Military Model Scene

Title: Hitler's Heavy Tiger Tank Battalions 1942-1945

Author: Ian Baxter

Publisher: Pen & Sword

ISBN: 978-1-52674-787-7

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Another new Images of War title from author Ian Baxter, concentrating on perhaps one of the most famous tanks of WW2, the Tiger, and their Heavy Tank Battalion units.
The book starts with an Introduction and a few pages of text which provides some background to the Panzerwaffe in the years 1941-42, and the introduction to service of the Tiger 1 in 1942. Then it moves into a series of chapters which are accompanied by their own set of appropriate archive photos, a format familiar to anyone who has seen the Images of War books before. They are organised in a chronological sequence, covering the Tiger on the Eastern Front and North Africa in 1942-43, then Sicily and the Eastern Front in 1943. Chapter 3 deals with both Eastern and Western Fronts in 1944 before rounding things off with the Last Year of War 1944-45, which includes the Tiger II and Jagdtiger as well. Usefully the photos take in all the support units and equipment that accompanied the Tiger units, including lighter tanks such as Pz III & IV, along with maintenance, Flak and infantry units which made these heavy tank battalions such self-contained units.
In the final section of the book there are 6 useful Appendices, giving us Tiger Profiles: Tiger Tank Battalion History (there were 10): Battalion Markings: Equipment: Organisational Structure of the Units and finally the organisation of the Tiger II Battalion as of 1944.
Some of the pictures will be familiar to anyone who has an interest in the Tiger, but not all, and the coverage of all the support units will provide something to interest historians and modellers alike.

 

Thanks to Pen and Sword for this review copy.

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Robin