Book Review: Montgomery's Rhine River Crossing, Operation Plunder, Jon Diamond (Images of War)

Over five chapters - Strategic Prelude; Terrain, Fortification and Weapons; Commanders and Combatants; Clearing the Rhineland; Rhine River Crossings and Airborne Assault - supported by a number of maps and lots of excellent photographs, author Jon Diamond gives a solid and comprehensive account of Montgomery's Rhine river crossings.

Monty.

Book Review: 7th SS at War, Ian Baxter (Images of War)

As the cover blurb for this book informs us, Pen and Sword's Images of War series now has numerous volumes dedicated to various SS formations, this being (like it's subject!) the seventh. And from what I gather from reading further they may all be by Ian Baxter. 

Whilst the comprehensiveness of the aim is great, the execution isn't quite up to par with the best in the IoW line. I say this because more of the images herein are either of related units - such as Gebirgsjäger (mountain troops), regular Wehrmacht or Bulgarian forces, or SS troops who may or may not actually be Prinz Eugen - than are clearly and definitively of the stated/titular subject. This and the fairly poor quality of some images occasionally make this feel a bit thin and cobbled together. Still, as the Panzerwrecks guy's are fond of saying, a poor quality image is better than no image at all.

This fellow isn't in the book.

Nor this one neither (I don't think?).

In just over 100 pages, organised as five very short chapters, each preceding blocks of captioned photos, Baxter's main body of text is okay. Very brief and outline like, it does at least stay closer to its core subject than does the visual element. The history of the unit is covered, from its formation to its demise, with coverage of its major deployments/operations and some info on commanders.

Prinz Eugen's main theatre of operations was the rugged and brutal Balkans, where Nazi ideology was pursued with utmost ruthlessness. The 7th SS were instrumental in this, being constantly deployed in anti-insurgency capacities that frequently included merciless reprisals for partisan activity, routinely visited indiscriminately on the local civilian population. No winning hearts and minds here. Whilst Baxter mentions this frequently in the text, there's very little imagery on this aspect, aside from a few relatively innocuous looking round-up/interrogation photos (of course what happened next may have been far worse). [1]

When you see that Odal rune, you know it's Prinz Eugen.

Neither this chap, nor the one above, are in the book.

On the positive side, and despite the fact that the images that are certainly of Prinz Eugen forces aren't always as clear or as copious as one might wish for, the subject is a very interesting one. Called a volunteer (Freiwilligen was part of the original unit title) and Mountain (Gebirgs) unit, it was in fact made up of conscripted troops as well as volunteers. And, as with other units operating in the same region, such as SS Handschar, it stretched or diluted the Aryan superman ideology that was a central tenet of the SS/Nazi creed.

Perhaps in keeping with the inherent racism in this scheme, Prinz Eugen, like more and more units in the German armed forces as time went on was, whilst basically armed and equipped as German troops, issued with less 'purely' Teutonic high-end gear. This is a theme Baxter and the photographs substantiate at several points, and is of interest to us WWII gear nuts.

French tanks of Prinz Eugen, in impressively rugged settings.*

A Czech ZB-53 or MG-37 machine-gun in German service. *

But perhaps best and most noteworthy off all, the landscapes in which Prinz Eugen fought are also sublime, in the original romantic sense, meaning both beautiful and yet terrifying/inhuman. And the weather was equally extreme. The war that was fought in this pitiless natural paradise brought hell to earth in a Dantean way whose repercussions have echoed down into later days. But whilst Baxter touches on the WWII aspects of 7th SS' part in this long-running and often ethnically based tragedy, no real mention is made of the long-term roots or latter 20th Century aftermath.

