introduction

The Germans produced many specialist armoured vehicles during WWII. Storm tanks are among them. They were used as infantry support heavy vehicles. They destroyed buildings, fortifications, barricades etc.The Sturmpanzer IV 'Brummbar' was one of them. It was armed with 150 mm StuH storm howitzer. From 1943 until 1945 the Brummbar took part in fighting on all fronts.

the contents

I finally sat down to build a Brummbar this year and noticed that I didn’t have much reference material. So I turned to Kagero’s Photosniper series.

Upon receiving this book I was captivated by the colourful cover art. This is where the book begins to captivate with the powerful appearance of this vehicle. Both the inset and back cover pages have colour drawings of Brummbars which represent camouflage schemes for different campaigns. The Inset has 3 great drawings; One Eastern front and 2 unknown units, while the back cover has 4 colour drawings; Italy, Ardennes, Poland, and Germany. These are great for determining color and camouflage schemes.
There is also a decal sheet supplied with these Kagero books, and in this case the sheet consisted of different sizes and styles of Balkencreuz.

There are 5 pages of history which include 6 black and white photos. The history and background information is in both Polish and English. Two of the black and white photographs are great shots of the Brummbar being assembled in a factory, 1 picture is of a knocked out Eastern Front Brummbar, and 2 pictures of Brummbars in Italy. The other black and white photograph is of a Late Production Brummbar.

The History/Information chapter is followed by 59 color pictures of the Late Production Brummbar at the Munster museum in Germany. The pictures show all the external details of this steel creature. A side note with these pictures is that this particular Brummbar was heavily damaged and a lot of parts needed to be reconstructed. So certain parts may not be perfectly accurate. But that aside, the photography is great.

The next chapter in the book covers the Mid Production Brummbar at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds. This includes 9 color pictures. Three pictures cover the whole vehicle (one from the left, right and back). The other pictures include close-ups of the original superstructure plate, engine deck, suspension and idlers, idler wheel and the mount for the crank used to manually start the engine.

The next section of the book is dedicated to the Dragon Brummbar model kit. Robert Danilczuk builds Dragons Late Production Brummbar (kit DR 6081) straight from the box, except for scratch built skirts. It includes 10 pictures of the finished model.

Then to top it off, it has 20 pages of 1/35th scale drawings of Sturmpanzer IV’s and a detailed description of the many modifications made. Drawings include:

15cm Sturmpanzer 43 (L/12)IV (Sd.Kfz 166). Initial Production

15cm Sturmpanzer 43 (L/12)IV (Sd.Kfz 166). Mid Production

15cm Sturmpanzer 43 (L/12)IV (Sd.Kfz 166). Late Production

in conclusion

Overall this is a great reference guide that represents the Early, Mid and Late Production Brummbars. Highly Recommended.