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    #1

    Favorite AFV Books?

    hello all,

    I am interested in finding out your favorite WWII AFV books for good, detailed info on design & operations and statistical stuff too. I like the ones that concentrate on a specific countries entire AFV collection (IE. AFV's of nazi Germany 1935-1945 or Soviet tank design 39'-45' ect.) I am not that interested in entire books devoted to a single tank design. I think I need to revamp my collection cuz i cant seem to quote from them without being outdated. Some of the sharper dudes on the site are quick to notice such errors and inconsistencies! Just the title and author name and estimated US$ would be great! Maybe a quick blurb as to why you like it.

    I'll start, My old fav is AFV's of Germany by Duncan Crow, but it was made in 1970 and now seems a little dated compared to the newer stuff. Still great for havin virtually every variant of AFV ever produced but the details are now a little suspect! I used to call it the bible and it served me well in the past but recently has let me down in a few post debates so methinks its time to move on! To bad, I bought it off some guy in Indonesia way back in 1983 when I was a teen-ager living in Jakarta playing Squad Leader and really fell in love with it! Most, if not all, the stuff I see in the bookstores never seem have enough info and seem to be directed more towards general history buffs or novices, not somebody who craves hard, in depth detail and VERY acuurate stats!

    Thanks in advance to all who respond!

    panzers forward!

    panzerboy39
    Tags: None
    #2
    Originally posted by panzerboy39
    I am interested in finding out your favorite WWII AFV books for good, detailed info on design & operations and statistical stuff too. I like the ones that concentrate on a specific countries entire AFV collection (IE. AFV's of nazi Germany 1935-1945 or Soviet tank design 39'-45' ect.) I am not that interested in entire books devoted to a single tank design.
    The problem with many of those books is that they often tend to incorporate old information. Seems like it takes 10-20 years for the stuff published about individual vehicles to reach the "dictionaries".

    For German armour, I use Chamberlain, Doyle & Jentz: "Encyclopedia of German Tanks of WWII". It is an old book, but it has been updated in the 1990ies and most of the information is still good. It covers a wide range of vehicles, including half-tracks and armoured cars as well as the more common Beutepanzers. Each entry has a couple of pictures, vital statistics and a short article about development and use of the vehicle. There are some very usefull appendices on guns, engines, optics etc.

    I've failed to find something comparable on allied armour so there I'm still stuck with Chamberlain & Ellis: "British and American Tanks of World War II". It may have been updated, but my copy is from 1969. The stats are not nearly as good as those in the German tank encyclopedia mentioned above.

    As for the Soviet stuff, I have Milsoms old volume on Soviet Armour from the 1970ies which is also outdated. I think Steven Zaloga made a encyclopedia of Soviet armour in the 1980ies, but I've never been able to find a copy. Milsoms book still have a lot of stats though and can sometimes be picked up used for very little money (Thats how I got mine )

    I supplement with good websites and ask around if there is something specific I want to have checked out.

    When I had the money, I bought a lot of books on individual tanks designs, but I've found that some of the cheaper booklets on individual designs like Panzertracts, New Osprey and Nuts & Bolts are often quite good and affordable even if somewhat overpriced.

    Comment

      #3
      panzerboy, I myself crave this sort of material and I'm very proud of my collection
      Can I suggest you try the schiffer military range they are about as good as it gets and have technical books on every aspect of german armour and the wehrmacht plus the luftwaffe too if you interested (the is not enough litrature on allied & soviet stuff- not as much interest for some reason)
      they start at about $9.95us for soft cover/50 page/11"x8 1/4" books(of which I have a number of-the're very cool)
      and go to $25us and up hard cover
      check their web site

      I'm still waiting for my copy of "Panzer IV & its variants" by walter j spielberger ( Week 10 going on 11! god damn it! U.S.A to NZ snail mail!!! )

      Stirling

      Comment

        #4
        Squadron/signal Publications

        I've found that the Squadron/signal Publications Armor series of books are a very good sorce of pictorial infomation an all types of armor. I've collected many of the books covering German armor and have them a valuable sore of identifing different versons of vehicles. I would have to agree that Encyclopedia of German Tanks of WWII is a great sorce of the bacic info an German AFVs, the appendix being the best part of the book.

        Comment

          #5
          I back up CBO, the 'Encyclopedia of German Tanks of World War Two' is a good first reference by Peter Chamberlain & Hillary Doyle. Gives details on production numbers, armament, ammunition etc...

          - Thomas

          Comment

            #6
            although, I am on the lookout for more detail, photos etc on the 'Maus' and Pz Kpfw E-100 'super heavy tank'. What happened to the one complete chassis which was taken by the British?

            - Thomas

            Comment

              #7
              I can help you out on this one tmurrey
              "Maus and other German armoured projects" by Michael Sawondy & Kai Bracher
              It's in the Schiffer military range and covers the maus in detail plus ferdinand porsche's other projects like the vk4501 and vk4502 (porsche's tiger1 & 2) etc

              The E series is covered in this book too. It say's the hull of the E-100 was found in Haustenbeck with its wheels mounted only. the brits put the gearbox and powertrain in and took it to the uk for testing.

              and I'm still waiting for my copy of "Panzer IV & its variants" from the US!
              14 weeks going on 15!

