Military Model Scene

Title: American Panther Tanks
Author: Craig Moore
Publisher: Fonthill Media
ISBN: 978-1-78155-804-1

An Examination of the Five Surviving Panzer V Tanks Including the Rare Panther II. An ideal follow-up to the authors other recent book on 'How to Kill a Panther Tank', also from Fonthill Media. This concentrates on a very detailed photo reference of 5 examples of Panthers which are now held in collections in the USA. A 145-page soft-cover book.
The book is divided into 5 main chapters, one each for the 5 Panther tanks which are preserved in museum collections in the USA. The first deals with the rarest, the only surviving example of a Panther II hull, which was originally sent over without a turret, but had an Ausf G fitted for cosmetic purposes. This is held at the US Army Armor & Cavalry Museum at Fort Benning, Georgia along with 3 other Panthers. One is an Ausf A and the other 2 are Ausf G variants, also held in the collection at Fort Benning and awaiting restoration. The fifth and final Panther is another Ausf A which has been fully restored when in the Jacques Littlefield Collection, but after his death it was sold to the American Heritage Museum in Hudson Massachusetts. Each one starts with some text giving details about the individual tank and it's history, as far as is known. The rest is taken up by a series of good quality colour images of specific details on each one, all with helpful captions. One of the Ausf G's was used as a Training tool at Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland for many years, and has sections of side armour cut out on both the turret and hull. Everything is then rounded off by an Appendix that gives details of the other Panthers known to be preserved and (mostly) on display in museums and collections around the world, and it might be a surprise for some to discover just how many there are.
This is a highly illustrated reference on the 5 different Panthers which are preserved in the USA. Tank enthusiasts and historians will find it interesting, while I think modellers will find the detailed reference images invaluable as well. Highly recommended for Panther fans/modellers.
Thanks to Fonthill Media for our review copy.

Robin