Military Model Scene

Title: Elephant Paths
Author: Thomas Anderson
Publisher: Peko
ISBN: 978-615-5583-75-9

A new book from author Thomas Anderson and Peko Publishing, with the Combat History of Sturmgeschutz-Abteilung 203, with its' well known elephant unit badge. A landscape format 190-page hardback book packed with great detail and some equally fantastic archive images.
The Introduction gives a extra bit of background from the author that I hadn't known before. He mentions original German records, captured at the end of the war which were removed to the USA. Much of it was later returned to Germany, so research material is available from the Bundesarchiv and NARA. The bit I never knew was that additional records were held in the large Heeresarchiv at Potsdam, but that was destroyed in a bombing raid in 1945, Not everything though it seems. Some of the records were captured by the Russians and many records, some damaged, were taken. Eventually though Russia decided to make these documents public. They were scanned and put on a website hosted by the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation (CAMO). All these sources, and more, have enabled this new history of Sturmgeschutz-Abteilung 203 to be put together. It starts off with the planned organisation of the Sturmgeschutz units to be artillery units, providing artillery support for Infantry Divisions. As it goes on to explain, that isn't quite what happened, there simply wasn't enough equipment available. Abteilung 203 was created at the end of 1940, and received their first vehicles in January 1941, with short barrelled Ausf B versions, plus trucks, and half tracks for command, recovery and ammunition carriers. It then takes us through their training, unit organisation charts, communications and so much more. The book goes on to detail the combat story of the unit, always on the Eastern Front, through to the end of the war. It includes changes of equipment, such as the short barrelled gun variants being replaced by later variants that carried the long 75mm gun, and new ammunition which improved their anti-tank performance.
Supporting the story, and extracts from wartime reports are a host of archive photos illustrating the Stugs, the uniforms, the various support vehicles, the changing conditions they fought in and another assortment of knocked out/captured vehicles they fought against. As well as the Stugs, some of the best photos of the Sdkfz 252 ammunition supply half-track that I can recall seeing. The detail in the photo collection is a goldmine for modellers. Highly recommended.
Thanks to Peko Publishing for the review copy.

Robin