introduction

After British forces first introduced the tank, in significant force, to modern warfare during World War One at the Battle of Cambrai in 1917, the German High Command realized that the tank was an instrument of war that was to be reckoned with. The Germans then started their own tank development program which was a slow process so the Germans started capturing British tanks and salvaging British tanks parts and added them to their own growing tank force. With a few modifications, such as adding German guns and machineguns, the British tanks were ready to be turned against their former owners. In addition to British tanks the Germans captured French tanks and added them to their own tank forces as well which significantly increased Germany’s tank numbers. The captured armor became known as Germany’s Beute-Tanks.

Tankograd Publications - World War One Series Number 1004 –Beute-Tanks British Tanks in German Service Volume 2 by Rainer Strasheim (with Verlag Jochen Vollert collection) is a 95 page soft cover book and contains 164 black & white photographs and illustrations and 17 pages of text. This volume contains no color photographs or illustrations and no line drawings. The book's ISBN is 978-3-936519-25-9 and it has a 2011 copyright.

A review of Vol. 1 can be found here on Armorama.

the book

Contents:
• Beute-Tank Combat Engagements
• The German Plan 1919
• German Anti-Tank Activities in 1918
• Relics - The Fort de la Pompelle Tank Caper
• Captured Whippets
• Captured Tanks in Freikorps Service 1919-20
• Scrapping the German Tank Corps

The Photographs:
Shown throughout the book are a wide variety of photographs of the German Beute-Tanks of WWI. The photographs range from action scenes to casual scenes to scenes that were obviously staged. The photographs show the Beute-Tanks during various times of the year and different types of settings such as trenches, cities, roadways, factories, railways and test areas. Several, if not most, of the photographs were new to me so that was a definite plus. Most of the photographs are nice and clear, although there are some that have an out of focus look to them or appear to be too dark. However it needs to be taken into consideration that most of the photographs are approaching being 100 years old and are excellent for their age. The quality of the photographs is of no fault of the author and takes nothing away from the book. It is obvious that the author took the time to research and arrange the photographs in a well thought out chronological manner and separate them as to the subject matter of the individual chapters.

The Captions:
All of the photographs are accompanied by captions that are in English text. The captions are well written and go into great detail in regards to the scene that is shown. It is obvious that Rainer Strasheim has taken the time to study the photographs and research them so that the captions are well detailed and point out several items of interest. The captions are specific in regards to the tank shown in regards to its number and name, details as to when that specific tank was lost, and points out modifications that were made to that specific tank.

Some of the captions also discuss the soldiers and tank crew members in the photograph and point out items of interest in regards to them and their equipment. One such caption on Page 139 mentions that one of the individuals shown is believed to be Unteroffizier Sepp Dietrich. One thing I did notice is that the captions in volume 2 do not detail the particular model of tank as much as they did in volume 1.

As with my other book reviews I like to mention certain things shown in the book that I hope will provide additional information and will be of interest to others.

Some of the captured British armor shown and discussed is the:
• Male MK IV tank
• Female MK IV tank
• Whippet tank

Some of the non-British captured armor shown and discussed is the:
• Russian Austin (3rd series) armored car
• Russian Packard armored car

German armor shown and discussed is the:
• A7V tank

Some of the non-captured armor shown and discussed is the:
• British MK V tank
• French FT-17 tank

Some weapons shown and discussed are the:
• German 2cm Becker anti-tank gun

Some non-armor items shown and discussed are:
• German A7V Uberlandwagen supply carrier
• German Albatros fighter aircraft
• Trains
• Trucks
• Staff cars
• Horse drawn wagons

CONCLUSION

All in all I am very impressed with the book. The Beute-Tanks are shown and discussed very well. With its wealth of detailed photographs and captions this book will appeal to the World War One historian and enthusiast, the military diorama and figure modeler and the military enthusiast and will be a welcome addition to one’s personal reference library. I would have no hesitation to add other Tankograd Publishing World War One Series titles, or any of the other Tankograd titles, to my personal library nor would I hesitate to recommend this book to others. This is an excellent title from Tankograd Publishing. As captured tanks, vehicles, equipment, etc. are a long time favorite subject of mine I was very excited to see the release of this publication.

References:
• Landships – British Tanks in the First World War
David Fletcher
HMSO Publications Centre
London

• German Military Vehicle Rarities (1)
Imperial Army, Reichswehr and Wehrmacht 1914-1945
Henry Hoppe
Tankograd Publishing – Verlag Jochen Vollert

• German Tanks in World War I
The A7V and Early Tank Development
Wolfgang Schneider & Rainer Strasheim
Schiffer Publishing LTD

• German Soldier on the Western Front 1914-1918
Robert Kirchubel & Ramiro Bujeiro
Concord Publications Company

• Beutepanzer website