of the crew members. However, the photos concentrate on the destruction of the vehicles and don't show the crewmembers and it does serve to illustrate the fragility of these massive armoured beasts, providing excellent reference material for the model maker.

While this book majors on the heavy panzers such as the Panther, Tiger and King Tiger, there is a wide variety of other equipment featured, including some unusual inclusions such as a captured T 48 57mm Gun Motor Carriage in German markings, an Sd.Kfz. 250 minus the armoured body being driven at speed by a group of Germans and a series of photos taken by Polish troops at the Krupp proving ground at Meppen at the end of the war that show troops examining the bare hulls of three Maus super tanks, which offer an excellent idea as to the size of these massive vehicles.

Obviously these books are intended for the model maker, but in terms of historical interest and indeed curiosity value they're worth taking a look at. If nothing else it serves as a reminder that these mighty armoured vehicles that are often considered invincible are nothing of the sort.

If you haven't seen these books before check out the website for further details of the other books in the series at: http://www.panzerwrecks.com

Reproduced by kind permission of Military Machines International (opens in a new window)