Some of the picture captioning is redundantly repetitious of stuff in the main text (or other previous captions), and occasionally looks either a bit lazy or slapdash, as when the caption to an image of greatcoat wearing troops without any other visible gear crossing a rickety wooden footbridge opines about the slow progress made in such rugged terrain by heavily laden troops. The caption is of course quite correct. But it doesn't sit well with the accompanying image, which shows very lightly burdened soldiers. [2]

Prinz Eugen troops scaled mountains... *

... trudged through mud and snow... *

... and relied on horses and mules as much as trucks and armour. *

Despite all my criticisms, I do like this book, and it is very interesting/useful reference. I imagine over time I'll try and collect all of Baxter's IoW titles on the SS. But it could fairly easily have been somewhat better. And I wish it was. Nevertheless, well worth adding to your library if you're a WWII history obsessive. Especially so if you're particularly interested in the Germans and the SS during WWII (as I am), obviously.

---

NOTES:

* Any images marked with an asterisk appear in this book. The others don't.

[1] The only image that I feel really captures this aspect of the conflict is a photo on p. 101, (shown below) of a group of prisoners sat in a field. Mostly they're young men, but there are a few women, and there's a fair range of ages. The fear and apprehension in their faces is palpable and chilling. The caption says they're captured partisans. And perhaps they are. Whether or not they are, they seem to know their fate will not be a happy one.

Faces that say, 'uh-oh...' *

[2] I always feel a bit bad, nit-picking on errors in books such as this which, for any/all their faults, are both very useful, and the work of people as passionate about their interests in the subject no doubt as I am. But on the other hand, we should all strive for the best we can, and especially so where the enterprise is also commercial. So for example the combo of poorly cropped image and subsequently redundant caption in the lower portion of page 94, in which we see naught but a soldier's head and the empty sky, and not the pack animals the caption refers to, shouldn't have passed the editorial process.

Inclusion of a few artefacts, such as this I.D. badge would've been nice.

Book Review: M36/M36B1 Tank Destroyer, Dennis Oliver (Images of War)

NB: Sometines I illustrate these reviews with pics from the book under review, and sometimes from imagery found elsewhere. In this instance all the images used here can also be found in the book.

This came rather serendipitously right after I'd finished reading/reviewing the Tank Craft title on the M10. Basically an up-gunning from the M10 which, due to the larger armament (up from 75mm to 90mm) also entailed a new turret design, albeit designed along very similar lines to the M10.

Dennis Oliver's above mentioned book looks at the M10 in British service, which has come to be known as the Achilles, as it served in the latter stages of the war in Western Europe. This Images of War title differs in several ways: a smaller format (closer to A5 than A4), more pages, and slightly broader coverage (inc. post-WWII usage, in Korea and elsewhere).

Cpl. Herbert winter whitewashing his M36, Luxembourg, Jan '45.

In a manner somewhat similar to another recent Images of War title I've just read and reviewed, on the M29 Weasel, this makes much heavier use of images of contemporary surviving examples of these vehicles than I'm used to. But whereas the Weasel book was overly weighted to the latter, on this occasion the balance is much better.

There are some fabulous series of archival images here, such as the Massey Harris production-line photos, and a series showing the aftermath of a towed M36 tank that's overturned on an icy road. The first 100 or so pages cover the M36, with just a short section at the end looking at the M36B1.

Lt. Boutillier inspects recently arrived M36, France, 1944.

I won't go into great detail about the vehicle, that's what these books do so well. Personally I love these books, and find them both very inspiring and very useful in relation to my modelmaking and wargaming hobbies. Definitely recommended.

Crew rest beside their disabled M36B1, Germany, '45.

Book Review: Images of War, Hitler's HQs, Ian Baxter

N.B. This is one of those occasional archival posts I do, started ages ago, and then forgotten about. Having subsequently read and reviewed another Ian Baxter Images of War title, I thought I'd return to the unfinished draft of this and get it done and online.

Having only just read Hugh Trevor Roper's book on Hitler's last days, I picked up a copy of this book cheap (I believe I paid £5), at a model show, some while back. If I'd paid the full retail asking price, I'd have been a bit miffed, for several reasons. So let's get the critical stuff out of the way.

