T-34 On The Battlefield 2, WWII Photobook Series Vol.17, by Neil Stokes (Peko Publishing)

T-34 On The Battlefield 2, WWII Photobook Series Vol.17, by Neil Stokes (Peko Publishing)

The latest release from Peko Publishing is the “T-34 on the Battlefield 2”. As the name would suggest, this is the second book in the series that is focused on the mainstay of the Soviet War machine. Six factories building T-34s at various times during WW2 delivered a total of 58,863 units of all variants by 1945! It was the most-produced tank of the war, as well as the second most produced tank of all time (after its successor, the T-54/55). At 44,900 losses during the war, it also suffered the most tank losses of all time. When it was first encountered in 1941, German general von Kleist called it "the finest tank in the world" and Guderian affirmed the T-34's "vast superiority" over existing German armour. Although its armour and armament were surpassed later in the war, it has often been credited as the most effective, efficient and influential tank design of WW2.

The book provides an overview of the development, production and operational deployment of the T-34 in Soviet service during WW2.  It includes details of unit organization within the Red Army, along with the many changes of the variants during the war. 99% of the book is dedicated to captioned wartime photographs of T-34 tanks, many of which are previously unpublished. It weighs 750gr, with sturdy sewn binding, luxurious hardcover design under gloss cello glazing and velvet paper, in keeping with the previous 16 volumes in the series.

It comes in a very practical landscape format (21,5 cm height X 30 cm wide). The Author, Neil Stokes, has assembled 112 pages of content, with each of the images including a detailed description in both Hungarian and English. In some cases, the book contains multiple angles of the same vehicle, giving the reader a really thorough overview. This is yet another quality publication in this series of books. The information is highly detailed and thorough, and the quality of the images is excellent. The idea of producing a series of photo books about armour is so simple but it was Peko Publishing from Hungary who materialized it! There are already 17 titles released in their Photobook range.

T-34 is one of our favorite shapes of WWII tanks, since we first remember seeing it vividly in war comics of the 70s/80s and especially building several Matchbox 1/76th scale model kits back in 1976, with that fantastic box art by Roy Huxley (showing T-34s manoeuvring and firing at the outskirts of Stalingrad together with Soviet infantry in 1942).

“T-34 On the Battlefield 2” is written by Neil Stokes, a well known Russian tank guru - expert, author of armour related books, also a researcher and technical consultant. The photographs come from various private collections of Peter Kocsis, the Team at the Archive of Modern Conflict and a number of private archives and institutions. Most photos are new and unknown to us and few of those we have seen in the past were of a much lower quality.

There is a four-page introduction where the author describes all the technical evolution, historical information & modifications from early to late T-34 variants, highlighting key features, dates, different factories, sites and changes through different types and armament in a clear and comprehensive manner, so the reader will find it easier to understand the following photographic material. Each page of the book contains a very large photograph of one or more T-34 in different conditions with bilingual captions (Hungarian and English). The photos are in chronological/development history order, beginning with early types and follow the path of T-34 all the way to the final days of War in 1945.

Under each photograph, the author highlights important aspects that allow identification of each production version. Also in some cases the unit and time of action/scene involved. Many of the vehicles shown have mixed features like different road wheels (all-steel or rubber-tired), a mix of various style (cast, welded, round or hard-edge) turrets, L-11 or F-34 guns, mantlets, panoramic vision periscopes, single or duplicate crew hatches, makeshift armour welded to the fenders, extra hand rails, different pattern tracks, thicker or thinner armoured exhaust covers etc. T-34s are shown during movement or stationed, while there are plenty of knocked out examples. The high quality of photographs allow seeing different details and are a great source of inspiration for a modeller. Many tanks have interesting camouflages, including some very attractive winter paint schemes that would be great to show on a model.

