Afrikakorps: Self Portrait [Hardcover]

Dal McGuirk (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 184 pages
• Publisher: Motorbooks Intl; USA ed edition (October 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 087938719X
• ISBN-13: 978-0879387198
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 7.7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,226,889 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Wide Assortment of Candid Photos on the Afrikakorps, November 3, 2007

By 

Mr. Truthteller (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Afrikakorps: Self Portrait (Hardcover)

This book is a quite interesting look at the Afrikakorps from the perspective of its own members. The book contains well over 300 photos of different facets of the Afrikakorps. The primary endsource of the photos is, oddly enough, from Allied troops. This is because members of the Allied forces fighting against the Afrikakorps obtained the photos as souvenirs, looting them off of the bodies of dead German soldiers or taking them from German prisoners of war.

The author spent several years obtaining a vast assortment of these photos. The best of them are included in this book. The photos are grouped by category: From pictures of German soldiers back home before they came to the front or while on leave, to pictures along the way to Africa, to pictures while there (e.g., camp scenes, camouflage, artillery, the famous 15th Motorcycle Battalion, medics, panzers, pioneers, recon, engineers).

There are 29 separate categories (or chapters) of photos in all. Each chapter ranges from 2-8 pages. Each chapter includes a brief statement providing background of the photos being displayed, e.g., a summary of the hazardous jobs of the engineers in the signals battalion in a division. Each chapter for the book is very well-written and informative. There is also a well-written introduction on the Afrikakorps and wartime photos in general.

The book is very well done and displays a keen interest in, and knowledge about, its subject matter. (Although the front and back covers of the dust jacket for this book contain fascinating color photos, none of the photos in the book itself are in color.)