Book reviews - Profiles of German tanks, Panzer book III, Claes Sundin - Tigers in Combat III - Schneider, Helion & Co

Claes Sundin’s latest profile book is here - Panzer book III features the entire range of German AFVs and has taken some ten months to research, write and illustrate. As Claes states in his Foreword, this new volume represents the ‘pinnacle’ of his work on German tanks. Each artwork is more detailed and more accurate than ever thanks in part to the team of ‘experts’ behind the book, most notably camouflage and markings specialist David E. Brown who has supplied a detailed overview of German Panzer camo development and evolution that opens the 65 profile artworks. A large format landscape volume, each artwork - one tank per page - is accompanied by a detailed text setting the context and relating the action in which the tank was involved. Highly recommended.

Although only 1,347 Tiger I tanks were built between August 1942 and August 1944 the Tiger remains one of the iconic tanks of World War II. Although many of its design antecedents were somewhat outmoded - thick slab-sided non-sloping armour for one -  and it was deployed in some ‘hopeless’ theatres (Tunisia February 1943) the huge 88mm gun was unrivaled on the battlefield and the Tiger quickly acquired a reputation that made it the most feared German AFV on all fronts. Schneider’s  third book in the “Tigers in Combat” series is a massive volume of over 500 pages with 1,200 photographs as a tribute to this colossal vehicle. This third volume complements the previous two books in the series by looking at all aspects of Tiger operations - not so much through a unit-by-unit chronology as in the first two volumes but by considering in-depth aspects of Tiger operations - crew training, deployment and tactics. While concentrating primarily on the Tiger I - there being far fewer images of the King Tiger - you could say that everything is here; organisation charts; great details of how the crews trained and operated the tank; a comprehensive outline of how the tanks were deployed and a review of the tactics used by Tiger units, including details of how the tank featured as part of the Nazi propaganda machine with a good number of (untranslated) facsimile reproductions of period newspaper articles.

The book is based around an archive of well over 1,000 photos. Clear and well-chosen to complement the text most are in black and white – although there are a few in colour. (These colour pictures are mostly of captured Tigers from American archives.) There are hundreds of high quality  photographs of the Tiger, that cover every aspect of the tank in service and there are also numerous pictures of support vehicles of all types as well as many pictures of crewmen both at work and at play. There is an enormous amount of detail in these photographs, many are either previously unseen or little known. One of my favourites is in the short section that shows the visit by the Japanese military attaché that includes a wonderful photograph of unmistakably Japanese crew manning Tiger 055 at the Senne military training ground.

One of the more fascinating aspects of this book is the attention to fine detail. Where else would you find several photographs of tank crews washing themselves and their clothes? There is even a picture of a bath tub stowed to the rear of one Tiger. This is an intimate view of the Tiger crews and many of the pictures will inspire model makers. There is a very interesting section devoted to food and eating and logistic resupply with plenty of images suggesting diorama possibilities - half-tracks and trucks and field kitchens set up alongside Russian village houses.

The book also covers other unusual aspects of the Tiger’s history. There is a nicely illustrated section that examines in detail the Henschel and Sohn factories at Kassel. The factory layout is shown and the accompanying photographs show Tigers on the production line as well as the banks of machinery necessary to build the tank. The text includes fascinating extracts from an unpublished memoir by Herr Pertuss concerning Tiger production at the Henschel Werkes. The section ends with details of the air raids that badly damaged the factory.

The chapter entitled “Operating the Tiger” covers the legendary “Tigerfibel” which was the illustration-based handbook for the Tiger. There are numerous drawings in this chapter which will prove invaluable to the model maker who wants to replicate fine detail particularly in the larger scales. There is a wealth of interior detail both in the form of sketches and photographs. For the diorama builder there are numerous photographs of repairs being carried out to the Tiger – particularly to the running gear. My favourite photograph features a platoon of around 20 men struggling to turn over one length of track.

The next chapter covers “Deployment” and many of the photographs show some of the hazards involved in moving a 56 ton tank. Many photographs show Tigers bogged down or incapacitated as the result of slipping off a road or track. Others record the Herculean effort needed by recovery teams to get the unfortunate vehicles back into service. There are several pictures of 18 ton “Famo” half-tracks being used to recover hapless Tigers, often several half-tracks were needed to affect a recovery. The chapter includes details of the work involved in preparing the Tiger for rail transport. It is well known that because the Tiger was so wide, the normal combat tracks (and the outer road wheels on the early versions) had to be removed and replaced with a special railway track. There are numerous photographs showing this laborious work and some of the disasters that occurred if the loading or unloading didn’t go according to plan. As with the other chapters there is much inspiration here for the model maker and diorama builder.

In the final chapter; “Tactics” we see the Tiger in action. Many of the photographs show Tigers being prepared for battle and some show the damage sustained after the battle. There is a series of pictures showing repairs being made to damaged Tigers using the “Straßenbock-Kran” (Mobile gantry crane - not 'portable' - one of several quirks in the translation throughout the book!) As with the other chapters there are numerous photographs here that will inspire the model maker. The Tiger was an awesome weapon but the extensive time and effort required in keeping the tank running and recovering and repairing damaged tanks is clearly shown in this book.

This review has only scratched the surface of this fascinating book. The author must be congratulated in bringing together all the pictures and providing informative text and captions that make this a captivating read. If you have even a passing interest in the Tiger this book is a “must have”. If you are only looking to acquire one single volume on the Tiger then it might as well be this one. If you already have an extensive library of Tiger books then this is still a 'no-brainer'. The original cover price will obviously have put many potential purchasers off ( no, I rarely if ever spend £70 on a book..) but if you look on ebay you can find traders (in the UK) currently -due to the Covid cancellation of all Militaria fairs - selling this at less than half price, hence my purchase now.