Most of the major military publishing companies in this country are not only registeringsurprisingly large sales after creating, then enlarging, very specific combat series, each with adozen or more selections, but also, and more importantly, by doing so making deepimpressions on their WWII enthusiasts, as well as occasional general readers, with lists of evenmore series for the continuance of the new publishing concept. Instead of old-fashioned mini-chapters, some as short as paragraphs, on highly technical issues or boring broad subjects, whynot publish inexpensive less than a hundred-page softcovers generating hunger for more of thesame subject? With so many topics, and such growing lists of fascinated readers, perhaps, justguessing, more than a million military-minded readers have rung up sales building their homelibraries.“GERMAN TANKS IN FRANCE 1940 – – Armor in the Wehrmacht’s greatest Blitzkrieg victory”,just published, will rivet any reader with its narrative beauty, absolute historical accuracy, anddown-to-earth overall integrity of design, development, operation and history of Panzermachinery while Germany was at war, 1939-1945. This appears to be the 13 th (!) text of fullcolor artwork, illustrations, matchless detail, and hitherto unpublished photos. Here, renownedarmor expert Steven Zaloga reassesses the Panzer force that made this literary triumphpossible, explaining that although the Panzers won their early reputation in France, they werefar from the myth of being a technological juggernaut. What few armchair readers know is thatthe vast majority of the “feared Panzers” were no more than the small Panzer I and Panzer IIlight tanks, while the more effective medium tanks such as the Panzer III and Panzer IV wererelatively few in numbers. Thus, Steven outlines for us the full range of German tanks deployed,their technical qualities, organization, and tactics, pinpointing how training and doctrine ratherthan technology was the real core of Panzer effectiveness. In short, author Zaloga presents uswith new insights into the truth and reality of Germany’s Panzer force in its most importantconquest.Meanwhile, German armor expert, Thomas Anderson, draws upon his first-hand accountsand rare previously unseen photographs, as well as this sharp intensive analysis of the self-propelled tank destroyers that made up a significant proportion of the Panzer and SS-Panzerdivisions in the last two years of World War II.“JAGDPANZER”, above all, is a unique reference book by one of the world’s best authoritieson the subject of the Panzers’ various canons. Apparently, during the interwar years, theWehrmacht settled on the towed 3.7 Panzerabwehrkanone (PaK) as the standard weapon forthe anti-tank units. Yet it was soon clear that more powerful weapons were needed, especiallyagainst the Soviets, and, by mid-1941, the 5cm PaK 38, was adopted, with the 7.5cm PaK 40following a year later. Such rapid technical developments were coupled with the increasing useof self-propelled vehicles to mount anti-tank weaponry. At first, these were field-modifiedvehicles, but a line of purpose-built Jagdpanzer later entered service. Frankly, fellow buff, I haveno idea what I just wrote, yielding to Einstein’s clearly honest observation, “If you can’t explainit simply, idiot, you don’t understand it yourself.” Guilty! Doing my inadequate best to explainTom’s easy-to-understand narration, I have no idea what any of this means. Read it for yourself.
Upon reading the text, and spending time perusing the details in each of the 150+ photos, many
taken by the tank crewmembers, you’ll yearn for additional Panzer titles, i.e., Panzer III, Panzer
IV, Panzer Reconnaissance, Panzergrenadier, and a host of other Panzer titles.
