Customer Reviews

Germany's Tiger Tanks D.W. to Tiger I: Design, Production & Modifications

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Thomas Jentz has studied and written about German armored vehicles for over 20 years. What makes his books unique is that he only uses source material, meaning original German documents and photos. He does not rely on others works, hence, he is able to clear up some of the misconceptions and myths that have evolved over the years.

This book, like his others, is packed with excellent photos taken from surviving Tiger tanks and archieves. There are many line drawings, both orginal German blueprint and scale drawings showing various components of the vehicle from all angles.

This book is an excellent buy for the money. Jentz leaves no stone unturned in documenting how the Tiger evolved, its testing, and production. Prototypes and the various series models are shown. Hull, chasis, suspension, powerplant, turret, armament, sights are all covered in excellent detail.

The only disappointment is that it is relatively short. Perhaps I am spoiled by R.P. Hunnicutt type massive tomes. This last is a very small observation.

The excellent drawings, photos, use of source material makes it THE Tiger book to own.I highly recommend D.W to Tiger 1.

Typical of Mr. Jentz's work, the book is derived only from original sources, so he avoids repeating old errors that have percolated from book to book over the last 55 years. Hilary Louis Doyle does his usual superb job on the 1/35th scale drawings which cover all major production variants of the standard gun tank, as well as the prototypes (for a history of the failed Porsche prototype, see the same authors' book now available from Panzer Tracts). This is the first set of published drawings that accurately depicts the asymmetrical shape of the Tiger I turret (it bulges out slightly on the left, so the gun is mounted off-center in the mantlet to bring it back to the centerline of the turret). This is one volume of a three-volume series, the other titles covering the development of the Tiger II and the operations of the Tiger battalions. Jentz's book concentrates on the vehicle's general interior and exterior layout, but doesn't go into the technical depth of Walter Spielberger's books (most readers don't plan to actually rebuild a Tiger transmission anytime soon).

This book is very much about the technical aspects of the tank. It includes a comprehensive list of the physical changes made to the vehicle during its production run, with every change dated and explained in detail. This list was painstakingly compiled from original German sources only.
The 7 sets of multi-view drawings of complete vehicles (including the underneath views) were prepared by Hilary Doyle from thorough surveys of surviving Tigers, and they correct the numerous small errors in all previous work. They are complemented by many original German technical drawings of parts of the tank, often unpublished before.
This book has a narrow focus, but in its field it is definitely the leader.

This is about previous Tiger I tanks from official information. The book needs more wide information about the aspects than it study but includes a lot of tables, informataion and detailed pics about the Tiger I. It's not about operations or battles; only about production and design works. So, it's very good for people than keen on the Tiger and need more information than the "traditional", so don't expect for fighting.

For anyone with an interest in the TIGER 1 this book is an invaluable asset.The major part of the book covers the various changes in design throughout the production life of the vehicle accompanied by drawings and photographs.
Anyone wishing to produce an accurate model of a particular Tiger from a particular time in its history will find the book essential.The book also contains a number of excellent scale drawings documenting the major changes in design.

This is purely a technical volume on the development of the Tiger I, but it is extreme in its detail and analysis. This took an extraordinary amount of research and effort. If you're into Tiger tanks, all three of Jentz's books in this series MUST be in your library.