Panzers in the Desert

by Bruce Quarrie

Deals with the German panzers in North Africa during WW2 This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0894040413
• ISBN13: 9780894040412
• Release Date: November 1988
• Publisher: Aztex Corporation
• Length: 96 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Excellent Photo-study of German Panzers in North Africa

This book was the first in a series of photo-studies books by Bruce Quarrie on different operational aspects of German troops in World War II. I have many of the books in the series and everyone of them is excellent. The focus of this one, "Panzers in the Desert," is on the operation of German troops in North Africa, from their entry into that theatre in February 1941 to come to the aid of the beleagured Italians to their defeat/withdrawal in May 1943. The book does not detail any of the operations of the war in this theatre for the period it covers. The book contains a 10-11 page introductory chapter but 90% of it discusses in detail the types of panzers used by the Germans in North Africa, including their development and specifics on their hardware and battle performance. Also included is a 2-page description of the source of the photos in the book, all of which come from the then official archives of the West German government and were taken by German military photographers. The rest of the book, approximately 80 pages, contains about 200 photos, each of which includes a brief caption describing what is depicted. Thus, the book contains no discussion of any of the battles, etc., in this theatre. The pictures themselves, all taken by, in essence, professional photographers, are excellent. The author acknowledges that he chose pictures based on their novelty, their quality, and their value not only to historians but also to wargamers and modellers. (E.g., there is a great shot of von Mellenthin, Rommel, and Nehring perusing maps at a map table.) The pictures include not only German Panzer tanks (generally Marks III, IV, and VI) but also German half-tracks, planes, armored cars, etc., and soldiers as well. A few captured non-German vehicles are also shown. The book is a bit small, only about 9 by 6.5 inches, but the photos, perhaps due to their quality, do not seem to be small by comparison and they are generally quite crisp and clear, showing great background detail.