Panzergrenadier Divisions (The Essential Vehicle Identification Guide): 1939-45 [Hardcover]

Chris Bishop's Panzergrenadier Divisions 1939-45 offers an organizational outline, unit insignia, and brief history of each appropriate Wehrmacht unit. Even though the histories are not nearly as extensive as, for example, similar materials in the Stackpole series, they are easily understandable and competently done. Unfortunately, the photo selection is inadequate in number, occasionally questionable in captioning, almost completely generic, and seldom informative.
Even more unfortunately, the artwork, bought from/supplied by Alcaniz Freson's S.A., is even less than generic - it is misinformative. The computer generated images which form nearly two thirds of Panzergrenadier Divisions' content have almost nothing to do with the unit histories except that a certain unit had such a vehicle in its inventory at some time. The camouflage and specific details of the vehicles are often based on a photograph known to be of another unit, and some vehicles even carry markings identifying them with other units than the one assigned to them by their caption. A few images are repeated and assigned to different units; others have the vehicle misidentified.
When vehicles are used to illustrate a certain organization, a StuG-Batterie for example (page 111), the same image is repeated for each vehicle in the organization, leading to the false impression that each vehicle bore the same identifying number and camouflage pattern. Would it have been too much effort to individualize each vehicle with its proper number within the organization?
I cannot fathom what audience Amber Books Ltd is addressing. Surely anyone interested in this topic will recognize the inadequacy of the book's photos and graphics and will expect more detailed information than the text provides. The photos and graphics are too small for this to serve as a coffee-table book.
Good, unit specific photos and better artwork have long been available scattered about in other books, and this would have been an excellent opportunity to assemble them in one location along with reasonably thorough unit histories. This book is of minimum value, and more's the pity.

Here were some of the errors I detected:

Generic 1: all the AFV drawings have camouflage which bear no relation to those of the Divisions they once belonged, nor do yhey have the proper identifications.

Generic-2: the organization diagrams were frequently wrong or incomplete or portrayed on an inappropriate page.

Generic-3: the text seldom informs the OUTSTANDING German battle performance under very harsh conditions. They always only seems to suffer heavy casualties!!!

