Panther Tanks: Germany Army and Waffen-SS, Normandy Campaign 1944 (TankCraft 3) Free download: https://wz.d-ld.net/af0c36835f Publisher: Pen & Sword, 2017, EPUB, 16 pages, 30 MB The Tiger I and Tiger II tanks are arguably the most famous armoured fighting vehicles of the Second World War. This book, the first in the TankCraft series, uses archive photos and extensively researched colour illustrations to examine the tanks and units of the German Army and Waffen-SS heavy Panzer formations that attempted to hold back the Red Army during 1944. In addition the book features a gallery of beautifully constructed and painted models and a showcase of available model kits and aftermarket products in various scales. Technical details as well as modifications introduced during production and in the field are also examined, providing everything the modeller needs to recreate an accurate representation of the tanks that fought from the snow covered fields of Byelorussia and the Ukraine, through the Baltic States and into Poland and Hungary. A Panther ausf A photographed in late August near Falaise. Although it is not possible to identify the unit to which this tank belonged with any certainty, the pattern of Zimmerit, so often seen on vehicles assembled by MNH and the metal hooks used to hold lengths of track which are here welded directly to the turret side, suggest this tank may have served with Panzer-Regiment 24, attached to 116.Panzer-Division. The armoured fighting vehicles which had served the German Army throughout the initial Blitzkrieg period had proved more than adequate, allowing the Panzers to storm through Poland and to bring the French Army to its knees in a matter of weeks. With the surrender of France and the evacuation of the British Army from the Continent, Hitler considered the Western Front to be secure and almost immediately ordered his generals to prepare for an invasion of Soviet Russia, expecting that his fast-moving armoured units would meet with the success that they had by now come to regard as routine. The codename for the coming operation would be, as many readers will know, Barbarossa. The Wehrmacht’s knowledge of the Red Army’s tank force had been acquired almost completely through their observations of friendly Soviet units in Poland in 1939 and Russian films and newspaper reports. The latter were of course largely propaganda efforts designed to impress the outside world with the sheer number of tanks the Russians would be able to mobilise in the event of war. Perhaps quite deliberately the Soviet government created the impression that their armoured units were composed of light or outdated models and this is what the Germans believed. The very existence of the T-34 medium and KV heavy tanks was concealed and it therefore came as quite a shock when on 23 June 1941, less than 48 hours after the commencement of the invasion, German units encountered the first T-34 and K-V1 and K-V2 tanks. These Russian tanks proved especially deadly to the lighter German models, which made up the bulk of the Panzerwaffe, inflicting heavy casualties on the Czech-built 35(t) tanks of Panzer-Regiment 11 and destroying their supporting anti-tank screen by simply running over the guns and their crews. Elsewhere, on the same day, the Pzkw IV tanks of Panzer-Regiment 1, armed with the 75mm gun, found that they needed to close to ranges of less than 100 metres in order to stop a T-34 or KV. The success of these Soviet types is even more impressive when it is considered that the Germans deliberately avoided tank versus tank actions during the first stages of the operation. As the campaign dragged on it became all too clear that the Red Army was not beaten and although most of the Soviet tank force had been destroyed within the first two weeks of the commencement of Operation Barbarossa, the Russians always seemed capable of replacing their losses, horrendous as they were. It was obvious that a better armoured, more powerful tank would be needed in the coming months and as early as November 1941 a committee made up of army officers, weapons designers and representatives of the various manufacturers was tasked with finding a solution and immediately set about studying the Russian designs. It is probable, in fact almost certain, that the name Panther was chosen at this time. Panther tanks of I.Abteilung, Panzer-Regiment 16 of 116.Panzer-Division probably photographed at the Grafenwöhr training grounds in Germany during the late summer of 1944 as indicated by the debris guard over the mantlet of the second tank in line. The battalion’s training would not be completed in time for these tanks to take part in the Normandy battles and their place within the division was filled by I.Abteilung, Panzer-Regiment 24. Although the gun barrel of each tank appears to be painted in the dark grey heat resistant primer used at the assembly plants, some attempt has been made to cover them with camouflage paint, possibly Rotbraun. At far left is a copy of the Panther-Fibel, an illustrated manual issued to Panther crews from 1944.