INTRODUCTION

This is a review of the Concord Publications Company book Panzer Vor! 7 by author Frank V. De Sisto and illustrator Laurent Lecocq.

HISTORY

The armored divisions were the backbone of Hitler’s mighty military war machine. The tank and the armored car were the key components in the blitzkrieg warfare tactic during the early fighting of World War Two and continued to be a force to be reckoned with throughout the war in all areas such as the Western and Eastern fronts and the fighting in North Africa. Germany fielded several different types and variants of the tank and the armored car and several of these designs helped set the example for armor development up to present day.

THE BOOK

Panzer Vor! 7 is a 72 page book by Frank V. De Sisto and it is published by the Concord Publications Company with a 2012 copyright. The ISBN is 962-361-179-X. The book is a soft cover book with dimensions of 10.9 x 8.3 x 0.3 inches. It contains 172 black and white photographs as well as 16 color artwork prints by artist Laurent Lecocq. The book starts with a 3 page introduction and history with the remainder of the book being dedicated to the wide array of photographs and the color artwork prints. The book focuses on World War Two German armor from the Panzer I up to the VI Tiger Ausf. E as well as various armored cars such as the Sd.Kfz.223 and Panzerspähwagen (8 rad) Sd.Kfz.234. In addition to the armor, various primer movers and artillery are covered such as the mittlerer Zugkraftwagen 8-ton Sd.Kfz. 7 and the 15cm s.FH18 heavy field howitzer.
The phrase “Panzer Vor” is German for “Tank Forward”.

THE INTRODUCTION

The three page introduction goes into great detail discussing the Germany tank industry before and during the war. This summary describes how Germany’s arms industry was resurrected in the 1920s and 1930s, and how it sought to provide the materiel and vehicles needed to build Germany's war machine. Despite many restrictions, German industry did surprisingly well in producing such a wide range of armored fighting vehicles up till the end of the war. The text in the introduction is well written and extremely detailed. Frank V. De Sisto covers the World War II German panzers history very well in only three pages of text. There are six separate components that make up the whole of the introduction and history and they are:

• Constructing Germany’s Panzer Force
• Resurrecting Germany’s Army Industry
• AFV’s from Concept to Production
• Feeding the Factories
• Construction Methods
• Conclusion

As I read through the text I didn’t notice any spelling or grammatical errors in the book. Grammar and spelling might not be an important factor to everyone however it is something that I take notice of and pass on my findings. I feel that if the text is well written then it shows that the author has taken the time to be a professional with their writing.

THE PHOTOGRAPHS

There are a total of 172 black and white photographs shown throughout the book. The photographs are mostly of panzers as one would gather from the title. The panzers shown and discussed range in variety starting with the Panzer I on up to the Tiger and also include self-propelled guns and captured armor. As well as the panzers there are photographs of armored cars, half-tracks, anti-aircraft vehicles, prime movers, artillery and many other such subjects from the German panzer forces. The majority of the photographs are nice, clear, centered and focused images and are of a good quality. I haven’t seen a majority of the featured photographs before and I was pleased with this. I definitely consider that a bonus as it is nice to have a reference book that contains several lesser known photographs as opposed to the same old over used photographs that many books tend to contain. The photographs will prove to be valuable to the scale modeler as well as anyone interested in World War II German armor, vehicles and arms.

Some of the armor shown is:

• Sd.Kfz.221
• Sd.Kfz.222Sd.Kfz.223
• Panzerspähwagen (8 rad) Sd.Kfz.234
• Panzerkampfwagen I Ausf.A
• Panzerkampfwagen III Ausf.E
• Panzerkampfwagen IV Ausf.D
• Panzerbefehlswagen V Ausf.A
• Panzerkampfwagen VI Tiger Ausf.E
• Panzerjäger II für 7.5cm Pak40/2 (Sd.Kfz.131)
• Sturmpanzer IV

Some of the other photographs that I found interesting were:

• US and British/Commonwealth troops examining a German Panzerspähwagen (8 rad) Sd.Kfz.234 and a pair of 15cm s.IG33 heavy infantry guns
• Several damaged German AFVs, mostly Panzer IVs, on railroad cars
• A 2cm Flakvierling 38 mounted on a Büssing-NAG L4500A truck chassis
• A well lived in Selbstfahrlafette auf m.Zgkw 5-ton Sd.Kfz.6/2 mounting a 3.7cm Flak36
• A schwerer Zugcraftwagen 18-ton Sd.Kfz.9 towing what is probably the gun tube of a Skoda-built 24cm Haubitze 39

Please refer to the scans that I have provided so that you can judge the photographs for yourself

THE ILLUSTRATIONS

There are 8 pages of color illustrations with a total of 16 color artwork prints by artist Laurent Lecocq. There are well detailed captions that accompany the illustrations and point out various items of interest. The illustrations of the armor will prove to be valuable references to the scale modeler as well as the military armor and World War II enthusiast.

