Introduction

Finally, a new photobook from PeKo is out and it is dedicated to one of the most popular subjects for modelling – German Panther tank. It also makes a second volume dedicated to Panthers from PeKo. The book is authored by the same person - Peter Barnaky and similar to all previous photobooks it is a hardcover publication with landscape format.

Review

This is a hard cover title with 112 pages total and it contains short acknowledgements, two page introduction and 105 full page photographs. The introduction is dedicated to structure of Panther-Abteilung - units that were created to strengthen German tank divisions with newer tanks. Some of these units were intended for fast action against sudden acts and unexpected situations. The author provides detailed numbers of how many tanks were in each company and if they were Panthers, Befehlspanthers or other tanks like Flakpanzers or Pz IV/70 tank destroyers.

The main content is organized in a similar manner as previous books – the photograph takes most of the page space and it is supplemented by a bilingual caption (English/Hungarian) that identifies the tank version and points out the important features of each particular vehicle. The photographs come from the collection of Peter Kocsis, owner of PeKo publishing as well as from other sources like private collections and some archives. Most of the content is totally new to me.

There are many interesting vehicles depicted on the pages of the book and they include all variants of Panther tank – Ausf A, Ausf D and Ausf G. Starting from Panther Ausf. D’s in early summer 1943 and following the path of these tanks right to the final battles in Hungary 1945. The quality of photographs is very good and one will enjoy various details of different tanks. Vehicles are captured in different situations – maintenance, track change, wrecks. Many of the images depict vehicles with field applied or factory applied zimmerit coating. Another element that draws attention is different road wheels with spectacular weathering effects - something to study before making a model. Further, one can find Panther tanks in different camouflages at different time of the year. Quite many have a winter white wash and importantly, the book does not limit itself to only one theatre of war – both Eastern and Western front vehicles are present.

Conclusion

It is another great photobook with high quality content from PeKo publishing. Worth checking out if you are interested in Panther tanks and are looking for inspiration for a modelling project.