The History of the Panzerwaffe: Volume I: 1939–42 (General Military)

Thomas Anderson has seen to come on the scene quite forcefully in the last year or so, and I have to say it is a nice addition. I’m a history buff and a scale modeler and was looking at the book from both aspects. He provides information I hadn’t read before. He goes into great depth about unit organizations for instance, which is interesting but also kind of dull but seems to interest him a great deal. For scale modelers I would recommend it. This has a great deal of photos for reference, especially at the price. A lot of other texts that have as many photos cost a great deal more. There are grammatical errors in the text which should have been found, so maybe a shortcut there as others have noted. I found it a far text with a plethora of great panzer pictures, and for that I recommend it.

Very informative about the German thinking on tank warfare, gives an good information about the reasons for the great success in the beginning of the war. With less armor, less powerful cannon but with superior crew an more functional radio,sighting and better vision for the commander they obtained an extraordinary superiority. The book is pointing better the importance and the quality of the Pkw 35 (t) and Pkw 38 (t)I did really enjoy reading this book

... with a proofreader or a better editor. Some of the text borders on gibberish & the text sections in outline form are all screwed up in places, esp. the 1st chapter, but improves in later chapters. The author is better than this, so I'm guessing the book was rushed into print for some reason before it was ready. There is plenty of useful information & helpful charts. The photo captions are pretty good throughout, but the biggest positive is that there are lots of unpublished photos from the author's & other private archives as well as from NARA & Getty.Hoping Vol. 2 wasn't as rushed as this one appears to be.

Books of this type are usually dry, and this one is certainly more of a photo essay than a detailed account, but it was a page-turner none the less. A fascinating combination of after-action reports, rare photographs, and a glimpse into the decisions that shaped the Panzerwaffe. Although I have read extensively about WWII. this is the first time I truly understand why the Panzer divisions were constructed and armed the way they were. I'm really looking forward to the next book of the pair. Highly recommended!

The Panzers of WW2 have earned their legendary reputation not through strength of numbers but through good tactics and the quality of the German tank men training. Covers the early years of the blitzkrieg up to the invasion of Russia in 1941 where the Germans met their match in the t 34

The book suffers from some editing problems but, overall. it offers a good account about theories and practice of armored warfare developed in Germany between the two world wars. Interesting readings.

Interesting organization and some pretty good panzer photos , but distinct lack of color and graphics in the layout. Don't think I will bother with the 2nd volume because I have so many other books on late war panzers

Good overview. This Osprey series gives what you expect - good text, nice period photographs and excellent artwork.

Simplistic and lacking depth. There are better sources out there - and the book absolutely does not live up to the high reviews offered by the press or to its press releases. Go look up the Lexikon der Wermacht website and learn about the panzer forces there - its free and from the Bundesarchiv.

Anderson provides an interesting and detailed history of the German tank development in the period between WW1 and the first half of WW2 (1942) by combining decades of knowledge in this field as well as an extended reseach in various archives. The developments of the German tank division is highlighted from the technical challenges and innovations (from production to design perspectives), as well as the organizational challenges the army faced at that time and its competition. Furthermore, the book contains interesting background information by action reports (mostly translated from the German archives outlining shortages, action reports and challenges), as well as well described photographs, often highlighting specific and interesting details. All in all, the challenge the German engineers faced at that time are well understood and explained (being an industrial engineer myself, I found it quite interesting with sufficient details).Am looking forward for the 2nd volume that will cover the period 1942 - 1945. Specifically, this book focusses on early German tanks (including the LaS and LaS 100, or Panzerkampf. I and II, up to pznr. kampf. IV. The second volume will cover the Panther (Panzerkampf V), Tiger (Panzerkampf VI) and other tanks, like the King Tiger. On a side note, the Tiger is also described separately by Anderson, and so will the Panther be.

Given as a present and was well received

Pese a ser un libro extenso (300 páginas en la edición en papel), contiene una información muy superficial y, en ocasiones, inexacta. Además, hace un uso excesivo del recurso a copiar literalmente fragmentos de diarios de operaciones y una clara falta de esfuerzo de síntesis para llegar a interpretaciones y conclusiones propias.En el lado positivo, hay que decir que contiene unas magníficas fotografías.

Sehr interessantes Buch. Es konzentriert sich auf viele Berichte. Viele technische Aspekte ohne politische Beachtung. Ich meine, es fehlt mehr industrielle Analysen.