Concord Publishing

Battle on Two Fronts 1944-45

by  Tom Cockle & Douglas Jameson

Reviewed By  Howie Belkin, IPMS# 16

MSRP: $17.95 ISBN: 962-361-077-7 No. 7048 Armor at War Series, Softcover 8 1/2" x 11" 76 pages, more than 200 black and white photos, 16 color profiles. Review copy courtesy of Dragon Models USA (Link to - Dragon/Concord) Like most Concord books, this title incorporates a brief introduction and then presents its "show and tell" story with a plethora of never before seen photos and captions, topped with superb color side views that complete the tale. As with most other books in the series, the subject is German military vehicles and in this case, specifically the last year of WWII on both the ETO and Russian fronts. Therefore, by definition, in addition to the many combat and in action photos of the usual inventory of late war German machines, you'll find a lot of KO'ed and abandoned vehicles, many in transit to a battlefield and others retreating, some rare one of a kinds, and almost all offer the modeler either painting or diorama references. Though a couple of Allied vehicles sneak in, this is a German vehicle photo album and perhaps a sub-title should say so. Tom Cockle begins the photo essay on the Western Front, from Normandy to Berlin. He has a wealth of knowledge that he freely passes along, identifying the units (though markings are often obscured by foliage camo) and their situations (i.e. "Two Panther Ausf.G from II/Pz.Rgt. 33 of 9 Panzer-Division… on 10 June 1944 the divisions reported strength was 78 Pz.Kpfw.IV and 40 Panthers"). He points out rarities like a field uparmored Sd.Kfz.251/9 Ausf.C with additional armored plate running along the top of the crew compartment (I wonder who the German people complained to when their men had to hillbilly uparmor their vehicles themselves?) In addition to clearly showing their camo schemes, I found many of the photos valuable for showing stowage, battle damage and specific time-and-place that can translate into modeling a specific vehicle in an exact time and place (i.e. a Panther Ausf.G 1./SS-Pz.Rgt.12 with supporting infantry in Caen's rubble.) Modelers who hate zimmerit will be pleased that many vehicles shown were produced after application of zimmerit was discontinued. There is one photo of an overturned (by Allied engineers) Panther Ausf.A that seems to confirm that there was no huge Tamiya logo embossed on the underbelly <w>. The color side views are expertly done by Douglas Jameson and though the paint schemes may not offer anything extraordinarily rare, some of the subject matter (all are based upon photos in the book) certainly is. For example, one illustrates the only Pz.Kpfw.VI P to be used in combat; another is of an incomplete Maus turret fitted on a chassis for inspection by Heinz Guderian, another is of one of the twelve Jagdtigers using the Porsche suspension and one is one of two Flakpanzer IV 'Kugelblitz' rushed to Berlin in March 1945. This book is recommended as a reference on German vehicles on both fronts during the last year of the war. It is not THE definitive book for the subject matter as that would take several books or one huge volume to be handled properly. At $17.95 I feel it's a little pricey for a soft covered book but it's priced in line and less than the Osprey series, and produced for the modeler. It is available in better hobby shops and bookstores or go to Concord Publications web site (www.concord-publications.com) . Many thanks to Dragon USA for the review copy.

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