German Light Panzers 1932-1942

Osprey Military New Vanguard Series #26
By Bryan Perrett, Peter Sarson, & Terry Hadler
Osprey Publishing, LTD 1998
ISBN 1 85532 844 5
48 pages, 8 in color

Reviewed by Chris Banyai-Riepl

While this isn't exactly a brand new title, it's a new one across my desk, and it came at the right time. As I was halfway through my PzKpfw 38(t) and PzKpfw IB I realized that I needed more reference on these little guys. This book turned out to be just the ticket. Like other books in the series, this title has lots of decent pictures, well written text, and some very decent color illustrations in the middle.

With a title of "German Light Panzers" you'd expect that there would be coverage of more than one tank in this book, and you wouldn't be disappointed. The book starts out with an overview of the design and development of the light tank in Germany before they were allowed offensive weaponry. After this short two-page introduction the book dives right into the meat of the issue, with a description of each of the following tanks: The PzKpfw I, PzKpfw II, PzKpfw 35(t), and the PzKpfw 38(t). These last two, while not of German design, were used quite extensively (especially the 38(t)) during the opening stages of the Second World War, mainly because the Czech tanks were much better than their German counterparts.

Each tank is given an overview of its development, statistics, and any derivatives that came about. With a basic knowledge of each vehicle behind you, the book then takes you into the minds of German generals and covers the tactics used by these light tanks, which were often outgunned by the opposition. But through solid, well-planned tactics, the shortcomings of the light tanks were minimized and the huge success seen in the opening shots of WW2 show just how effective they could be.

The color section has some excellent paintings depicting different variants of the light tanks, starting from the early years (such as a PzKpfw IB in Spanish markings from the Spanish Civil War) and going all the way to 1944 with a late-war variant of the PzKpfw II, the Ausf. L "Luchs". These illustrations give a good idea of what these vehicles looked like in their camouflage schemes and help bring the black and white photos alive.

All in all this is an excellent little book and if you're wanting to add something a bit smaller to your Tigers and Panthers, this book will provide plenty of inspiration.