The first thing that struck me was how many pictures here aren't of the subject, but are just general WWII German stuff, only very tenuously connected to the books subject, if at all. That was after a first glance through the pictures. The second was the catalogue of typos, lumpen prose, and even captioning mistakes, when I came to read the text. There are, sadly, times when specialist literature such as this seems to slip through the editorial net. One does have to wonder, in an instance such as this, if an editor even looked at it.

Hitler sitting outside/beside his train, Amerika.

Nice colour photo of Amerika, showing the loco' and a flak carriage.

On the positive side, there is a good deal of info here on Hitlers numerous HQ, including a number of decent pictures, and this is a very fascinating topic. As well as the static installations, Hitler's trains are covered (although more and better info on this latter would've been good). Another plus is the then and now contrast, where the author shows some more recent images of what's become of some of these installations. Sadly, and creating historical lacunae, due to the toxicity of Hitler's racial/ideological policies, these fascinating and historically important sites are not being conserved (for fear they'd become celebrated/shrines to the Führer, etc.), in fact quite the reverse.

Personally speaking, I think this instalment of the often very good Images of War series needs re-doing: editorially it needs correcting and tightening up, and pictorially it needs to be 'on topic' in a more focussed way. Plans of the various HQ, for example - surely they must exist? - would be a good addition.

Hitler and staff at Wulfschanze, East Prussia.

This arrival scene shows how heavily wooded the Wolf's Lair was.

Bombed out remains at Obersalzberg, in the Bavarian Alps, 1945.

Baxter includes some of his own pictures, similar to the one above, showing Wolfschanze as it is now. The installations were gutted, dynamited, and left to be reclaimed by nature.

Book Review: Tank Craft 13, Tiger I & Tiger II Tanks, 1945

This is my first Tank Craft series experience. I was fortunate to be sent a review copy by Pen & Sword, as the £14.99 price is quite dear. First impressions are great: plenty of contemporary photographs, several pages of very good colour plates, showing markings and camouflage, and loads of info on various brands of available kits, including several detailed and very impressive build examples.

One of the photos used in the book. [1]

The degree of detail such specialist publications go into is extraordinary. It's amazing how much interest in WWII there is, and how almost every nut and bolt of every individual Panzer can be traced and accounted for. Truly astonishing! The amount of resources available to us enthusiasts is terrific. And if this example is typical of Dennis Oliver's contributions to the field, he's a top drawer contributor to this embarrassment of riches.

Steve Shrimpton's Dragon-based 1/72 model particularly appeals to me. [2]

In addition to what I've already mentioned, there are all sorts of other aspects covered here: maps, timelines, individual unit organisations and histories, and so on. For a publication the size of a typical A4 glossy magazine, there's a massive amount of extremely interesting and useful info here. Very impressive! Oh dear... now I want more!

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I do happen to have a recently acquired Zvezda snap-fit Tiger II. I'm planning to build it as this:

... the King Tiger from the Bovington Tiger Collection. I'm sure having this book will help me when I get around to making it.

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NOTES:

[1] Interestingly almost all the photographs are of knocked out or abandoned Tigers, mostly taken by Allied photographers. This superb picture is quite heavily cropped in the book, to focus on the tank, rather than the rather picturesque setting.

[2] Most the models appear to be 1/35. The info on models, accessories and so on is superb, and very useful.

Book Review: Images of War, The Armour of Rommel's Africa Korps, Ian Baxter

Author Ian Baxter's CV, as given in the front of this book, looks impressively diverse and prolific. I initially thought this might be my first book by him, but then realised I've got and have read his book from the same series about Hitler's various HQs.

The narrative element of the text is very minimal, being confined to three short year-themed chapters: Desert Blitzkrieg, 1941; Attack & Retreat, 1942; Destruction in Tunisia, 1943. A larger portion of text, by volume, is given over to the captions to the 161 or so black and white photos.

