Tigers in Combat: v. 1 [Paperback]

The book has good information. Seems it covers all the units that were issued with the Tigers. The action accounts are dry

facts. One thing that caught me the author seems fixiated on

covering the turret numbering system over and over and over again. I liked the pictures in the book. These were the real deal. These pictures looked like they came from former crew members and combat photographers not the type from German propaganda. Pictures scored the 4

The new softcover edition is of very poor quality compared to the original hardcover. The photos look like they are photocopies of the originals. It's nice that this book has been reprinted (it's a classic) but the cheap paper used really makes the quality suffer. Do your best to find a hardbound copy at a reasonable price before getting this edition.

If it weren't for the fact that the soft paper cover remains bent open after only a few uses (leading it to be more susceptible to damage), I'd give this book five stars. The binding also is not the greatest, and pages will eventually come out (notably the color plates in the back of the book) Actually, because of only the cover and binding, I'd give it 4.5 if Amazon let us give out half stars. ;-)

The content of this book is fantastic. The author tracks in a timeline the history of each of the Wehrmacht Tiger battalions, citing when each battalion/company received Tigers, how many, what type (if needing to differentiate between Tiger Is and Tiger IIs), some of the battles fought, damages to the Tiger units from battle or wear/tear, all the way through to when the unit in question was disbanded or surrendered. He also notes how many tanks each battalion had at any given time (due to losses from combat or wear/tear and replacements). There are holes in the diaries as written, and the author acknowledges that he did not succeed in describing *every* battle that *every* unit and/or company took place in, citing that many times the units were scattered hither and yon, and tracking the movement and combat *each* and every individual Tiger is sometimes impossible. But what he has compiled is a wealth of data surely to keep you occupied for some time.

I'm not certain what LKP Peter below was smoking, or what his standards are, but there are a plethora of photographs taken by crews and donated to the author for illustrations. Yes, some of the photos are a bit blurry - but consider the time they were taken, and the conditions that the original photos were probably in. Other photos are more crisp; probably from being preserved better. All in all they will give modellers (and modelling gamers) an added resource to draw upon for how to represent units of the different Abteilungs. In the back of the book there are some color plate drawings, giving fairly good representation of what might be a typical color/camo scheme for a given unit. A must for modellers and miniatures gamers.

The unit organization tables are very informative, and helpful. Schneider does not break the OOBs down by day, week, or after losses/replacements. Instead they give snapshots of what the Abteilungs were composed of (e.g., for schwere.Panzer-Abteilung 505, he shows OOB snapshots for March 1943, July 1943, and August 1944). Helpful for anyone interested in what OOBs were to be in the various battalions (but again, does not indicate losses or replacements; you will need to infer that from the text).

Finally, in the very back of the book there are some color plate maps showing the transport movement and some combat engagement points of the various Abteilung in different theaters. I would have liked to have had more detailed info on this section (maybe a map tracking each Abteilung instead of overlaying a bunch in one area), but it works well enough to give a feel for where units operated. Some of the colors used don't contrast very well with the background map colors, but when you have so many units to portray,and limited color choices to use...

Definitely a must-buy book, especially for the price! Incredibly glad I picked it up. If it's not be the quitessential book on Tiger company activitiess - it's damned close!