not-Toys Publications

Panzer Camouflage Volume 2

Wehrmacht Divisions Camouflage Patterns in WWII

This book is the second in a series published by not-TOYS from Estonia. As with the first book of this series, its focus is on WWII German vehicle subjects. 

not-Toys has an interesting website www.not-toys.com which provides some background on this company. The vehicle profiles and other artwork in this book are done by author / artist Igor Donchik. It is the intention of the author to eventually have a ten volume set of these books published. The third volume in this set, a book on WWII Red Army camouflage patterns is currently in development.

The first volume of this series was quite favorably reviewed by AMPS, and future books in this series appear to be of very good interest to WWII armor modelers and historians. The cover promises much of interest within the pages of this volume, let’s take a look!

Vital Statistics

Format - hardcover, portrait format

Page Count -  128 pages

Size - 8.5” x 10.5”

Photos - none

Tables / drawings / diagrams - full color artwork throughout, some maps

All text and photograph captions are in English.

A satin bookmark ribbon is attached to the book’s binding.

What's between the Covers?

Above - curiously, the book’s table of contents is located at the end of the book. Perhaps this is a customary thing where this book originates. That said, this TOC outlines very clearly what exactly will be found within the book.

A wide variety of vehicles are shown in this book, dependent on the actual vehicle in use with the unit covered by a particular chapter. The above image shows vehicles in use by the 6th Panzer Division in Russia, 1941.

As with the first volume of this series, the artwork showing the vehicle camouflage and markings is laid out however it fits best on the pages, horizontally or vertically. The vehicles are shown in one or two aspect form, with inset drawings showing markings colors, unit symbols as appropriate, and RAL colors.

This volume examines the Summer of 1941’s battle of Smolensk, in five pages complete with a pair of big picture, overview style maps. The author states that he intends to include similar examinations of key WWII battles in future volumes in this series.

This volume contains an interesting 5 page chapter showing various road signage intended to direct traffic to geographical locations such as a towns or villages, or to unit locations. The captioning of these artist renderings do a good job of explaining what the signs are intended to do and their background info.

Above - a wide variety of vehicle types are shown throughout this book, including soft skin vehicles and even Beutepanzers, captured enemy tanks pressed in Wehrmacht service.

Above - left side, an interesting camo scheme on a captured Soviet KV-1 tank. Right side, the author provides a thumbnail examination of the actions that the chapter subject (8th Panzer Division) was involved in.

Above - a nice examination on the origins and operational history of the 9th Panzer Division accompanies a pair of nice renderings of circa 1941 Panzer III Ausf. F used in the invasion of Yugoslavia.

In this volume’s 20+ page “Alternate History and Camouflage Schemes” chapter,  the author goes deep into the rabbit hole of what if the July 1944 plot ( Operation Valkyrie) to assassinate Adolf Hitler had succeeded? What then? He proposes a bit of alternate history, including the formation of a Free German Army to combat Nazi forces. The author devotes a couple of pages of well written text to this alternate history and how it might have played out. I found it quite interesting reading.

This chapter includes a wide variety of interesting vehicles (as seen above), as well as hypothetical flags of the German Liberation Army and  tactical signs of the German Liberation Army. We see Paper Panzers all the time at AMPS shows, and major kit producers are producing models of these “what if” vehicles, so this seems to me to be another way to create interesting and unusual models. I found this chapter of this book to be far more interesting than I’d thought it would be at first glance.

The book returns to historical fact with its examination of the vehicles used by the 2nd SS Panzer Division “Das Reich”. Good looks are provided of a wide range of vehicles fielded by this feared division, including Tiger 1’s, StuG’s, Panzer III’s and IV’s, and SP artillery.

Above - more looks at vehicles of 2nd SS Panzer division.

Finally, this book wraps up with a good look at staff car tactical pennants and vehicle markings. 

Conclusions

I found this book to be a very good reference on WWII German vehicle markings and camouflage schemes, but it is actually a good bit more than just that. 

The thumbnail unit histories while brief, were well written and quite informative, the captions to the artist renderings were informative and useful as well. The renderings themselves that fill this book are very well done, with the insets of markings detail, and RAL color swatches being a nice added touch.

The alternate history chapter may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but personally I found it quite interesting (as well as great food for thought for a possible “what if” build).

I enjoyed examining this book quite a bit, and look forward to seeing future volumes in this series!

Highly Recommended! 

Thanks to David Doyle Books for the review copy

Reviewed by Chuck Aleshire, AMPS Chicagoland

AMPS 2nd Vice President, Midwest Region

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