Panzerwrecks 20: Ostfront 3

Panzerwrecks 20 was the third volume to collect photographs from the late in the war on the Eastern Front. The pictures all come from the Russian Central Military Archives taken by the 17th Air Army from the fighting in Hungary around Lake Balaton, which was one of the last major armored actions between the Germans and Soviets. After ground assault operations the Air Army would send out units to travel through the battlefield to check on how its planes did.There’s a short intro on the famous Illyushin II-2 ground attack planes better known as the Sturmovik and their different weapons packages, which were used by the Air Army, along with the tactics they used going after ground targets.Then the pictures start which is why people buy these books. There is a great selection as usual. What sets Panzerwrecks apart from other World War II armor collections is the amount of research the authors do on each picture. That work is put into the captions describing the photos.You get the usual mix of Paz IVs, Panthers, Jagdpanzers, and StuGs. There are also a few color prints of specific pictures. The standouts are several Tiger IIs from the sPz Abts 503 and Feldherrnhalle, a Hungarian Nimrod self-propelled anti-aircraft vehicle from the 2nd Armored Division, and a shot from a train station where a whole number of destroyed vehicles had been parked. What’s remarkable is that by this time in the war there were very few armored confrontations on the western front. These pictures show that's because most of the tanks and SPGs were deployed on the east where they were chewed up by the Soviet war machine.This is another great addition to the Panzerwrecks series and would be sought after by any World War II German army enthusiast.

... the book starts with 5 pages of information on Russian ground attack aircraft, armament, & tactics before continuing with the usual twisted German (& Hungarian) wreckage. The entire book, this time, is about the Balaton battles in early 1945. Pictures are from a Russian archive that are mostly unpublished.

This is the 20th volume of a wonderful series of photo books of rare photographs. I look forward to Volume 21 later this year.

Another great book in this series. I recommend this series to all who have interest in World War II and for modelers wishing to recreate armored vehicles.

Great, a continuation of the series

I only recently discovered (or rather became properly aware of) the Panzerwrecks series of publications. I've subsequently bought numerous issues from the series, plus the very interesting Repairing The Panzers (vol. I) and the completely brilliant Nürnberg's Panzer Factory.This is one of several Ostfront themed publications from the series (I'm still awaiting delivery of the Ostfront 2 issue, which I ordered at the same time). It's not my favourite nor the best in the overall Panzerwrecks series. But it's still very good and well worth having. Unlike most of the other Panzerwrecks titles I've bought so far, the images here appear to all come from one source. And that would ultimately be the official Russian records cataloging German materiel.Consequently what you get is a series of numbered wrecks, taking their number not from the usual German turret ID, but a Russian inventory list of captured vehicles. As well as this narrower than usual focus, source wise, the quality of images is mostly just 'ok', as opposed to the often excellent stuff in many issues in the series. But as they say themselves, a poor or blurred picture is better than no picture at all.As usual a great range of material is covered, and most images get an entire page. Plus the captioning and other text is very conscientious and thorough, making the whole package highly informative. So, not the best of Panzerwrecks, but still chock full of images you're unlikely to have seen before/elsewhere, and definitely recommended, particularly to those interested in the Eastern Front.

a great book overloaded with great photos.

Great book from Panzerwrecks. A lot of information and some photos I have never seen before.

Another fine publication in this series

Bonjour;dans ce numéro 20,voici le troisième tome sur le front est;photos de bonnes qualités en général,moins que d'habitude car étant en grande partie tirées des photos d'archives soviétiques.gros plans sur les blindés et autres véhicules allemands détruits dans les derniers temps de la guerre,agrémentés de quelques profils couleurs de certains engins en photos;toujours accompagnés de commentaires;bon travail soigné et sérieux;recommandé aux maquettistes et passionnés de l'Ostfront