World War II German Motorized Infantry & Panzergrenadiers (Elite)

Be aware that the text follows the format of this particular Osprey publication series and is not meant to be told as a story but instead a research document. I have not seen these photographs before and the color renderings are solid.

Good information in the book. Some of the illustrations had way oversized hats. The hats-caps looked more Hungarian than German

Germany's military ace in the hole at the start of the Second World War was its fast moving Panzer units, including motorized infantry riding with their tanks. These motorized troops, later styled Panzergrenadiers, rolled over Poland, France, and western Russia in succession. This Osprey Elite Series book covers the order of battle of these units and their uniforms and equipment. Author Nigel Thomas works in a little information about their experiences on the battlefield, but at less than 65 pages, this book can be no more than an introduction.The book does feature a really good collection of period photographs, along with color plates showing uniform details. Those readers fascinated by order of battles will find much to like in this book. For the general reader, there are other Osprey books for this historical period with more battle narrative, and maps. Cautiously recommended.

The Cliff's Notes version of this segment of World War II history but at the same time providing many accurate and difficult to find details that can be the beginning of further research. Most of the photographs in the book are little known and provide some good snippets of life as a Panzergrenadier.

I had high hopes for this volume from Osprey. After a previous title mentioning Panzergrenadies, by Zaloga, my interest was caught by this title. However, I was in for a disappointment. I felt much of the book was wasted with charts about operational status of the units involved, where they fought, equipment, and uniforms. That's not to say that shouldn't be in a Elite book from Osprey, but I think that would be better served in a smaller format, say, the MAA (men at arms) around 48 pages or so.What this book doesn't do is explain WHAT and WHY about either the Panzergrenadier or Motorized Infantry. What were their tactics? I never got a sense on the men themselves, why did units change after 1940? What happened to these elite units after contact with Russia? Etc. I have read previous title by the author, and know he researched this title well, so I do not mean any disrespect at all. I only felt that I really didn't learn much after reading this title about either unit in the German Army. Perhaps the author could write a Warrior series about either Panzergrenadier and or Motorized infantry, and you could climb into the mind of a soldier fighting in France, or even Russia.Honestly, a better offering from the Osprey title would be Panzergrenadier vs US Armored Infantryman: European Theater of Operations 1944 (Combat) by Steven J. Zaloga. Though a different thrust, the book does a wonderful job with tactics, espit des corps, and why the Armored Infantry Man of the United States really was the fully 100% mechanized unit of WW2 (as far as I could tell Thomas's book doesn't cover this, though he does touch upon the fact by 1943 Germany was out of reserves and most units were losing their mechanical status due to shortages).  World War II German Motorized Infantry & Panzergrenadiers (Elite)

In Osprey Elite number 218, author Nigel Thomas approaches the subject of "World War II German Motorized Infantry & Panzergrenadiers" in this 63 page book.The author gives the reader a very brief introduction to the genesis of the German mobile forces and the concepts of motorization. He then moves on to the units formed as motorized infantry in motorized infantry and panzer divisions pre-war, then as the war changed, the changes made to the concept, nomenclature and composition of these units. The author gives the reader a run down of the units involved, their divisional and regimental numbers as well as uniforms and the changes to uniforms during the war.The book, as well as the author's writing, leaves much to be desired. The author tells us very little about these units that were vital to the German way of war in WWII. There's no history of their actions, there's no analysis of their impact or effectiveness. No seminal battles or campaigns. Very little other than the units formed, the regiments, the uniforms.The author's writing reminds me of a 16 year-old with a cell phone - constant, repeated abbreviations. BFF IDK LOL! Here's a sample: "mobile HQ Co (Pz sigs ptn with 3x Panther tanks, and an armd Pzgren ptn with 4x HMGs and 2x SdKfz 251/9 APCs) I Pz Bn, and II Armd PzGren Bn." This is a randomly selected sentence. Sigs? Signals, I think? ptn is Platoon I think?This Osprey title has the usual excellent period photos and color plates Osprey is known for, but this title left much to be desired. Unless your specialty or interest is in uniforms or you need a catalog of German units that were motorized, Panzer Grenadier or Panzer, this Osprey is a bust. Wasn't worth the money.

as expected

Usual Osprey work, but the illustrations are not up to the standards of usual Osprey work, sadly.

Very poor offering by Osprey, the book is just a list of information you can find freely on the internet. There are a number of poor quality pictures in the book which are incorrectly labelled. The only redeeming part is that it does have a number of good colour profiles but overall I would save your money.

Love the the whole book. Great info for modeling

Colour plates show great detail. Well researched particularly concerning individual unit deployment and composition.

Comprado a precio de oferta muy económico, llego antes de tiempo con la calidad de envío habitual de Amazon.Es un título de la serie Élite demasiado técnico y centrado sobre todo en las distintas unidades motorizadas existentes en el Ejército de tierra alemán durante la 2GM. Es decir, si no es por el precio tan rebajado nunca lo habría comprado ya que el 70% de su contenido son una sucesión de datos sobre unidades, número regimental, fecha de creación y disolución. También incluye uniformidad de estas unidades que queda un poco extraño, pues se limita a describir prendas conocidas como la gorra de plato, las guerreras de combate, cascos, etc. y los colores regimentales usados en estas prendas.Las láminas es quizás lo único verdaderamente atrayente de este número de Élite.

No está mal, pero no es lo que me esperaba. Me esperaba un análisis de las características de estas unidades y de cómo fueron adaptando su organización y sus cometidos a lo largo de la guerra. En vez de eso, me he encontrado con una descripción de la composición de cada División de Infantería Motorizada y una descripción muy detallada de sus uniformes. Para eso, creo que hay libros mejores.El apartado gráfico está muy bien. Las fotografías son interesantes y de buena calidad y los dibujos en color son magníficos.