Military Model Scene

Title: Hitler's War of Extinction
Author: Simon Forty and Ian Stewart Spring
Publisher: Greenhill Books
ISBN: 978-1-80500-131-7

Rare German colour photographs from the Eastern Front, a new title from Greenhill Books, part of Pen & Sword. A 288-page hard-cover book.
Following on from two earlier books, one on the Eastern Front and another covering the Afrika Korps, this is the third one to come from original WW2 era colour photos in the Pixpast archive collected by Ian Spring. Most were taken by the war correspondents working for the wartime magazines, 'Der Adler' and 'Signal', and others taken by private soldiers as they fought on the Eastern Front. The book opens with an introduction which gives a summary of the story of the war on the Eastern Front but the following 5 main chapters are predominantly made up from over 250 archive colour photos, each with a very full caption. The chapter cover The German Home Front, Behind the Front Line, On the Attack, In Defence, and closing with The End. Together they go from the initial invasion, Operation Barbarossa in 1941, through to the final battle for Berlin in 1945. Among them are many marvellous images, illustrating things such as the large number of horses used by the German Army in WW2, the thick mud of unmade roads, both Russian and Luftwaffe aircraft, the armoured spearheads, river crossings, and of course the enemy, as large numbers of Russian soldiers and equipment fell into German hands.
For those of us who have studied WW2 for many years, it has largely been illustrated in black & white, with just a limited number of quite well known colour images that have been well used over the years. This shows us that many more colour images exist from that time, and it I think it gives quite a different viewpoint to see these much rarer examples, and together in such a large number. Historians and modellers alike will enjoy this one, and with the modeller in mind, some great inspiration for equipment and uniform detail as well as many diorama ideas. I think this one is sure to be popular.
Thanks to Greenhill Books/ Pen & Sword for the review copy.

Robin