The Panzer Divisions

Osprey Men at Arms #24

by Martin Windrow

For the first three years of the Second World War the German Army's armored formations dominated the world's battlefields. During this period the Panzerwaffe swept away all that was before them, achieving victories over numerically superior and sometimes better equipped opponents. This remarkable book by Martin Windrow deals with one of the German Army's most effective and feared rapid attack forces, including a summary of every Panzer division's war record and an extensive examination of uniforms, equipment and decorations.

Genres: World War II, War, Nonfiction, History, Military Fiction, Military History, 20th Century

48 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1973

About the author

Martin C. Windrow is a British historian, editor and author of several hundred books, articles and monographs, particularly those on organizational or physical details of military history, and the history of the post-war French Foreign Legion. He has been published since the mid-Sixties.

Reviews

[The Bauchler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastically accurate drawings for nerdy wargamers like me.

[Robert Hepple · Rating 3 out of 5]

Published in 1973, 'The Panzer Divisions' is an early volume in the Osprey Men-at-Arms series of military books. This volume gives a basic operational history of Wehrmacht Panzer Divisions in WW2, followed by a short potted history of each of the main units., with some good photos, a lot of uniform info and some colour artworks illustrating the various uniforms. The revised 1982 edition is a total rewrite in order to provide more focussed detail on uniforms specific to Panzer Divisions, and well as a more comprehensive list of the units themselves.

[Michael Dorosh · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone who was researching and selling reproduction panzer uniforms, I found much of value in this book. Pruett and Edwards have done excellent work in the field of panzer uniforms, but their volumes are expensive and not everyone needs to invest in that kind of volume to get the very basics which this book provides.

Colour plates are very appealing. Artwork is a bit murky - no hard dileneations such as in Volstad's paintings with deliberate black outlines, but poses are very good as is colour. Some fine recreated portrait shots show a wide array of uniform types and details.

Writing is good and concentrates on many general subjects, going into appropriate levels of detail such as when the complex collar patch situation for anti-tank and self-propelled units are discussed.

Good sketch histories; another good source for panzer division histories may be PANZER COLORS II, but there is more detail in MAA 24 regarding historical employment. Some fine photos complement the text and make this a good overall treatment which really doesn't show its age all that much. Stands up just fine with other books on the subject.