Customer Reviews

Germany's Tiger Tanks: VK45.02 to TIGER II Design, Production & Modifications (Schiffer Military History)

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This is THE book about the German Tiger II tank.

Thomas Jentz outdid himself in researching every bit of detailed technical information about this historical vehicle. Included in this book are many never-before-seen internal and external photographs of both the prototypes and production vehicles. There are also pages of detailed technical drawings of the Tiger II tank at different stages of it's development and the war.

Although detailed and loaded with technical information, this book has absolutely nothing about the combat and operational history of the Tiger II. There are no explanations about why the various modifications were made and makes it really hard to casually read the book.

In general, this is a technical manual about the Tiger II tank aimed at technical history buffs and modellers. It is a great supplement to Thomas Jentz's other book about the operational history of the Tiger tanks. But for the technical drawings, photographs and descriptions alone, this book is cannot be matched and is worth every penny of it's price.

Thomas Jentz and artist/collaborator Hillary Louis Doyle have created an excellent technical overview of the development and production modifications of the Tiger II "King Tiger," using only original documentation and actual preserved vehicles as references. There is no second-hand information of any kind, and no propagation of postwar myths. There is less pure engineering information than the earlier work by Walter Spielberger (i.e. don't expect diagrams of the inner workings of engine and transmissions), but the intended audience for this book is clearly the model-builder. The numerous drawings are to the popular modeler's scale of 1/35th, and numerous detail photos will aid the would-be model builder. In combination with such works as Wolfgang Schneider's "Tigers in Combat," you would have an ideal library on the King Tiger. However, this volume does not cover the Jagdtiger tank destroyer (Schiffer does publish a two-volume work on this vehicle by another author).

Even before the Tiger tank went into production, the Germans began working on the King Tiger. They knew they wanted a longer 88 mm cannon than the L/56 found on the Tiger 1. That meant a larger chassis, while they were at it, more armor protection. No easy task to get a design into production in less than two years, especially if your country is being bombed 24x7. To put the size of the Tiger 2 in perspective, it is as wide as the M-1 Abrams, taller and almost as long. No Allied tank in WW2 could fight it on equal terms. Fortunately for the Allies, less than 500 were produced, they were very underpowered and like many new vehicles, prone to break down.

Thomas Jentz and Hillary Dolye have been researching German tank designs for over 20 years. They were determined to only use original sources to ensure accuracy. This dedication to the truth, along with the high quality of the published material, make this a first rate book. Every single component of the tank is addressed - road wheels, track, chassis, hull, engine, cannon and turret. There are photos, line drawings, cut-aways of the inside and exterior from every view point. Original German schematics have the German and English translation. The Appendix has the statistics, sizes, performance of the engine, hull, turret, cannon. Quotes from soldiers giving feedback or suggestions to improve the vehicle, memos from the manufacturer all help create a superb picture of this massive tank.

This is a very, very good book. I highly recommend it for all armor buffs, WW2 fans, histories who want an exceptionally detailed technical book. I am very glad to have this in my library.

There are just some books you MUST have if you're interested in the Tiger tank and its many variants. All of Jentz's books should be considered in this category. This is an excellent look at the technical world of the Tiger II, and it has more than ample text and great photos guaranteed to satisfy. I highly recommend all of Jentz's books on the German Tiger.