Military Model Scene

Title: Sturmartillerie Crewman
Author: Simon Forty and Richard Charlton Taylor
Publisher: Casemate
ISBN: 978-1-63624-516-4

Covering Sturmgeschutze, Panzerjager and Panzerartillerie crews, this is another in the Casemate Illustrated series. A 128-page soft-cover book.
This one starts with a timeline of key events, stretching from 1940 through to 1945. In the following Introduction to the book it goes back to 1935, when Oberst Erich Manstein proposed the use of self-propelled artillery to be used to support the infantry of the German army. At the start of WW2 these ideas were still in their early stages, a new weapon which had a lot to learn from their early combat experience. The chapters tackle topics such as the soldiers who made up the crews, with crew titles that reflected their link to artillery rather than panzer troops, and the separate training schools for sturmartillerie and panzerjager crews and separate again for those in the SS. It includes the uniforms, insignia and awards used for these units. It moves on to cover the different vehicles they operated, the specific duties of each crew member in the assortment of vehicles they used. Then of course there are the various units, as they expanded through the war. Mobility even includes the different styles of ice cleats the guns used, before getting into their operational tactics, leading to a final conclusion to round things off.
Throughout the book there are plenty of personal accounts to illustrate the informative text, along with a lot of interesting archive photos, a we expect in this series. There are colour profiles and colour photos of some preserved examples, and I particularly liked the graphic charts of both the different Sturmartillerie vehicles and for the assorted Panzerjager. The Stug developed from mounting the short 75mm gun, for infantry support, while later versions had the long barrelled 75mm. Another quite striking point that the early Panzerjager was the Pz 1 based chassis, fitted with a 47mm gun. Just 5 years later, it contrasts with the 128mm gun armed Jagdtiger. Lots to like in this one, both in the text and with the reference photos that have been chosen. Good for armour historians and lots to interest the modeller as well I think.
Thanks to distributor Script Books for the review copy.

Robin