Military Model Scene

Title: The Kaiser's Panzers
Author: David Mitchelhill-Green
Publisher: Greenhill Books
ISBN: 978-1-80500-179-9

German Tanks of the First World War, a new addition to the Images of War series of books and another by author David Mitchelhill-Green, from Greenhill Books. This is one of the larger books in the Images of War series, a 259-page soft-cover book.
Spread over 9 chapters, this one starts with some of the ideas for tanks prior to WW1, particularly that of Austrian Gunter Burstyn, his 'motorgeschutz', as well as a variety of armoured cars. These were not actively pursued, leaving the way open for Britain and France to primarily develop the 'tank'. The British were the first to deploy tanks en masse, but many were knocked out or abandoned on the battlefield due to damage or to mechanical breakdown. Many were then recovered by the Germans, and some were refurbished/repaired by them for issue to their own tank units, using them as so-called Beutepanzer. It wasn't until 1917 that Germany produced their own tank, the A7V, which was only produced in small numbers, just 20 in all, plus some load carriers, the Uberlandwagen, using the same chassis. These large machines employed a large crew of 18 men. In the same way the British tanks, especially the Mark IV, were put into German service, so were the lighter Whippets. It encouraged the development of the Leichter Kampfwagen I/II which was used by Sweden. There are sections on wooden dummy tanks used as decoys, while one section I learnt from were the fate of various captured examples of the A7V, all of which are pictured. Elfriede went to France, Hagen and Schnuck came to Britain while Nixe II went to the USA. Sadly, after examination and exhibition, all of these were scrapped, none kept for a museum. Only Mephisto, sent to Australia, has survived.
This is the best collection of photos I have ever seen in one book showing not only the A7V and LK I/II, but the many examples of 'Beutepanzer', re-used British tanks. There are some sets of photos made from stills taken from newsreels and plenty of wrecks on the battlefield. Ideal for the armour enthusiast, and a feast of inspiration for modellers, especially with the variety of fine kits of WW1 tanks available in the marketplace these days. Interesting text plus extensive captions throughout the book, I have no hesitation in recommending this one.
Thanks to Greenhill Books, an imprint of Pen & Sword, for the review copy.

Robin