Sturmartillerie and Panzerjager 1939-45 (New Vanguard #34.)

Yet another dissapointing book in the New Vanguard series... The book is disorganized jumping from Pz I to Tigers and back, wide spectrum descriptions that not even scratch the surface of the actual use, doctrines and effectiveness of the Sturmartillerie and Panzerjagers.

One of the poorest Osprey books.

An interesting little book - how it's perceived will depend upon whether you are reading it as somebody new to the New Vanguard series, or if you've read other New Vanguard books.

This is because, unlike so many of the other armor-related New Vanguard titles, it doesn't concentrate on a single vehicle or family of vehicles. It attempts, with varying success, to cover the entire history of WWII German assault guns and tank destroyers in a single 48 page volume.

To do this it skims the surface of the vehicles concerned - if you want to read about the StuG III or the Marder III in technical detail, go check out a title dedicated to the subject. What's covered here is the military doctrine that resulted in the adoption of self-propelled assault guns and tank destroyers, the manner in which they were used, unit structure, and a broad history of the types developed.

The book's major flaws are that you can't really do the subject justice in even a general sense in just 48 pages, and that the book seems to dart around a bit historically - one minute you're reading about Jagdtigers, the next you're back to vehicles based on the Pz.Kpfw. I chassis.

So, not the best title Osprey has ever released, but it's not a complete loss either, since in describing tactics and doctrine it covers some areas that the more technically specific books in the series omit.

The Vanguard series is intended to give a brief introducton to various weapons systems used in the major wars of the 20th century. As such, they include color plates of various paint schemes on campaign, a sectional drawing of a representative vehicle, and plenty of B&W photos in the text. All this is wrapped in an elementary text based on new research in newly opened archives and presented in an attractive format. Useful to war gamers, students, and model makers.

When I decided to buy this title, frankly I worried that how well Osprey would jam so broad story into tiny volume in their well known chronicle fashion. Then alas, I had to ease my mind with a small charge with this book. In summary, if you are a novice then you can think that would be enough for that price. If you're hobbist, some nice illustration of the internal scenes of Sturmg 3 and other case for various vehicles will be referable. If you're bit knowledged, don't give any glimpse at this book. Touched here and there without points and no new photo. Just licking over chewing gum!. sorry for crude my English.