The color illustrations are of the following:

Plate 1
Leichter Panzerspähwagen Sd.Kfz.223 (Fu) Ausf.A, date and unit unknown, pre-war exercises

Plate 2
Umbau-Fahrzeuge, date, time and unit unknown

Plate 3
Kleiner Panzerbefehlswagen, unidentified unit, Poland, 1939

Plate 4
Panzerkampfwagen II Ausf.a/1, a/2 or a/3, 2.Kompanie, unidentified unit, France. 1940

Plate 5 (Please see attached scan)
Panzerkampfwagen II Ausf.C, 2.Kompanie, Panzer-Abteilung (F) 101, Soviet Union, 1941

Plate 6 (Please see attached scan)
Panzerspähwagen II (2cm) “Luchs” (Panzerkampfwagen II Ausf.L), 1.Kompanie, Panzer- Aufklärungs -Abteiling 4, 4.Panzer-Division, Soviet Union, autumn 1943

Plate 7
Panzerkampfwagen III Ausf.F, Panzer-Regiment 7, 10.Panzer-Division, Soviet Union, 1941

Plate 8
Panzerkampfwagen III Ausf.G, 3.Kompanie, Panzer-Regiment 4, 13.Panzer-Division, Soviet Union, 1941

Plate 9
Panzerkampfwagen IV Ausf.D, Panzer-Regiment 15, 11.Panzer-Diviision, Soviet Union, 1941

Plate 10
Panzerkampfwagen IV Ausf.D, 4.Kompanie, unknown unit, place and time

Plate 11
Panzerkampfwagen IV Ausf.F, Großdeutschland Division, Soviet Union, 1942

Plate 12
Panzerkampfwagen IV Ausf.G I.Abteilung, Panzer-Regiment 21, 20.Panzer-Division, Soviet Union, 1943

Plate 13
Panzerkampfwagen IV Ausf.H, June-August 1943 production batch, 10.Kompanie, unidentified unit and place, probably southern Soviet Union, late summer 1943

Plate 14
StuG.III Ausf.G December 1942 production version, unidentified unit, Soviet Union, probably early 1943

Plate 15
Jagdpanzer IV L/48, 3.Kompanie, unidentified unit and place, spring or summer, 1944

Plate 16
7.62mm F.K.(r) auf Gepanzert Selbstfahrlafette Sd.Kfz.6/3, Panzer- Jäger -Abteilung 605, North Africa, Spring 1942

Please refer to the scans that I have provided so that you can judge the illustrations for yourself.

THE CAPTIONS

The captions are well written and are very detailed and explain the accompanying photographs in great detail eliminating any doubt as to what is shown and taking place in the photograph or illustration. The captions go into very specific detail as to specific items that make the specific armor the version that it is referred to and other such pertinent information. As I read through the captions I didn’t notice any spelling or grammatical errors. As I stated before, grammar and spelling might not be an important factor to everyone however it is something that I take notice of and pass on my findings. The captions themselves are basically miniature history lessons as they detailed what is happening, or happened, in the photographs and give specific detail as to the who, what, when, why and where. I was very impressed by Frank V. De Sisto’s captions as they are very helpful to the reader due to their detailed content as opposed to other captions I have seen that are very brief and lack detail. I did notice that there is odd spacing between the words in some of the captions. By odd I mean that there are large gaps between the words. I am not sure for the reason of this other than it might be from the computer program that is used in the printing process and that is how it evens out the spacing of the sentences. It looks odd but takes nothing away from the details within the caption itself.

Please refer to the scans that I have provided so that you can judge the captions for yourself.

CONCLUSION

This is a very nice reference book that contains many nice illustrations, photographs and well detailed captions. I would have no hesitation to add other Concord Publications Company titles to my personal library nor would I hesitate to recommend this book to others as it will be a welcome addition to one’s personal military reference library. The scale modeler as well as anyone interested in World War II German armor and arms will find this volume a useful reference source.

REFERENCES

German Tanks of World War Two ‘In Action’
George Forty
Arms And Armour

Panzer Colors
Camouflage of the German Panzer Forces 1939-45
Bruce Culver & Bill Murphy
Illustrated by Don Greer
Squadron/Signal Publications

Panzer Colors II
Markings of the German Army Panzer Forces 1939-45
Bruce Culver
Illustrated by Don Greer
Squadron/Signal Publications

Panzer Colors III
Markings of the German Panzer Forces 1939-45
Bruce Culver
Illustrated by Don Greer
Squadron/Signal Publications

The Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Worlds Tanks and Fighting Vehicles
Christopher F. Foss
Chartwell Books, Inc.

Tanks of World War II
Duncan Crow
Exeter Books

Tanks Of World War II
Chris Ellis
Chancellor Press

Tanks
An Illustrated History Of Fighting Vehicles
Armin Halle
Illustrated By Carlo Demand
Crescent Books

Great Weapons Of World War II
John Kirk
Robert Young
Introduction by Bernard E. Trainor
Walker And Company

Self-Propelled Anti-Tank and Anti-Aircraft Guns
WW2 Fact Files
Peter Chamberlain and John Milsom
Arco Publishing Company, Inc.
Anti-Tank Weapons
WW2 Fact Files
Peter Chamberlain and Terry Gander
Arco Publishing Company, Inc.

Armor Series Vol. 6
Armor On The Eastern Front
An Armor Series Special
Walter J. Speilberger and Uwe Feist
Aero Publishers, Inc.

World War 2 Combat Uniforms and Insignia
Squadron/Signal Publications, #6013
Published in 1977
Martin Windrow with color illustrations by Gerry Embleton

Tank And AFV Crew Uniforms Since 1916
Martin Windrow
Color Illustrations by Gerry Embleton
Squadron/Signal Publications

German Leichte Panzer at War
Frank V. De Sisto
Concord Publications Company

Leichte Panzers in action
Uwe Feist
Squadron/Signal Publications

Tanks of World War II
Duncan Crow
Exeter Books

The Great Tanks
Chris Ellis and Peter Chamberlain
Hamlyn