Customer Reviews

TIGER I and STURMTIGER in Detail

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The Tiger I is the one German tank that's reputation has survived the years since the end of the Second World War and has probably grown in legend since then. Armed with the massive 88mm gun and thick frontal armour it carved a swathe through all types of allied tanks on both the Eastern and Western fronts.

This is another book on that legend the latest offering from Ryton and covers the Tiger I and the little known variant of the Tiger II, the Sturmtiger.

It is in landscape form which is a little annoying (yes I knew that when I bought it) and just fits on my bookshelf. But I guess one of the reasons for the type of format is the the colour armoured profiles and line drawings fit on the page easily and you do not have to tilt the book.

The vehicles are shown in a large number of closeup photos from surviving examples (some colour)of various areas of the tanks, such as tracks, running gear, motors and photos of the turrets and fighting compartments.There is a little gem of a group of photos near the begining of the book that shows a Tiger undergoing repair in the field during the desert campaign.

Other rare photos show the Fries crane which was critical for heavy repair tasks and were part of the repair establishment of every Tiger unit.

There is the usual photos of Tigers on the move and some of the various units that used this AFV are shown, and if you ever wanted to be up close and personal with what the drivers station is like or commanders position, then this book is for you.


There is the brief introduction about the type of AFV being studied but not in great depth, as the strong point of the book is the large amount of photos some which are new, most are not.It is these photos and captions that the authour uses to describe the tanks.

The unusual Sturmtiger is also well photographed, and is one of the most rare AFV constructed,and has the massive 38cm RW61 mortar as its main armament. It also has various closeups of the inside of the tank and the outer areas.

There is a nice piece at the back of the book concerning the manufacture of the Tigers at the Henschel plant in Kassel,from a Robert Pertuss who was one of the builders of the Tiger. He gives a very good insight into the testing of the prototype, its production and factory life during allied bombing raids.
If there was one thing that stood out was how how not a single worker lost a life and despite over 120 raids, that the worst damage was repaired in 3 to 5 hours. Production continued when the roof was gone and only some of the walls were standing even during winter.

If you are Tiger tank fan such as myself then this a great book to purchase and have on your book shelf.

Excelent book with all the variants of the Tiger I, excelent for modellers and students of History.