Search - The Panzers on DVD

WW2 German Tanks, Light armored vehicles, SP Artillery

Ed Poe | Oregon USA | 03/15/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"THE PANZERS is presented in 8 CDs, each approximately an hour long. The documentary appears to be a collection of clips nicely edited from WW2 German newsreels. Narrated in English, most of the original German audio can be heard in the background. Each disc features a particular type or a range of types of combat vehicle. Pretty much the entire list of vehicles actually used by German forces during WW2 are shown in action and their uses and general technical characteristics described, including the early Panzer Kampfwagen (PzKw) I and II, the PzKw III and IV, PzKw V (Panther), PzKw VI (Tiger I and II), SturmGeschutz (StuG) III and IV), the various tank-destroyer vehicles (Panzerjaeger: Marder, Hetzer, Nashorn, Jagdpanther, Jagdtiger, and more), half-tracks, reconnaissance vehicles, and self-propelled artillery. There are interesting comparisons with related Allied equipment. There is occasional redundancy from disk to disk, but, as I recall, the same scenes don't recur on more than two disks, and such scenes enable each disk to be viewed and appreciated independently from the other disks. Given the importance of these weapons in the warfare of their time and their influence on the evolution of present weapons, this documentary constitutes an extremely interesting historical supplement."