The Siegfried Line, Then & Now
After the Battle Series
Author: Daniel Taylor
Pen & Sword Book Co.
ISBN: 978-13990-48538
By Ray Mehlberger
Copyright: 2023
MSRP: $52.95
ISBN: 978-13990-48538
By Ray Mehlberger
Copyright: 2023
MSRP: $52.95
THE BOOK:
The account of Germany’s ‘West Wall’ comes in three distinct sections – the first is an in-depth analysis of the defensive systems built between 1936 and 1944. This includes the three major build phases, the organization of the workforce and the political background and includes lavish illustrations of the bunker types.
The second section looks at the Allied campaign to overcome the defenses of the Siegfried Line through the winter of 1944/45, focusing on operations by the U.S. Army that first breeched the line around Aachen and the Hurtgen Forest.
The third section deals with the perception of the West wall in the eighty years since the war and then outlines a battlefield tour guide of those elements that still survive.
Much of the text is based on articles from After the Battle magazine, though these have been augmented with a wealth of additional content.
Pen & Sword is based in the UK.
This book is hard-bound of 312 pages in 6 ½” x 9 ¾” page format. Five pages are blank.
The book has a paper-jacket, held to the book with fold-over tabs.
The front cover has a black and white photo of a Sherman tank, at the top, that is moving down a road, with about 30 U.S. infantrymen riding atop it.
The color photo at the bottom, shows a road in the Siegfried Line as it looks today. A lot of the photos are off how things look now.
On the back cover, reading left to right, at the top, on the left is a black and white photo of a U.S. soldier hanging wet clothes on a line.
To the left is a black and white photo of 8 German soldiers marching down a road. The 3 color photos at the bottom show buildings in the Siegfried Line as they look today.
It contains 292 black and white photos and 110 color ones (including the ones on the paper-jacket.
There is a post-card inserted in the book, to use to send to Pen & Sword, to get more info about their books.
There are 21 black and white maps and 7 color ones in the book.
An illustration of Dragon’s Teeth obstacle, West wall, gun pits, track systems, barbed-wire sections, wood barriers, 85 photos of bunkers, 5 photos of turrets and fittings, a photo of a camouflaged artillery post in a tree.
Many photos of German officers, including some of Hitler, photos of German infantrymen.
Photos of Allied officers and infantrymen, including one of Churchill.
Several photos of the Sherman tank and U.S. Jeeps, a German and a U.S. halftrack, howitzers etc.
This book will be of interest to both plastic modelers and military historians alike.
I wish to thank Casemate Publishers, the N. American distributor of Pen & Sword books for this review sample. All Pen & Sword book titles can be viewed on Casemate’s web site at:
The account of Germany’s ‘West Wall’ comes in three distinct sections – the first is an in-depth analysis of the defensive systems built between 1936 and 1944. This includes the three major build phases, the organization of the workforce and the political background and includes lavish illustrations of the bunker types.
The second section looks at the Allied campaign to overcome the defenses of the Siegfried Line through the winter of 1944/45, focusing on operations by the U.S. Army that first breeched the line around Aachen and the Hurtgen Forest.
The third section deals with the perception of the West wall in the eighty years since the war and then outlines a battlefield tour guide of those elements that still survive.
Much of the text is based on articles from After the Battle magazine, though these have been augmented with a wealth of additional content.
Pen & Sword is based in the UK.
This book is hard-bound of 312 pages in 6 ½” x 9 ¾” page format. Five pages are blank.
The book has a paper-jacket, held to the book with fold-over tabs.
The front cover has a black and white photo of a Sherman tank, at the top, that is moving down a road, with about 30 U.S. infantrymen riding atop it.
The color photo at the bottom, shows a road in the Siegfried Line as it looks today. A lot of the photos are off how things look now.
On the back cover, reading left to right, at the top, on the left is a black and white photo of a U.S. soldier hanging wet clothes on a line.
To the left is a black and white photo of 8 German soldiers marching down a road. The 3 color photos at the bottom show buildings in the Siegfried Line as they look today.
It contains 292 black and white photos and 110 color ones (including the ones on the paper-jacket.
There is a post-card inserted in the book, to use to send to Pen & Sword, to get more info about their books.
There are 21 black and white maps and 7 color ones in the book.
An illustration of Dragon’s Teeth obstacle, West wall, gun pits, track systems, barbed-wire sections, wood barriers, 85 photos of bunkers, 5 photos of turrets and fittings, a photo of a camouflaged artillery post in a tree.
Many photos of German officers, including some of Hitler, photos of German infantrymen.
Photos of Allied officers and infantrymen, including one of Churchill.
Several photos of the Sherman tank and U.S. Jeeps, a German and a U.S. halftrack, howitzers etc.
This book will be of interest to both plastic modelers and military historians alike.
I wish to thank Casemate Publishers, the N. American distributor of Pen & Sword books for this review sample. All Pen & Sword book titles can be viewed on Casemate’s web site at:
Highly recommended.