PANTHER : Panther and Jagdpanther Units – The Eastern Front – From Operation Bagration to Berlin. Part2

Author & Illustrator: Dennis Oliver & Stephen Andrew
Publisher: BWP Bookworld Publishing
ISBN No: 978 0 9876013 84
Cover Type: Card Cover
Review by Bill Curtis

This paperback publication is A4 size printed on good quality glossy paper, consisting of 33 pages, 8 colour pages of two side views per page, 5 uniform half page drawings with colour camouflage small plates and insignia and twenty black and white period photographs

This publication is divided into seven sections as follows:
Introduction
Building the Panther Battalions
The Panther battalions of the Herr
Vehicle Profiles
Uniform Plates
The Jagdpanther and Jagdpanther Battalions
The Jagdpanther in Panzer Units

The introduction deals with former books which covered the eastern battles and while the first book in the series dealt with the Herr numbered formations up to Panzer Regiment 25 this volume continues the story.

Building the Panther Battalions is a single page listing the Regiments, formation first allocation date and date sent into action.

Panther Battalions of the Herr cover Panzer Regiment 26 through 39 with a potted history of each. Panzer Abteilung 5 was the only such unit equipped with the Panther and this is covered at the end of this section.

The vehicle profiles are arranged in date order from the autumn to winter 1944 irrespective of branch of service. A side view is shown in colour with extra photos and sketches of unit markings along with various items of interest like the track hangers and IR stowage box.

The uniform profiles are large and give a good rendition of the kit worn by the panzer crewmen and described in some detail. The drawing, are almost the full height of the page, are accompanied by photographs of further details such as belt buckle, M43 panzer field cap and insignia.

The Jagdpanther was the result of finding a vehicle to mount the 8.8cm gun and its cumulated in arguably the best self-propelled gun of WWII.A brief history of the vehicle and the organisation of an Abteilung is first described and then followed by unit histories .

The last part of the book deals with the Jagdpanther in Panzer units and eight unit histories are detailed in a small space.

Conclusions

For a small book this volume is packed with information which can be used as a starting point to explore more about this fascinating vehicle and the men who fought them. The subject of the Eastern Front started with “To The Last Bullet” and Panther Vol1 and 2 continue the story and will be followed by Volume 3 in the future. I have been a fan of these books for some years and hope that Bookworld Publishing (this being their first) will have success with this series and other projects.

VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Bill C.

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