Military Model Scene

Title: German Heavy Cruisers vs Royal Navy Heavy Cruisers 1939-42
Author: Mark Lardas
Publisher: Osprey
ISBN: 978-1-4728-4309-8

Number 113 in the Duel series from Osprey looks at the story of the German heavy cruisers fighting the Royal Navy heavy cruisers in the early years of WW2. While the larger battleships such as Bismarck & Tirpitz, Hood & Prince of Wales took many headlines, it was the more numerous cruisers that more commonly came into combat. An 80-page soft-cover book in the standard style of the Duel series.
The introduction starts things off with explaining the influences of WW1 on the events that were to follow during WW2, including the effects of the 1922 Washington Treaty, which limited cruisers to a 10,000 ton weight limit and main armament of 6in to 8in main guns. Followed by a Chronology of key dates covering from 1915 to 1958 we are taken through chapters which compare the warships of both sides in Design & Development, the Strategic Situation, Technical Specifications along with the Combatants, the sailors of both the Royal Navy and the Kriegsmarine. Combat then looks at various actions, including the Battle of the River Plate, the Christmas Day 1940 fight between HMS Berwick and the Admiral Hipper, the Battle of the Denmark Strait and the final duel in the Barents Sea in 1941. Everything is then rounded off in a final Analysis.
The comparisons make interesting reading if you are not especially familiar with the various heavy cruisers of WW2, and the book written by author Mark Lardas has the addition of clear maps and some very nice artwork by illustrator Ian Palmer as well as plenty of archive images.
Thanks to Osprey for our review copy.

Robin