Nuts & Bolts #24: Bible of Panzer II Ausf D/E

Nuts & Bolts Volume 24:

Bible of Panzer II Ausf D/E

AFV NEWS - REVIEW 

Volume 24 puts under the lenses the Panzer II Ausf D/E and all its variants and derivations.
The time-lapse covered starts from the period of time when Germany was not allowed, by the Versailles Treaty, to  produce or have any own tanks forward to the last operative days of the Panzer II series.

The publication, a 160 pages A4 softcovered book, is written side by side in English and German. You will find out that this volume is a very rich resource of information with an impressive amount of historical photos, data tables and drawings.
To be more precise we can count 274 photos of these 237 are historical shots of the Panzer II Ausf. D/E, Flammpz II, Marder II Ausf.D with all known variants such as Brückenlegerand Fahrschulpz. Most of them are unpublished and hard to find around internet or other publications. But there is much more…

The book starts depicting and explaining the political and historical reasons of the development of the panzer II family. It will also focus on the production assignments to the awarded companies. Information about serial numbers or particular codification demonstrates a deep research job from the authors.

Next step will see the volume concentrate on the D/E variants with many pages dedicated to particular topics such as: Performance and technical data, Armament, Chassis, Superstructure, Tracks, Engine and Radio Communication apparatus.

As before, every topic has a very high detail of information. In the armament section you will find charts with ammunition weight, service range or penetration performance.  There is also a topic relative to the crew members armament.

At the tracks and wheels section we can find measures data and useful drawings relative to each Pz.II D/E version.To complete the scheme there is a chart and a three view drawing that identifies inclination and thickness of all armour plates.

Now that we have all the knowledge about the tank, next chapter deals with it’s service history. Using official documents the book covers service under  Panzerabteilung 66,67 and 33.

An important paragraph for modeller is the ‘Camouflage and markings‘, a careful reading will help to avoid historical errors. At support of this topic  you will find many photos with relative comments. There are shown also a couple of contradictory and uncommon markings.

After the excursus on the Ausf D/E the authors move focus on their variants such as the bridgelayer, the flammpanzer and the tank hunter Pz.Sfl.I

The Flammpanzer and the Pz.Sfl.I have received a very good coverage with charts, photos and drawings. Topics under discussions are history and service, technical data, armament camouflage and markings.

For the happiness of modellers there are 16 pages of scale drawings from all versions in 1:35 scale. Drawings, performed by John Rue, are very clean and show the tank in front, back, side, top and also in a 3D view. There are 24 additional detailed views covering the running gear,shock absorbers, hull, cooling system, muffler, turret, and none the less the dashboard!

To close the circle, the authors write about Fahrschulpanzers (training tanks) and about the retired turrets recycled into fortifications as ring stands in the two variants bauform 232a and 232b. Mostly used in Denmark, Norway and in the eastern front.
Eleven colour photos of existing Ringstände with flame turrets in Norway close up the section.

Dulcis in fundo, we have the long awaited paragraph “Modelling the Pz.Kpfw. II Ausf. D/E and Variants“.It’s not a very rich section, but it gives some good hints and there is also a chart with models , manufacturers and relative scales. There is a final six page gallery about a Panzer II Ausf D/E, a Flammpanzer II and a Marder Ausf D/E.

In my opinion the ‘modelling section‘ does not match the rest of the book. I am not talking  about quality but more about completeness. This sensation comes up by comparing the meticulous analysis of every single nut & bold on the Pz.II on the other chapters of this book.

Maybe the expectation was to find a step by step build-up. Or a chapter with guides to update the old kits to today’s standards or again a guide to convert modern kits into Pz.II D/E and variants.

To compensate this small bug, there are 13 pages of: camouflage schemes, graphics of tactical markings and table of organization of units. There is also an ammunition schemes!.

The huge ammount of information and data gives a very good knowledge background while photos and camouglage schemes will give to any modeller at least a dozen of good ideas on how to produce the model and also a diorama.

If your next model is a Panzer II Ausf D/E and variants this is a ‘must have’ book.

You can buy Nuts & Bolts in good assorted book- and modelshops or directly at hfd.duske@t-online.de

I would like to thank  Heiner F. Duske of the Nut’s and Bolts team for the chance to review this book.