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Tank Craft 31: Tiger I and Tiger II Tanks (Paperback)

German Army and Waffen-SS The Last Battles in the East, 1945

Colour Books Military > Modelling Military > Tanks Photographic Books

By Dennis Oliver
Imprint: Pen & Sword Military
Series: Tank Craft
Pages: 64
Illustrations: 200 colour & black and white illustrations
ISBN: 9781526791221
Published: 16th March 2021

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By the first weeks of 1945 the Eastern Front had been pushed back to the Carpathian mountain passes in the south and Warsaw on the Vistula River in the centre while in the north the German army was fighting in East Prussia. The Wehrmacht's armoured and mobile formations were now employed exclusively as fire brigades, rushed from one crisis to the next as the Red Army pushed inexorably westward. Critical to the German defence were the army's heavy Panzer battalions whose Tiger tanks, with their 8.8cm guns, were almost invincible on the open plains of central Europe. In his latest book in the TankCraft series Dennis Oliver uses archive photos and extensively researched colour illustrations to examine the Tiger tanks and units of the German Army and Waffen-SS heavy Panzer battalions that struggled to resist the onslaught of Soviet armour during the last days of the conflict which culminated in the battle for Berlin. A key section of his book displays available model kits and aftermarket products, complemented by a gallery of beautifully constructed and painted models in various scales. Technical details as well as modifications introduced during production and in the field are also examined providing everything the modeller needs to recreate an accurate representation of these historic tanks.

A thorough examination of some of the most feared tanks of all time, Dennis Oliver's work is a hugely engrossing read that any prospective modeller will find incredibly useful.

Classic Military Vehicle Magazine - Issue 263, April 2023

"This book has a good balance of historical and technical information together with modeling projects and products."

IPMS/USA, May 2022

I do love a nice Tiger tank, personally, I think one of the more beautiful tanks, if a tank can be called that. So you can see that if I love a Tiger tank, then I must have enjoyed this book, and I did indeed. As usual with these books, they are very well written and informed, the research that goes into these books, although small is no less than a standard-sized book. You have all the tank dimensions, specifications and theatre of war camouflage, the history and the operations they are specifically well known for. Now obviously, these books are twinned with being aimed at model makers/collectors, now I’m not one of these but this particular section of the books always seems very well done. So in all, this book hits the mark in all ways, another good addition to the range.

Read the full review here

The History Fella

This book follows the tried and tested format of its predecessors, with the bulk of the book being taken up with side profile colour illustrations and sumptuous colour photographs of modellers' work. The modelling section gives an excellent overview of kit manufacturers and after market products for super detailing, with a list of manufacturers on the last half page. Technical details of the various marks and variants accompany the illustrations and contemporary photographs, concentrating on the Tiger II, as the Tiger I is covered in more detail in earlier works


By 1945 the German Army was fighting for survival, with the Soviet Operation Bagration in full flow, and the Allied bombing campaign affecting both production and transport. Consequently there were as few as 125 serviceable Tigers on the whole of the front, grouped into eight independent army battalions, Grossdeutschland, and Herman Göring. In addition, ad hoc Kampfgruppen were formed from these units as the situation deteriorated, and these are also mentioned. On occasion the text discusses single vehicles, with a timeline listing actions, in which Tigers were involved. The author draws from a large back catalogue of primary and secondary sources amassed during production of previous studies for this series of books.


Orders of battle are fewer and more speculative than earlier books, reflecting the disorganised state of the army, and the increasing gap between plans and reality. The author has taken care to note and discuss where is making educated assumptions. References are listed as notes on the same page as the text they refer to. Wargamers, modellers and historians may all find this study to be useful.

Chris Kemp

This is another great book from Dennis Oliver. Throughout the book the text and captions are both well researched and informative. The Tank Craft series of books are aimed at model makers and part of their appeal is how they the link the models and their historical context. The iconic Tiger I and IIs are a popular subject and there can be no doubt that this volume will be of great interest to both model makers and military historians who want a detailed history of the Tigers that were operational in the final months of World War II on the Eastern Front. Highly recommended to all, and another great addition to the Tank Craft range.

Miniature Armoured Fighting Vehicles Association

It does a good job of mixing fact with models.

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Armorama

"...a good book for fans of late war Tigers!"

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AMPS

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The Historical Miniatures Gaming Society

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ModelingMadness.com

Video review featured on Scale Modelling Now

Scale Modelling Now

This adds very nicely to the previous books on the Tiger which are already in the TankCraft series and gives plenty to interest the panzer historian and the modeller especially.

Read the full review here

Firetrench

A welcome addition to the very popular Tank Craft Series. Aimed at model makers, this series has become popular with a much wider readership, due to the excellent text describing the subject vehicle and its deployment, including unit structures. – Very Highly Recommended

Read the full review [link=http://reviews.firetrench.com/tiger-i-and-tiger-ii-tanks-german-army-and-waffen-ss-the-last-battles-in-the-east-1945-tank-craft-31/]here[link]

Firetrench

About Dennis Oliver

Dennis Oliver is the author of over twenty books on Second World War armoured vehicles including Panzer III: German Army Light Tank, Operation Barbarossa 1941, Panzer III: German Army Light Tank, Tripoli to El Alamein, 1941-1942 and Stug III and Stug IV: German Army and Waffen-SS, Western Front, 1944-1945.

Perfect Partner

Tank Craft 13: Tiger I and Tiger II Tanks, German Army and Waffen-SS The Last Battles in the West, 1945 (Paperback)

Tiger tanks were among the most-feared fighting vehicles of the Second World War and they gained almost legendary status, yet they never fulfilled their potential because they were not produced in sufficient numbers and the tide the war had turned against the German army by the time they were introduced. Often they were deployed in difficult circumstances and in defensive battles, struggling against the odds. Nowhere was this more true than in western Europe during the Allied advance across France and into Germany, and it is the Tigers of this phase of the war that Dennis Oliver portrays in his…

By Dennis Oliver

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