Page 21: (5th line): "southwestwards" must be "southeastwards".
Page 21: the photograph is of a PzKw IV of 13th Panzer Division entering the first mountains in the Caucasus west of Maikop medio August 42.
Page 21: On 12th January 1943 it destroyed with the 29rd ID mot over 100 Soviet tanks and repulsed 12 attacking divisions on a single day!
Page 23: All German motorised AND panzergrenadier divisions had 2 mech./motorised regiments and 1 artillery regiment. The div.organ. picture is wrong since the division never had a "103"rd regiment (source: S. Mitcham). Divisional units were numberered: 3 or 103.
Page 25: Unit designation to PzJg IV is from 10th Panzergrenadier Division: so Unit Designation must be: 3rd Pz.Gren.Div./ Pz.Jäger Kompanie 2 (?).
Page 32: "Guderian's divisions took Tula" is wrong because Guderian never took the city of Tula. Must be "Guderian's divisions attacked Tula".
Page 34: 10th Motorised remained in AG Centre. So it is more appropriate to describe its defensive battles than explaining Fall Blau on this page.
Page 43: The 13th (see Photo op page 21!) took Maikop with the Brandenburgers on the 9th of August 1942, later helping 3rd and 23rd Panzer Divisions in the drive towards Tblisisi. In the winter 42/43 it retreated into the Kuban bridgehead.
Page 47: Zhukov launched in December 1942 a massive offensive, called "Operation Mars" around the Rzhev Bulge with 4 attack Armies to pin down German forces which otherwise could have been send to the hard pressed AG South. This cost the Soviets huge (over 400.000 men) and the Germans moderate losses of 40.000 (source: D.Glantz). Involved on the German side: GD ID (mot) resisting the 22th Army and the 14th ID (mot) resisting the 39th Army.
Page 59: The GD division employed 198 Panthers type "D" (without a bow machine gun and old style "Tiger I like" cuppola) in 2 regiments. So the Drawing of the Panther on this page is quite inappropriate!!! Important: NO Panthers were present at Prochorovka.
Page 61: Glantz and others state losses around Kursk for the Germans between 5 and 18 July 1943 with 59.000 and the Soviets with 235.000.
Tanks and assault guns which were lost and could not repaired were: about 350 for the Germans and 1600 for the Soviets (= 50% of total losses).
After Kursk the Soviets launched a non-stop offensive in the Ukraine were losses on both sides were far much higher than at Kursk!!!
Page 68: Title: "Führer-Begleit Division" must be "Führer-Begleit Brigade" and page 70: Title: "Führer-Begleit Brigade" must be "Führer-Begleit Division"
Page 71: Last alinea: "to resist Pattons drive towards Bastogne the FGB was given a company of the last Elephant Tigers coming from the Italian front".
Page 74&75: Oberst "Fullreide" must be "Fullriede". He was also the famous commander of the heroic defense of Kolberg in 1945.
Page 77: Was this Wurfrahmen SdKfz in Italy there or were there the towed common Nebelwerfers??? The Wurfrahmen on SdKfz 251 appeared from medio 1944 onwards!!
Page 88: Many authors regarded the 116 "Windhund" Panzer Division as an elite unit.
Page 93: "Dugerdorf" (heights) was badly spelled and must be "Duderhof" (heights)
Page 98: Wehrmacht OR Heer not both: there is NO such Wehrmacht Heeres (and in this combination not known in German spelling too).
Page 107: When reconstructed it lost its 13th Infantry Regiment.
Page 118: 29th Panzergrenadier had most long barrelled PzKw IV's of al German Divisions on the Eastern Front and according many sources COULD have stopped the southern Soviet encircling attack in November 1942 but after smashing the Soviet first attack echelons, withdrawed towards Stalingrad. On 12th January 1943 it destroyed with the 3rd ID mot over 100 Soviet tanks and repulsed 12 attacking divisions on a single day!
Page 127: The photograph of a German grenadier (from the German Magazine "Signal") has been made in 1944 and should ont be placed in 1940.
Page 132: No 300.000 Axis Soldiers were trapped in Stalingrad (these were about 220.000 Germans, 10.000 Rumanians and Croats and 22.000 Hiwi's).
Better is to state that about 250.000 Axis and Soviet allied soldiers were trapped near and in Stalingrad. Average strength of the 22 trapped German Divisions at 18 nov. 1942 was about 8.500 men and 250 men for each of the 100 odd attached battalions. After rescuing by air the wounded and the specialists 180.000 remained behind of which 20.000 died in the defense of the pocket, 20.000 of exhaustion and malnutrition. 107.000 surrendered, leaving back 33.000 wounded and the dying, which were unable to enter captivity.
Page 140: "El Adam" must be "El Adem".
Page 144: The Divisional organization portrays 3 pz.gren regiments in 1943??? That must be only 2 regiments: 200th and 361th. The Division did have 3 regiments in North Africa, so the Diagram must have the title: "....november 1942" and "90th AFRIKA Division". The 361th regiment was raised as a special "dessert warfare regiment at teh end of 1940 and contained many members of the French Foreign legion.
Page 150: I doubt it that there were 17-pdr AT's (first appearance in Normandy '44) were at Medenine. This must be corrected in the new 6-pdr AT guns.
Page 150: There were NO Tiger I's at Medenine. According to Wolfgang Schneider the Tigers of 501 (20) and 504 (11) never went farther south than the Maknassy Pass.
Page 161: (2nd line): "Jaeger" must be "Jäger".

Rob Veenenberg

Great cover of the Divisions set up and lay out all though the War, good
pictures and Drawings