Introduction

This offering from Stackpole books is a photographic tour of the German armour of World War 2. This book is a one stop look at a huge range of machines designed to go into combat and tackle the machines of the enemy and come out of it intact with its crew in one piece. I will say that I would have liked this book to have been hard backed as I like what is offered here.

Review

This offering from Stackpole Books titled ‘Panzers Forward a Photo History of German Armour in World War 2’ is a soft backed book of 285 pages. The author of this offering is Robert J Edwards and lists contributions by Michael Olive and Michael H Pruett. The paper used in the book is a glossy paper that presents the photographs inside in a very pleasing way, the card cover is reasonable protection for the title and though I would have liked to see this title with a hard cover.

The contents of this title are broken down as follows:
Introduction
Acknowledgements and Credits

Chapter 1 – The Prewar German Armoured Forces 1935 – 1939
Chapter 2 – The Campaign in Poland 1939
Chapter 3 – The Campaign in the Low Countries and France 1940
Chapter 4 – The Campaign in the Balkans 1941
Chapter 5 – The Campaign against the Soviet Union 1941
Chapter 6 – The Campaign in North Africa 1941 – 1943
Chapter 7 – The Campaign against the Soviet Union 1942 – 1943
Chapter 8 – The Campaign in Italy 1943 - 1945
Chapter 9 – The Campaign in Western Europe 1944 – 1945
Chapter 10 – The Campaign in Eastern Europe 1944 – 1945
Chapter 11 – Supporting the War Effort 1939 – 1945

Notes
Select Glossary
Bibliography

The text in this title from Stackpole books is limited in nature and is restricted to introductory passages at the start of each chapter. The text is well written and presents the chapters in a logical fashion as regards what is presented; while it is not sufficient to guide you through the chapters in any real depth it does offer a guide as to what you will find in the chapters. I feel the text does provide the reader with enough information to have an understanding of the images that are many and varied in this book.

The photographs in this offering are displayed at their best to the viewer due to the high quality and glossy finish of the paper, I also like that the images are presented at a decent aspect ratio and so enabling the viewer to obtain the maximum level of information possible within the confines of the book. All of the images are presented in black and white, but there are a few that have been coloured and show the images both before and after colorization which enables the viewer to assess the effect.

The photographs being of good quality and so providing a great deal of information is a good thing, but there is information that cannot be gained from the photographs alone. Along with each photograph or series of photographs there are very well written captions that provide the sort of information only research can supply. The sort of information I refer to here covers areas such as where and when the images relate to; other details cover what is happening at the time the image was taken and directs the reader to note specifics of the image that may not be known to the reader. The result of all this is that the caption and image provide that maximum amount of information.

Conclusion

This offering from Stackpole Books cannot be said to provide an in-depth read on a subject, but what it does to is provide the viewer and modeller with is a one stop visual plethora of the German military machines in the lead up and during World War 2. The images provide great visual reference and setting for vehicles as regards wear and tear along with weathering, and these images are given even greater benefit by including very well written and thorough captions.