Review of Casemate Illustrated Special
German Tank Destroyers
Author: Pierre tiquet
ISBN: 978-1-61200-906-3
By Ray Mehlberger
Copyright 2021
MSRP: $39.95
By Ray Mehlberger
Copyright 2021
MSRP: $39.95
HISTORY:
From the early days of WWII, it was clear that the Wehrmacht’s anti-tank units would need to be motorized, as existing horse or automobile drawn units were too slow to be effective. Initially, anti-tank guns were mounted onto available , usually obsolete, tank chassis, such as the Panzerjager I and II.
However, German engineers would soon turn to the heavy chassis of the Panzer IV, the Panther and the Tiger for their tank hunters. It became apparent during the invasion of France that enemy anti-tank guns were both more powerful and better armored, and improvement became a priority during Barbarossa as German units faced off against the new Soviet tanks.
The appearance of the Soviet T-34 in July 1941 meant that the Germans had to quickly come up with something equally powerful. The result was the motorized Panzerjager, faster and more mobile than older towed versions. This was followed in 1942 by the introduction of the 7.5cm gun. Further designs and modifications were informed by reports from the front line.
Some of these conversions were very successful and resulted in fearsome tank destroyers deployed to great effect by the Wehrmacht. The light-weight Hetzer, for example, was based on a modified Panzer 38(t) and entered service in 1944. This small tank became Germany’s main tank-destroyer during the final stages of the war, and would continue in use around the world even after 1945.
Casemate Illustrated Specials offer unparalleled detail into the weapons, equipment, and machinery of war. Detailed, focused text is accompanied by 355 black and white wartime photos (including the covers) illustrations, and diagrams, providing a wealth of visual information for the historian, modeler and researcher.
THE BOOK:
Casemate is both a publisher of their own books and a distributor of other companies books. They are based in Pennsylvania, USA.
This book is hard-cover of 192 pages in 8” x 10” page format.
The front cover illustrations show black and white wartime photos. At the top is a Marder II with crewman standing beside it. Next is a color side profile of the Marder II. At the bottom left is a photo of a Marder II with crewmen, In the center is a photo of a Marder III with an Oberleutnant standing in front of it. On the right is another Marder III with 2 crewmen.
On the back cover there is a black and white photo of a swearing in ceremony for a Hetzer crew at the top. Next is a photo of a tank crewman in a white parka, who is loading a main gun. The third photo shows a Hetzer I with 11 men atop it. The fourth photo shows a Marder III Ausf. H with four-man crew atop it. The last photo is of 5 Hetzer’s parked in a field.
There are 5 color side profiles: 3 of a Marder III, a Hetzer and a Jagdpanzer IV/70, 8 color photos of tank-destroyers in various museums today and 1 color photo taken during wartime.
There is a TIMETABLE OF EVENTS, a FURTHER READING LIST and a 2 page Index.
This book as already said will highly interest modelers planning to build a kit of one of these Tank-destroyers and also interest to military historians etc.
I want to sincerely thank Casemate Publishers for this review sample.
All Casemate Illustrated Special books and books by other companies that they distribute can be viewed on their web-site at:
From the early days of WWII, it was clear that the Wehrmacht’s anti-tank units would need to be motorized, as existing horse or automobile drawn units were too slow to be effective. Initially, anti-tank guns were mounted onto available , usually obsolete, tank chassis, such as the Panzerjager I and II.
However, German engineers would soon turn to the heavy chassis of the Panzer IV, the Panther and the Tiger for their tank hunters. It became apparent during the invasion of France that enemy anti-tank guns were both more powerful and better armored, and improvement became a priority during Barbarossa as German units faced off against the new Soviet tanks.
The appearance of the Soviet T-34 in July 1941 meant that the Germans had to quickly come up with something equally powerful. The result was the motorized Panzerjager, faster and more mobile than older towed versions. This was followed in 1942 by the introduction of the 7.5cm gun. Further designs and modifications were informed by reports from the front line.
Some of these conversions were very successful and resulted in fearsome tank destroyers deployed to great effect by the Wehrmacht. The light-weight Hetzer, for example, was based on a modified Panzer 38(t) and entered service in 1944. This small tank became Germany’s main tank-destroyer during the final stages of the war, and would continue in use around the world even after 1945.
Casemate Illustrated Specials offer unparalleled detail into the weapons, equipment, and machinery of war. Detailed, focused text is accompanied by 355 black and white wartime photos (including the covers) illustrations, and diagrams, providing a wealth of visual information for the historian, modeler and researcher.
THE BOOK:
Casemate is both a publisher of their own books and a distributor of other companies books. They are based in Pennsylvania, USA.
This book is hard-cover of 192 pages in 8” x 10” page format.
The front cover illustrations show black and white wartime photos. At the top is a Marder II with crewman standing beside it. Next is a color side profile of the Marder II. At the bottom left is a photo of a Marder II with crewmen, In the center is a photo of a Marder III with an Oberleutnant standing in front of it. On the right is another Marder III with 2 crewmen.
On the back cover there is a black and white photo of a swearing in ceremony for a Hetzer crew at the top. Next is a photo of a tank crewman in a white parka, who is loading a main gun. The third photo shows a Hetzer I with 11 men atop it. The fourth photo shows a Marder III Ausf. H with four-man crew atop it. The last photo is of 5 Hetzer’s parked in a field.
There are 5 color side profiles: 3 of a Marder III, a Hetzer and a Jagdpanzer IV/70, 8 color photos of tank-destroyers in various museums today and 1 color photo taken during wartime.
There is a TIMETABLE OF EVENTS, a FURTHER READING LIST and a 2 page Index.
This book as already said will highly interest modelers planning to build a kit of one of these Tank-destroyers and also interest to military historians etc.
I want to sincerely thank Casemate Publishers for this review sample.
All Casemate Illustrated Special books and books by other companies that they distribute can be viewed on their web-site at:
Very highly recommended.