Military Model Scene

Title: Armoured Warfare and the Waffen-SS, 1944-1945

Author: Anthony Tucker-Jones

Publisher: Pen and Sword Books

ISBN: 978-1-47387-794-8

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This new Images of War Special from Pen and Sword deals with the ever popular subject of German armour in WW2, though with particular reference to the more controversial topic of the Waffen-SS.  In this case Anthony Tucker-Jones has done a nicely balanced book which provides the detail of the armour in use with the SS but doesn't ignore their disreputable side and includes examples of their crimes against soldiers and civilians alike.  In the introduction the author gives more background on the SS and the different elements of the Waffen-SS as opposed to both the Allegemeine-SS and the SD security service.  I still remember my father saying that when he came up against SS troops they always knew they would be 'tough cookies'.

There are 8 chapters that follow from the introduction, and these cover 'Hitler's SS Panzer Divisions'; 'Wiking Trapped at Cherkassy'; 'Hitlerjugend at Ardenne Abbey'; 'Hohenstaufen's Normandy Hills'; 'Wiking's Warsaw Triumph'; 'Hohenstaufen's Arnhem Victory'; 'Dietrich's Autumn Mist'; and 'Hitler's Winter Solstice'.  Each chapter begins with appropriate background text, and this if followed by sets of archive photos to illustrate the story, along with additional informative held within the captions.  Some of the pictures have been seen before but the majority are new.  One aspect of Himmler's Panzer divisions that is clear is that as the war went on, the SS divisions did get priority in the issue of new equipment, not just in things like Tigers and Panthers, but in the use of half-tracks for the panzer-grenadiers as well.  As well as interest for the historian, these Images of War photo collections are deservedly popular with modellers as there is so much information in them.  These include markings and stowage of vehicles in service as well as uniforms and badges worn by their panzer crews.

 

 More informative work for anyone interested in the German Panzers by author Anthony Tucker-Jones.

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Robin