Military Model Scene

Title: German Field Artillery of World War II
Author: Steven J. Zaloga
Publisher: Osprey
ISBN: 978-1-4728-5397-4

New Vanguard number 325 from Osprey is another excellent title from Steve Zaloga, one of their regular authors. A 48-page soft-cover book, with more excellent artwork from Filipe Rodriguez.
While so much attention goes to tanks and aircraft, one of the most important classes of weapon on the battlefield from WW1 through to the present day remains the effective use of artillery. Not the extremes of the super guns nor self-propelled weapons which accompanied the Panzer divisions. This one focuses attention on towed Field Artillery, which largely means things like 75mm infantry guns, along with 105 and 150mm guns. Towed artillery was a major piece of equipment in the main German infantry division. Some were towed by wheeled or half-track artillery tractors but a lot was still horse-drawn, right through to the end of WW2. I suspect the figures quoted for supplying fodder for them will surprise many. The various guns were issued to regiments, to divisions and then heavier pieces operated at GHQ level, layers of organisation which are well explained. The various guns are all covered, including captured guns and the various items of rocket artillery, the 15cm, 21cm and 28/32cm werfers. The final sections of the book tell us how they worked out in combat, during the Blitzkrieg era, and then on both the Eastern and Western fronts.
There are books already available on self-propelled and super-heavy artillery so I like this more focussed look at Field artillery as used by the bulk of the German Army, the infantry divisions. Throughout the book there are plenty of illustrations, with both archive photos and the excellent artwork by Filipe Rodriguez. It covers both the guns themselves plus the organisation of how they were used. Another great value book from Osprey and from a well known expert on the subject.
Thanks to Osprey for the review copy.

Robin