A valuable addition to a very popular series. – This reviewer wonders about the addition of ‘special’ to some books in the Images of War Series, because they are all special. However this book is well up to standard for the series – Highly Recommended.
NAME: Images of War Special, The Panzer IV, Hitler's Rock FILE: R2559 AUTHOR: Anthony Tucker-Jones, illustration David Lee Hemingway PUBLISHER: Pen & Sword BINDING: soft back PAGES: 123 PRICE: £25.00 GENRE: Non Fiction SUBJECT: WWII, World War 2, World War II, Second World War, armour, tanks, AFV, Armoured Fighting Vehicles, gun tank, flak tank, assault gun, mortar
ISBN: 1-47385-675-2
IMAGE: B2559.jpg BUYNOW: http://tinyurl.com/yayoegux LINKS: DESCRIPTION: A valuable addition to a very popular series. - This reviewer wonders about the addition of 'special' to some books in the Images of War Series, because they are all special. However this book is well up to standard for the series – Highly Recommended. The Pkw IV was not initially a great success, although it was never intended to take other tanks on face to face. Once it was up-gunned, the situation changed and this became a very versatile gun tank, also forming the basis for anti-aircraft gun platforms and assault guns. Having started WWII ahead of schedule, the Germans had great tactics and command of their armour, but their first tanks were less than impressive. Without the Czech 38t, they could have been in trouble, even in Poland. The Pkw III did provide a significant advance in capability and was to continue to serve well past its use by date. To keep it in contention it was modified, up-gunned and used as a chassis for assault gun versions. When the PKW IV entered service it seemed to be a further significant advance in capability but its lack of an adequate gun placed it at risk when encountering an enemy gun tank. It was to serve in all theatres where German armour was deployed and it gave a good account of itself. Like the earlier Pkw III it continued in production and service when it should have been withdrawn from tank to tank fighting. The failure to replace the Pkw IV in first line service was partly a consequence of the highly successful Allied bombing campaign which seriously disrupted production, the growing lack of war materials, and a failure to fix the development and production objectives. Too much time was wasted on adding complexity to new designs and accommodating Hitler's obsession with 'super' tanks that were too large, too heavy and too cumbersome. With better early control on design, development and manufacture, Germany could have had a tank with similar capabilities to the Panther before the Russian T-34 entered service. In the early stages there was over confidence that German Lightning War would give victory on all fronts very quickly. When that belief was proved unfounded, Germany then had to follow the enemy developments with the Panther specifically designed to counter an existing enemy threat in the form of the T-34. The result was that the Pkw III and the Pkw IV soldiered on and what should have been their successors would arrive before they had been adequately tested and enhanced, and in much fewer numbers than were demanded by the battle environment. However hard their crews fought, these tanks had lost the edge they needed.