The Pz III, along with Pz IV, formed the backbone of DAK's armour. [1]

Titles in the Images Of War series pretty much always make the bold claim, as is the case here, that they feature 'rare and unpublished photographs'. Unlike Baxter, 'an avid collector of WW2 photographs' (according to the back cover blurb), I'm not expert enough to pass judgement on the truth or otherwise of this bold claim. But I will say that the more of these books I collect and read, I am impressed with how rarely I recognise pics from other sources.

As no picture sources are credited (they normally are in other titles from the Images of War series), I imagine these must all be from Baxter's personal collection. Sometimes being sourced this way can mean some of the pictures aren't of the highest quality. And there are a few here so blurred I'd have left them out myself. But by and large picture quality is acceptable through to very good. And there's an awful lot here for the military buff, modeller or wargamer to chew over, digest and enjoy.

The Sturmpanzer II Bison, mounting the 15cm sIG 33 gun.

I think the use of the word armour in the title is possibly a little misleading because, as Baxter says in his intro, he covers everything from halftracks and wheeled reconnaissance vehicles to armoured cars, SPGs and tanks. To my mind the word armour conjures up tanks, and little else. On the other hand, whilst the vehicles pictured do include some motorcycles and softskins (cars and trucks, etc.), mostly it is armoured vehicles.

These range all the way through, from the early light Pz Is and IIs, to the medium IIIs and IVs, even including Tiger Is. Although, re the latter (and like so often with German tech), it was too little too late. Most of the vehicles here are very familiar. Less well known to me, and therefore more interesting, were the pics of Bison II SPGs. That's one I'm going to have to build in 1/72!

North Africa and the campaigns there have never drawn my interest as much as other theatres of WWII. And this book, as interesting and useful as it is, hasn't really changed that. But I do now feel I know a little more about the materiel Rommel and his fellow Germans (and to a much lesser degree the Italians) had to work with.

A really great picture! [2]

One of my favourite photographs shows a Me 323 Gigant disgorging an Opel Maultier towing an artillery piece. I like it because both the plane and the tracked truck are somewhat unusual, and both are quite striking looking. Another particularly good spread is a series of four photos showing a Tiger crew servicing/replacing an engine, and then having a well earned tuck break!

There's no index, glossary or bibliography, all of which would be useful. But there are three appendices, the first giving DAK OOB, and the second and third listing vehicle types and variants. Sadly this is one of these special interest books slightly marrred by lack of editorial finesse, with quite a lot of information in the captions being repeated, and a few too many spelling errors or questionable relations between captions and descriptions.

I read this in its entirety in just a couple of hours. There really isn't that much text. It's not the best written or most exciting WWII book I've read, by a long stretch. But it's still a good addition to the WWII history nut's book collection, mainly thanks to the images.

There are quite a lot of pictures of Rommel and other DAK (and even Italian) staff. [3]

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NOTES:

[1] This is one of a number of pictures where the captioning seemed a bit off the mark. Described as having 'halted at the side of the road', the projectile clouds of dust and sand being fed through the the tracks on the right/starboard sides of the first two tanks suggests they're in fact in fairly rapid motion!

[2] This is an example of a picture that was easy to find online, being a Wikimedia Commons/Bundesarchiv image.

[3] Given the title of this book I thought there were a few too many shots of Rommel and/or brass in conference or reading maps. And again, the one shown above, which appears in the book, was relatively easy to find online. 

Book Review: To The Gates of Moscow - Türk/Urbanke

NOTE: the images in this post are from the book, and are used with the publisher's permission. They are not to be copied or reproduced elsewhere. [1]

Wow! What a fantastic book. I'm really interested in both the Napoleonic and the German invasions of Russia, and have quite a lot of books on both campaigns. This large landscape format hardback is easily one of the best on the latter.

Türk (at left) and his men in their Horch 901, WH 95712 (14th July, 1941)

A rest stop, Türk, sitting centre, has been wounded (21st July, 1941).