              Stirling

              Comment

                #8
                I have the Squadron Panzer colours 1-3

                Originally posted by Von Strehmel
                I've found that the Squadron/signal Publications Armor series of books are a very good sorce of pictorial infomation an all types of armor. I've collected many of the books covering German armor and have them a valuable sore of identifing different versons of vehicles. I would have to agree that Encyclopedia of German Tanks of WWII is a great sorce of the bacic info an German AFVs, the appendix being the best part of the book.
                Yes, i really liked the panzer colours series from squadron. very good stuff indeed!

                panzers forward!

                panzerboy39

                Comment

                  #9
                  Stirling, thanks for the feedback

                  Comment

                    #10
                    I like basically all Squadron Armor In action(German Armor ) volumes and offcourse Panzer colours. A good Tiger book i have is Tiger Tanks by Michael Green. Tanks of World War II by Chris Ellis isn't bad either.
                    Antti

                    Comment

                      #11
                      Originally posted by Blitz
                      I like basically all Squadron Armor In action(German Armor ) volumes and offcourse Panzer colours. A good Tiger book i have is Tiger Tanks by Michael Green. Tanks of World War II by Chris Ellis isn't bad either.
                      I hate to say this, but "Panzer Colors" vol. I-II by Bill Murphy and Bruce Culver are based on 30-year old information as is many of the Squadron/Signal issues. The pictures are of course good, but watch out for the captions and text. They represent the level of knowledge available in the 1970ies but a lot have changed since then. Author of "Panzer Colors" vol. I, Bill Murphy published a critique of the series including his own work on his now defunct homepage some years back. You can still see it here though:

                      http://web.archive.org/web/200106131...54/errors.html

                      This article by Thomas Jentz underlines the problems with some of these older books:

                      http://www.panzertracts.com/PZfacts.htm

                      I dont say this to bash these books and booklets, I own many of them myself, but as the world moves on, so does armour research and a lot of this old material is still being sold at fairly high prices when more recent and better material is available - albeit at a cost. I guess my point is, that you should check out the market before buying stuff and be particularily cautious with books dated prior to 1990. If they are from the 1970ies, try to find out if something more recent is a available before you buy.

                      As for Spielbergers books, they used to be the cream of the crop and some still are. Be aware, however, that the Panzer IV book has been overhauled to a completely new book:

                      http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/ASI...771112-8475253

                      This is vastly superior to the old volume, but I dont know if it is available in English yet?

                      His book on the Tiger has by and large been replaced by two volumes from Jentz but it still has some snippets of information that Jentz does not have. Spielbergers book on the Panther is, in my view, indispensable as a companion to Jentz' work as it has a lot more technical detail and discussion. I still think Spielbergers work on the Czech Armour, Beute-Panzer, Sturmgeschütze and Leichte & Schwere Jagdpanzer are top-notch.

                      Comment

                        #12
                        Who's to say?

                        Jeezus! I can't believe the Panzer colours books are so off!? Know I'm worried that if he's so wrong on all those sources who's to say Jentz and other contemporary authors are'nt also off the mark! This kind of stuff makes me nervous. All the models I ever painted from 1985 to the present were based on colour schemes from the 'panzer colours' series! I've got a sick feeling in my stomach! Excuse me while I throw up! Raallpphhh! Thanks for the info Claus, now excuse me while I take a hammer to my panzer models!

                        panzers forward (not backward as my colour schemes seem to be!)

                        panzerboy39

                        Comment

                          #13
                          Originally posted by panzerboy39
                          Jeezus! I can't believe the Panzer colours books are so off!? Know I'm worried that if he's so wrong on all those sources who's to say Jentz and other contemporary authors are'nt also off the mark! This kind of stuff makes me nervous. All the models I ever painted from 1985 to the present were based on colour schemes from the 'panzer colours' series! I've got a sick feeling in my stomach! Excuse me while I throw up! Raallpphhh! Thanks for the info Claus, now excuse me while I take a hammer to my panzer models!

                          panzers forward (not backward as my colour schemes seem to be!)

                          panzerboy39
                          That is the beauty of history: You will never know the truth. In the end, history is always the construction of the historian, the number and nature of the building blocks always changing and provoking new interpretations. As Bill Murphy showed, even Jentz gets it wrong at times and even though some of Spielbergers volumes has a blurp on the back, saying that they are the definitive accounts, they have also been surpassed by new and different interpretations based on new material and re-interpretation of the old.

                          But look at it from the bright side: You models have now become historical artifacts in their own right, archaeological evidence on the state-of-the-art Panzer-painting of the 1980ies .

                          Comment

                            #14
                            Favorite AFV Books

                            My personal favorites:

                            1) Tigers in Combat I and II
                            2) Tiger: History of a Legendary Weapon System
                            3) German Tank and Anti-tank (Hoffschmitt)

                            Comment

                              #15
                              I am on the lookout for more detail, photos etc on the 'Maus' and Pz Kpfw E-100 'super heavy tank'. What happened to the one complete chassis which was taken by the British?

                              - Thomas

                              IIRC The hull of the E-100 was brought to England and sold as scrap metal in the 50's or possibly 60's.


                              As for favourite books I like books devoted to specific tanks rather the one book that covers all. My favourites are:

                              Panther
                              Tom Jentz "Germanys Panther Tank"
                              Walter Spielbergers "Panther and its variants"
                              Achtung Panzer No.5 (Panther tank and their variants)for drawings and very specific changes during production ( in japaneese only but excellent drawings and pictures)

                              Tiger
                              Jentz & Doyle "Germanys Tiger Tanks" 3 books for technichal information
                              Achtung Panzer No.6 (Tiger tanks and their variants)for drawings and very specific changes during production ( in japaneese only but excellent drawings and pictures)
                              Schneider "Tigers in Combat" I & II for in action pictures

                              These are IMHO the best books on these vehicles.

                              Comment

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