The German Wehrmacht - Equipment, Weapons, Uniforms & Insignia

Let's face it. There are a LOT of books out there covering the German Wehrmacht in World War 2. I'm willing to bet we all already own more than one of them. So why would you be interested in Ian Baxter's latest effort? Because in this book, Ian has managed to jam an Opel Blitz load of information about equipment, weapons, uniforms and insignia into one high-quality, user-friendly volume. If you need a quick, thorough answer without plowing through the larger volumes in your library, this book is perfect. 

Let's start with the book itself. It is surprisingly weighty for its 6.7" x 9.77" size. That's because it's 224 pages are printed on heavier satin-finish paper. My hardback copy behaves like it was pre-conditioned, and lays flat when open to any spread. The pages in my copy were a tad wavy, but I think that was from spending a rainy 8 hours crammed in my mailbox. 

While Ian uses a few pages at the beginning of each chapter to build a solid factual foundation for the covered topic, the real stars are the more than 250 over-sized photos and illustrations. The description of this book claims that many of the photos are newly published, and while I don't have a photographic memory of every image I've ever seen in books on this topic, I did see many new images that sparked my imagination. The majority of the photos are surprisingly clear for shots taken more than 80 years ago. They are generously sized and are accompanied by thorough captions explaining exactly what to look for in every image. 

Large, clear photos and exhaustive captions tell you everything you need to know about everything you're seeing.
Every image is a history lesson of its own.

While I've run into the gentlemen with the binoculars before, he has not been this large or clear.

There are several short color photo sections. While these are cool, I always wonder about the color accuracy.
No matter the publication, I find the colored photos a bit blurry compared to their black and white counterparts.
This spread alone delivered two strong dio ideas, very cool. 

Before we move on from photos, I had to share this one. There is a LOT to take in here. 
Many of the photos in this book deliver the same engaging subject matter.

There are several sections featuring color illustrations like these. Again, Ian Baxter's caption work quickly
sums up the uniform and equipment details you need to recreate these combatants. 

Bonus illustrations because they are too good to limit to one sample. Enjoy.

The insignia and badges are shown in excellent illustrations. I wish I had the brush skills to recreate these on my figures. Sigh.

The chapters break down like this:

1. German Infantry
2. Service Uniforms
3. Winter Camouflage Uniforms (this section is robust)
4. Armoured Crews and Uniforms
5. Protective Clothing
6. Headgear
7. Ranks, Insignia and Badges

While this book may not have been meant to be read cover to cover, it is a real page-turner. I often spent more time reading "just one more page" during my time reviewing this book. As I mentioned earlier, this is a fantastic, easy reference if you're working on a project and need to know a detail like just how banged up mess tins got and where the soldiers carried them, or what uniform and gear that Panzer IV crew should be wearing. It will definitely stay off my bookshelf and within easy reach at my workbench. 

Highly Recommended for model builders and anyone with interest in the World War 2 German Wehrmacht.

Thanks goes out to Casemate Publishing for this review book.

Reviewed by Matt Deck

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