Like Napoleonic soldier and war artist/diarist Albrecht Adam, who returned from the ill-fated expedition of 1812 long before the end of that disastrous campaign, medical officer Herman Türk returned to Germany, due to a serious leg wound received outside Moscow, long before the end of the Nazi debacle in Russia. So this is necessarily a truncated account of what went on to become an appallingly epic conflict, of far longer duration than Napoleon's ill-fated campaign.

Although this is only a partial account, for reasons already mentioned, it is nonetheless an epic tome, at 468 pages. There are 444 photos, most of them taken by either Türk or one of his associates of which 244 are in colour (he had two cameras, one using black and white and the other colour film); a truly fantastic record. The text, in both German and English, is based on Herman Türk's diary entries, starting with departure from Berlin for the Barbarossa jumping off point, and then, moving near the spearhead of the attack, almost all the way to Moscow.

The wounded doc's field surgery, (August 4th, '41).

Wehrmacht concert, Palitskaya (7th August, '41). [2]

As well as Türk's diary entries and photographs, there's an accompanying text, by Axel Urbanke, which helps contextualise the day by day detail of Türk's story, and lots of colour maps. Sadly the map captions are in German only. All in all this an amazing resource for those whow, like me, have a stronger than average interest in this most cataclysmic of conflicts. The photographs, both black and white and colour, are a real treasure trove. Even though they are of varying quality, some being quite blurred, nevertheless they are - the colour pics in particular - incredibly evocative.

They also cover things one doesn't usually see in books on this subject: thanks to Herman Türk's role as a medic, we both read about and see more of death and injury than in other accounts. It might seem odd to note this, but I've often been surprised myself at how little photographic evidence there is of the sanguine aspects of what was, after all, one of the bloodiest theatres of war in the world's bloodiest conflict ever. Urbanke points out that, whilst in WWI photographers were more or less free to picture whatever's they saw, during WWII official German policy was to not document death and suffering, for fear of effects on morale. I believe this was true of the Allies as well.

A typical Russian earthen road; what, when in military usage, Germans called a 'Rollbahn' 

(10th August, '41).

The interior of Türk's Horch 901 (August 10th) [3].

At the time of posting this I've just finished reading Türk's diary and the accompanying text. It's been intriguing to see how the darker side of the war on the Ostfront is dealt with. Right near the beginning Türk and several officer colleagues visit the Warsaw ghetto, where about 400,000 Jews were being kept in appalling conditions, prior to many of them being sent to even more terrible fates. Türk and his associates are shocked and disgusted by what they see, but there is no sign of any real sympathy/empathy, nor any deep-seated anti-Semitism.

Brief reference is occasionally made to the summary execution of the odd Russian prisoner or 'saboteur'. But the more hardcore stuff, what Alan Clark called 'the septic violence of Nazism', is notably absent, until, perhaps, they reach Tula, near the gates of Moscow. Summary executions and a policy of no quarter start to set in at this point. It's clear that Türk and his comrades in arms find this traumatic. But, as you'll often see depicted in more contemporary war films and documentaries, such normalisation of atrocities during war is not uncommon. [4]

Türk at work; replacements get their cholera injections.

Still early in the campaign, but look at the state of the roads! (August 31st, '41)

Indeed, not only Türk does not mention - until right at the end of his narrative (more on this later) - the 'not so much medieval as ... pre-Roman barbarism' (Clark), which undoubtedly occurred on a massive scale on the Ostfront, but instead he actually gives evidence that local contact was, initially at least, frequently quite friendly. This was a fairly widespread phenomenon in the early days of the campaign, and was perhaps even more so in Türk's case, due to his being in a medical unit.

In terms of the savage side of war, in general terms, what comes across most profoundly is the high level of suffering and loss within the German forces, and quite naturally so, given Türk's position as a German medic. Losses in units frequently reach near enough 100%; relatively early on in the campaign Türk's own unit, down to about 70 men, receives 500 replacements, to take the unit back to its original (albeit still understrength) numbers.

