This book is quite an interesting and informative look at the assault gun variants that were built using the three different Tiger chassis, the Ferdinand/Elefant built on the ill fated Porsche chassis that lost out to Henschel in the competition to become the Tiger, the Sturmtiger based on that Henschel Tiger I chassis, and the Jagtiger based on the Tiger II chassis.
The first thirteen pages deal with the Ferdinand/Elefant with text sections being devoted to Development, Rebuilding Measures, Drive, Running Gear, Mobility, Armament, Combat History, and Technical Data. Throughout this section are a total of thirty one black and white photos and six line drawings. There are a number of very good photos in here which show the camo scheme and the production facilities.
The next seventeen pages deal with the Jagdtiger with text sections again being devoted to Development, Hull and Superstructure, Armament, Running Gear, Technical Data, and Combat History. Throughout this section are a total of forty black and white photos and seven line drawings. These photos include production facilities and internal shots which are quite handy. Some are quite dark but overall there are some very useful photos amongst them.
The last fifteen pages deal with the Sturmtiger with text sections being devoted to Development, Rebuilding, the 38cm Rocket Launcher RW 61, Technical Data, and Combat History. Throughout this section are a total of thirty eight black and white photos and four line drawings. These include photos of destroyed Sturmtigers, as well as some very good ones of the engine and the interior.
From an historical research point of view this book gives some good general background to the development and combat history of these vehicles, though overall the combined text would offer little more than half a dozen pages so although it is a very useful outline it doesn’t constitute and exhaustive and complete study. The photos provided though are mainly unpublished elsewhere and for the most part are very good photos that provide some very useful reference information, particularly some of the internal shots. So a very handy reference to have around if you are building one of these tanks, or a good, light read if you’re just interested in a bit of background on them.
.
Author : Wolfgang Schneider Publisher : Schiffer Publishing Pages : 48 containing B&W photos and line drawings Binding : Softcover Size : 210mm x 282mm ISBN : 9780887402395 .Click on thumbnails to enlarge image.
