This book from Pen & Sword's series on military vehicles concentrates on the Tiger I in its initial forays in the Eastern Front. These are all very early versions and much of what was learned during their deployments were integrated into later versions. These were also the only versions of the tank to be painted in the dark grey camouflage scheme. Later tanks in the dark yellow were scheduled to be sent to North Africa, but were instead diverted to Russia and this color became the de facto shade of all German military vehicles.

Germany never really had much in the way of a heavy tank prior to the start of the war. The few experimental vehicles proved to be cumbersome and not very useful. It wasn't until they came up against the Soviet heavy KV tanks that a real effort was put forth to develop a useful heavy tank. Typical of many German tanks, these two tanks were technically superior to everything they met, but suffered from overly complex systems and design, meaning that often small things would put the tanks out of action. They were also quite difficult to recover due to their weight. Unlike their opposition, which had fairly robust automotive components, the Tigers had to be hauled into the battle area on trains and brought as close to their operating area as possible. Nevertheless, they were impressive vehicles in their own right and were to be treated with caution by the enemy.

As is the case with a lot of the books in this series, we get a brief look at how each of the Army's armored divisions used the tank and their combat record. There is then a fairly large section of large profiles, often accompanied by a photo of the vehicle in question. Then we get to some feature model builds along with a rundown of kits and accessories that are available for the Tigers. It is not surprising that most of these are 1/35 scale but there is a nice 1/72 build in among them.   These sections are by no means comprehensive but do cover most of what is currently available. This is followed by a brief section that helps one identify the major features of the tank as production proceeded.

These books where you have a mixture of history, camouflage and models are becoming more and more the norm. This one is well done, as are the other books in the series as they are by the same author. Well worth picking up.

February 2022

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