One might be surprised - I was - at how many photos in this book depict German graves. Türk doesn't only photograph these places where his fallen comrades are buried when they happen to be near at hand. He also goes out of his way to visit the graves of men he knew particularly well, and pay his respects. I wanted to include one of these grave pictures, but I was already pushing the envelope in terms of getting picture permissions with the ten pics I'm using here.

By October roads were truly appalling; teams of men haul trucks through 'rasputitsa' mud.

25th November, the snow starts to bite.

Having said all of this, as they near Moscow, towards the tail end of the book, things do get nastier;  Russian resistance stiffens, whilst concurrently the overextended German advance bogs down in the extreme Russian conditions, and due to very high rates of physical and mechanical attrition. Where before Russians were surrendering en masse, now Commissars, NKVD, and 'barrier' troops are executing 'cowards', and no quarter is given on either side in the particularly fierce fighting over Tula.

And where previously prisoners were interrogated and then sent to the rear, now the summary execution of captives starts to take over. Ironically this sort of thing frequently spirals in wartime, as much as a perceived tit for tat policy as a conscious embodiment of racist hatred. And once the spiral is initiated it tends to escalate.

Russian POWs (this pic is not from the book).

This is a nasty business, which Türk clearly dislikes, but does not necessarily disapprove of, excusing it as reprisals for Russian execution and mutilation of prisoners,and what many German troops refer to as Russian 'gangster methods', such as pretending to surrender and then shooting your would be captors, or hiding underground and only firing from very close when german troops have passed.

Retailing for around £70, plus or minus a bit - I got my copy in Folkestone, a the Euro Military Expo model show, for a whisker over £60 - this isn't cheap. But sometimes an expensive book is worth a higher than normal price. That's true of the gigantic and incredible Taschen complete works of Michelangelo, which we bought from Amazon for about £100. And it's also true of this very different but very compelling window into one of WWIIs most brutal campaigns.

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There are many grave site pics in this book (but this isn't one of them!).

NOTES:

[1] Normally I might've worked on them in Photoshop, to lesson the three-colour print process effects. But as I'd been asked by the publishers, Luftfahrtverlag Start, to add watermarks, I did so, and the left the pics as they appear here. They are in fact far nicer in real life!

[2] As noted in the body of my review, relations with locals weren't too bad at this point. And such seemingly innocent activities as communal musical festivities, or church services - both of which the Germans did indulge in whilst campaigning (there are pics of several church services!) - were not allowed in Stalinist Russia. Or, another way to look at it: not only did the Germans inflict their toxic racial policy on the natives of the Ostfront, they even forced their ghastly martial 'oompah' music on the hapless populace.

Oompah! (Not a pic from the book)

[3] The book is chock full of great pics for modellers to refer to when thinking of detailing, or dioramas.

[4] The complicity of the Wehrmacht in Nazi German racial crimes is not a topic this book explores. Nor do I, in my review of the book. Aside from the visit to the Warsaw Ghetto, and one or two references to the Commissar Order', such facets of the war in the East for lebensraum are nigh on invisible. That's not to say the Wehrmacht weren't at times and in places complicit, or that the crimes themselves didn't happen. Of course they did. And more so on the Eastern Front than anywhere else. But at the same time, I think we ought to have a balanced and open enough approach to sources such as Türk's diary, as presented here, to not tar all German's equally and all the time with the Hitler brush. It's clear from several comments in the diaries that Türk admired Hitler, and admired and trusted his military leaders. I'm currently reading Beevor's Stalingrad, in which Model is portrayed as an unpopular martinet. Maybe he went on to become one. But in the Türk diaries one gets the impression he's seen as a calm, unflappable soldier, and respected and admired by those under his command, who are often close to him. History is such a fascinatingly nuanced and complex topic!