Panzer Encyclopedia

I've got that book, and its good. You won't believe the things the germans put together, awesome.

QUOTE: Originally posted by monrad I've got that book, and its good. You won't believe the things the germans put together, awesome.

I expect that you would

Just now pouring over 'Combat Tactics' which I received yesterday. I want to get Panzertruppen 43-45 but am leery that there might be a lot of repetition. Could use that cash for 503. You say it's well worth it, right? They have the 508 I believe at half the price.

The 508 book is also half the size, the Schwere panzerabteilung 508 was formed in late summer 1943, but 503 was formed in 1942.
You should read these books if you want to know how it was to fight in a Tiger. They are both writen by former members of the units, with combat diaries and everything.
To me its important to know this, just as it is important to know the difference between the Tiger 1 models. Knowing how the tanks were used is also an important modeling tool.
The 508 book is 188 pages and the 503 book is 392 pages

Ausf - if you think the Combat tactics book is good, then wait till you see the 503 book.
Im sorry I may be a bit biased here, but the insight you get in the every day life in a Tiger unit is great, and the combat describtions.....wow.

Monrad, I'm with you 100% on this. I'm always trying to find info from the 'horses mouth', not a historian. To me the most valuable part of 'Tigers in the mud" et al are the after action reports or personal observations. Just hearing about frostbite on your knee from leaning against the cold turret wall while sleeping or the perpetual soot from the oil lamps really paint the picture as opposed to a clinical description of units and such.
A second party can't relay the thoughts and feelings of someone who was there. I'm currently reading 'Black Edelweiss' by Johann Voss. This one I highly recommend, it is so well written when compared to most translated works.
I guess I'm lookin at the ol' 503 next.....

I have been thinking about those "tigers in the mud" books for some time now, are they any good? Where did you get them? and how much did they cost?

I have read a bit of tigers in the mud ,( right now I am enthralled with its brother book by Will Fey , armour battles of the waffen SS , great reading some unbelievable armour battle stories in there , them guys on both sides of the war went through shear hell , there are a few pics in the middle , one of a completely intact panther blown into the air and landing on its top ! Just crazy s@#&! I reccomend both of them highly , if you are a reader ! Its written with not just victories , but deafeats also, and the hardships of a panzer crew.

Welcome spector822002 to our litle book talk, it may not be that obvious but ausf and I have been talking about Tiger books for some time now, you can go to this topic if you want to know more. http://www.finescale.com/fsm/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=18204
Looking forward to more input.

I've got a book by the same authors with the same title, but it's hard bound and published by Arco. In mine you've got to be careful as some of the captions don't match the photos and some of the photos are backwards. I guess that's why I always try to cross reference things.

QUOTE: Originally posted by monrad I have been thinking about those "tigers in the mud" books for some time now, are they any good? Where did you get them? and how much did they cost?

The books are pretty good, they're part of new releases of older German text memoirs. The translations are pretty good but if you are familiar at all with German, you can go on for about a week before you hit the verb, so the english text's a little stilted, but just as Spector, my tweezer tossing friend (we are comrades in the battle of PE) stated they have a lot of good stories .
They are all readily available and cheap, $10-$15 from Amazon. I don't know how that works over there but you should be able to get' em. Stackpole is the publisher.
Voss' book was also around that price and is very well written as well as from his diary compiled as a POW so it's fresh to him, not fifty year old memories.

yeah ive got the hard back version and the Allied version
there great books if you kneed some info straight away

I've bought a couple of items through Amazon before, including books, so im pretty sure it will work.
Hmm more and more people joining in all the time. Maybe a book / refference forum would be a good idea.
what do you guys think.

QUOTE: Originally posted by monrad I've bought a couple of items through Amazon before, including books, so im pretty sure it will work. Hmm more and more people joining in all the time. Maybe a book / refference forum would be a good idea. what do you guys think.

Sounds ideal, with the vast resources of members here, any info could be found. By having a specific forum some valuable reference material might not get pushed in oblivion after a day or two.

Now we just need to find out how to start such a forum.
Maybe we should post it in suggestions and feedback

thats a good idea