Firebrigade - The Panzer Divisions

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Firebrigade - The Panzer Divisions
Author: Kamen Nevenkin
Hardback - 952 pages
Publisher: JJ Fedorowicz
Price: £47

The book

Although this book covers all of the 1943-45 Panzer Divisions this is text based work only and as such there are no photographs other than the one on the front cover.

Firstly, let me say what this book is not. It is not a book that provides any references what so ever for the modeller, except if you wish to know if a certain Division had a certain AFV and on what date. In that respect this book is a godsend and should provide many definitive answers when it comes to which Division had what.

So what is this book then and who is it aimed at? This book is as complete a listing of all Panzer Division strengths and structure from the middle of the war until the end. Each Division is covered in some depth when it comes to vehicle numbers and types, but only an over view is given as to the combat history of the Division. All the major combat engagements are mentioned, but not in any great detail, again this is not what the book is about. However, I would suggest that this could spur the reader on to do more research to supply the missing information about the battles in more depth.

The author has provided some very interesting details that go a long way to showing just how disruptive changing over to a new Panzer, in this case the Panther, can be. Going into the Zittadelle battle there were only two full strength Panzer Divisions on the Eastern Front, if I have read the information correctly. Why were the rest not at full strength for what was, in hindsight, one of the most critical battles on the Eastern Front?

The simple answer is the transition to the Panther; most Panzer Divisions had one Panzer Battalion back in Germany or France, on the training grounds. In the case of some Divisions this Battalion would be away from its parent Division for nearly a year, and what a crucial year that was, from the summer of 1943 until the summer of 1944 or later. Some Divisions did not get their Battalion back as they were used to form ad-hoc units, or the cadre for the Panzer Brigades or sent to other sectors of the front, wherever the need was greatest.

The description of the 'new' Panzer Brigades that were created in 1944 also made for interesting reading and went a long way to explaining why these units did not live up to expectation.

One of the most interesting facts for me was the number of infrared equipped Panthers that were to be issued, there seems to be a lot more than I thought there were. Although in many cases the infrared equipment was removed before the Panthers were sent to the Divisions. However it does give the reader an idea of how many units were supposedly capable of using the infrared equipment.

Conclusion

The book is very well written and an “easy” read, the inclusion of the tables etc, make this an extensive body of work and one that anyone with a serious interest in the actual number of Panzers in the Divisions will surely want to add to their collection, highly recommended.

Contents

Table of Contents (numbers in parentheses indicate total number of pages devoted to the formation):

Army and Luftwaffe:

1PD (23), 2PD (19), 3PD (22), 4PD (20), 5PD (20), 6PD (24), 7PD (26), 8PD (26), 9PD (23), 11PD (21), 12PD (22), 13PD (28), 14PD (21), 16PD (25), 17PD (25), 18PD (7), 19PD (19), 20PD (20), 21PD (19), 23PD (23), 24PD (20), 25PD (25), 26PD (18), 116PD (13), 232PD (3), Brandenburg (13), Clausewitz (6), FBD (9), FGD (9), FHH (10), GD (28), HG (32), Holstein (6), Jüterbog (7), Müncheberg (6), Norwegen (7), Panzer-Lehr (19), Schlesien (7). Waffen-SS: LSSAH (23), DR (22), TK (18), Wiking (21), Hohenstaufen (17), Frundsberg (19), HJ (18).