Ground Power 43

A.J. Carrington

Authors: N/A
Publisher: DELTA Publishing Co., Japan
Price: 2350 Yen

Dimensions: 7" x 10", 137 Pages

The Ground Power series of magazines are published monthly and represent one of the best sources for detailed
photographs, colour plates and line drawings/sketches currently available. Published monthly, the only negative is
that everything is in Japanese.

Review

Issue No043 is dedicated to the Tiger II, with a small section included on Allied Armoured Cars.

The section on the Tiger II is starts off with five (5) sub-sections of action/combat shots. Each "Act" centers on a particulary
time frame, starting with the intial prototypes and ending with the final battles in Germany. Acts 1 and 2 cover primarily the first
Tiger IIs produced with the Porsche turret. A number of the shots are familiar, but some are new (to me) and quite interesting.
Most of Act 3 has been published previously, mostly those of the 503 Tiger IIs drawn up in formation and Tiger II "233" in
Hungary. Act 4 concentrates on the 'Battle of the Bulge'. Most of these shots have been seen before. Act 5 seems to cover SS
501 Tiger IIs that have been knocked out in Hungary/Germany during the spring of 1945. The opening shot is of a Tiger II
knocked out in front of a huge government/state building. The caption seems to indicate that it's from SS 502.

Following the photo sections, there is a 17 page section detailing the production/history of the Tiger II. As well, this section
contains excellent line drawings and sketches detailing various sections of the tank. Finally, there are some excellent interior
shots.

This then closes off the Tiger II portion of the magazine. The remainder is dedicated to M3A1, Staghound, M8 and M20
armoured cars. Most photographs are combat shots, with three (3) detailed shots of the M8.

Colour Plates

There is one (1) pull-out page that has eight (8) colour prints of the Tiger II. There are no colour prints detailing
any of the armoured cars.

The prints are of excellent quality, equal to and exceeding those found in the Fedorowicz publications "Tigers in Combat I &
II". The only negative is that there are only eight (8) and that there are no frontal elevations - only side elevations.

Summary

In summary, I highly recommend this magazine to anyone with a keen interest in the Tiger II. While a large percentage of the
photos have been published before, they have been presented in a very logical manner and are excellent reproductions. The
colour plates are among the best available - it's interesting to compare the different colours/schemes with those found in the
"Tigers in Combat" series.

To a lesser degree, I recommend it for those with an interest in Allied armoured cars. While there are a number of good
photos, I would suggest trying to locate a copy to browse prior to forking over your money.

On the downside, the book is in Japanese only. While the photos speak for themselves, the text portion can only be guessed at.
As well, the magazine is not cheap - close to $40 USD if purchased in North America. For those interested, I would suggest
ordering it directly from Japan through companies like Rainbow Ten and HobbyLink Japan.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5