Military Model Scene

Title: Jagdpanzer
Author: Thomas Anderson
Publisher: Osprey
ISBN: 978-1-4728-5736-1

The latest release in the series of books on German armoured vehicles of WW2 by popular author Thomas Anderson and Osprey Publishing. A 272-page hard-cover book.
This new book does more than just detail the various Jagdpanzers, as it starts from the early tanks in WW1, setting out the history of the Pak (PanzerabwekrKanone) weapons through to the early stages of WW2. As the quality, size and sheer numbers of tanks grew, the early towed anti-tank guns not only got bigger, but the speed of warfare due largely to Blitzkrieg led to the need to improve their mobility by creating self-propelled mounts for them. That takes us through the various Panzer Jager, simply fitting the gun mountings onto captured or obsolete tank chassis. With the larger guns so the superstructures they were fitted to got larger, and most offered little protection to their crews. When the Stug III came along some were assigned to anti-tank units but Hitler directed they should be used primarily as artillery support for their infantry, though the 75mm gun made for an effective anti-tank weapon. That development story then gets us to the purpose built Jagdpanzer, with fixed armoured superstructures and these are then examined in detail, with their armament and different variants. These include the Ferdinand/Elefant but with more on the Stug IV, the Jagdpanzer IV, the Jagdpanther and finally the even bigger Jagdtiger. It gives their design and production detail, along with their main and secondary armament and that other important part of the story, the different types of ammunition they used. As they got bigger, the story also includes coverage of their recovery arrangements, which in the case of the huge Jagdtiger was still a problem. Among a lot of extracts from reports, veterans combat accounts and much more, this is a comprehensive look at the story of the Jagdpanzer during WW2. It is even rounded off with a final chapter looking at their equivalent AFVs in Russian, US and British service. The book is also highly illustrated throughout, and most of the photos I have not seen before. One other little detail which I don't recall reading before is the inclusion of just how the JgdPz 38(t) came to be known as the 'Hetzer'.
There are plenty of books available on German AFVs of WW2, but this growing series of books from Thomas Anderson really is one of the most informative collections that I know of, and this one is no exception. For the historian there is plenty to glean from this one while for the modeller there is a lot of photo references in here which you might like to consider for a future model. A prime example that struck me were the pictures of the Jagdpanthers used for driver training, with the gun aperture simply plated over as no gun was fitted. This is a series which is well worth reading if you haven't already discovered them, and if you have, I am confident that this new one will not disappoint you.
Thanks to Osprey for the review copy.

Robin