In fact some pictures are so intriguing and dramatic that inspire you to build a specific scene as a diorama or a single T-34, with many unknown details: Vehicles in service/repairing, struggling through the mud or bogged down under frozen/deep snow, recovered/towed, cannibalized, captured/pressed into german service with extra large “balkenkreuze” (Wehrmacht crosses) & markings, suffering or completely knocked out from mine explosions, burning or burned out, some without turret or with broken gun, with worn winter camo, covered with haystack/snow/white & standard camo paint mix, wood planks and more. It is amazing that most photos are so clear that you would not believe that they would exist at all in an archive, so far!

Besides the excellent photos of the vehicles we see lots of pictures of not only the environment, the markings and the additions to each variant, but we also see a lot of pictures of the crews (or captors) of these tanks. So the reader and especially the modeller gets an insight into how the tankers fought in, related to, lived around and maintained their tanks.

In conclusion…

One interesting thing about this book is it can be enjoyed on more than one level: You can just flick through the pages and take in the images, getting a lot of joy from just that. Given a little more time, you can study the captions and identify the details the author is highlighting. So this book will appeal to historians and modellers alike. The T-34 is one of the all-time favourite tanks, so readers and modellers will get great inspiration from this book. In the quest for accuracy and realism, this publication, and all the books “On the Battlefield” series, are almost unique and invaluable.

If you like the T-34 tank, do not miss this book. Very highly recommended for beginner to advanced modellers and a must have book for all lovers of T-34.

T-34 on the battlefield 2 - World War Two Photobook Series (Vol.17)

Peko Publishing

Author: Neil Stokes

Languages: Dual, Hungarian-English

Hardcover A4 Landscape Format: 300 mm x 215 mm

Pages: 112

Price: €28.95

ISBN:9786155583117

You can order it on the PeKo Publishing website here.

It is really worth to follow the Peko website to see what comes next.

 

T-34 On The Battlefield 2, WWII Photobook Series Vol.17, by Neil Stokes (Peko Publishing)T-34 On The Battlefield 2, WWII Photobook Series Vol.17, by Neil Stokes (Peko Publishing)T-34 On The Battlefield 2, WWII Photobook Series Vol.17, by Neil Stokes (Peko Publishing)T-34 On The Battlefield 2, WWII Photobook Series Vol.17, by Neil Stokes (Peko Publishing)T-34 On The Battlefield 2, WWII Photobook Series Vol.17, by Neil Stokes (Peko Publishing)T-34 On The Battlefield 2, WWII Photobook Series Vol.17, by Neil Stokes (Peko Publishing)T-34 On The Battlefield 2, WWII Photobook Series Vol.17, by Neil Stokes (Peko Publishing)T-34 On The Battlefield 2, WWII Photobook Series Vol.17, by Neil Stokes (Peko Publishing)T-34 On The Battlefield 2, WWII Photobook Series Vol.17, by Neil Stokes (Peko Publishing)T-34 On The Battlefield 2, WWII Photobook Series Vol.17, by Neil Stokes (Peko Publishing)T-34 On The Battlefield 2, WWII Photobook Series Vol.17, by Neil Stokes (Peko Publishing)T-34 On The Battlefield 2, WWII Photobook Series Vol.17, by Neil Stokes (Peko Publishing)T-34 On The Battlefield 2, WWII Photobook Series Vol.17, by Neil Stokes (Peko Publishing)T-34 On The Battlefield 2, WWII Photobook Series Vol.17, by Neil Stokes (Peko Publishing)T-34 On The Battlefield 2, WWII Photobook Series Vol.17, by Neil Stokes (Peko Publishing)T-34 On The Battlefield 2, WWII Photobook Series Vol.17, by Neil Stokes (Peko Publishing)T-34 On The Battlefield 2, WWII Photobook Series Vol.17, by Neil Stokes (Peko Publishing)T-34 On The Battlefield 2, WWII Photobook Series Vol.17, by Neil Stokes (Peko Publishing)T-34 On The Battlefield 2, WWII Photobook Series Vol.17, by Neil Stokes (Peko Publishing)T-34 On The Battlefield 2, WWII Photobook Series Vol.17, by Neil Stokes (Peko Publishing)T-34 On The Battlefield 2, WWII Photobook Series Vol.17, by Neil Stokes (Peko Publishing)