Intro

This is the third volume on War Photographer series, and as the ones before it is an A4 landscape book with softcover, 60 pages printed on a good quality gloss paper. It is mostly a photo collection with captions, divided into two parts: one with photos from Oberleutnant d.R. Peter Prien and the second devoted to the Flak18 mounted on the Sd.Kfz. 8
The author is Tom Cockle, a well known name that ensures a thorough research on the captions.

The book

The first part of the book, from page 4 to page 39. are photos taken by Oberleutnant d.R. Peter Prien. Most of them are from the time around Kursk battle, in service with 2.Panzer-Division.
Most of the photos are printed one per page, sometimes two and a few are three per page. The ones with more than two per page are showing crew, thus vehicle photos are always big enough to see all details. In fact, captions are often superimposed to the photo on a useless part like sky or ground, so the photo itself is even bigger.
Being a personal collection, there is a wide range of subjects. There are wheeled vehicles, half tracks and tanks. In regard of tanks, among other, there are photos of Panzer II, Panzer III and Tiger.
Some photos also show crew in different situations like resting, briefing or simply posing for the photo. While the majority of pictures are around summer, some of them are also snowed winter landscapes.
In general, this section provides a good amount of inspiration for scenes and reference for the type of weathering that a vehicle shows in combat. Details on the tanks are clearly shown thanks to the big sized photos, so as camuflages and markings.
The second part of the book starts on page 40 and deals exclusively with the 8.8cm Flak 18 Slf, auf schwere Zugkraftwagen 12 t (Sd.Kfz. 8) als Fahrgestell.
Here all photos are printed at page size, with a small space for the caption. Again there is a variety of states and situations: on parade, covered with tarpaulins, camuflaged with foliage, on route to the front, undergoing maintenance or out of action.
From a modeller's point of view, this collection of images offers an excellent reference for this particular vehicle, showing markings, the level of weathering they got, the extensive use of chicken wire or how extra ammunition was carried.

Conclusion

This volume keeps the standard of the series, with a good number of photos in large format and informative captions. All photos were new to me. There is a variety of situations, vehicles and crew so it can be used as a general reference for several subjects.
It is also specially interesting for those looking for reference images of the 8.8cm Flak 18 Sfl, as a there are 19 pages of photos devoted to this vehicle.