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One of the truly cool weapons the Germans had (if weapons
can be “cool” in today’s world) was the six-barrelled rocket Nebelwerfer
family. These were feared by their enemies and a welcome sight to the German
infantryman. Deployed on a wheeled
trailer, or in an armoured car they are great modelling subjects….And I suppose
an interesting subject for a book as well ? Let’s take a look at what the guys
at “Nuts and Bolts” make out of it in our review…
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by Joachim Baschin, Martin Block, John Nelson, Heinz
Tippmann
Published on May 31, 2013
Soft cover A4 Portrait format
German & English text
208 pages
28.90€ + P&P directly from Nuts & Bolts
themselves
Nuts and bolts have been serving up a nice little menu of
titles which really specialize on a certain subject and it’s variants - with a
lot of written text on the subject, accurate plans, a lot of period and current
walk around pictures and as a bonus for modellers a few well-made models in
each release – well it seems the perfect formula.
This title covers the well know “Werfer” rockets in German service
during WWII. Actually to be precise the main weapons are the Nebelwerfer towed 6
barrel rocket launcher, the slightly armoured “Maultier” with rocket launcher
on it’s rear deck and the ultimately unsuccessful but still worthwhile
mentioning copy of the Katushka – the Vielfachwerfer.
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This is a well presented glossy softcover book with a hefty
two hundred and eight pages or pictures and information on the subject. Text is
in a dual side by side mx of English and German and gee is it packed in there!
There is a lot of reading in the large first section and although by nature
some of the “numbers” can be hard reading the informative style doesn’t leave
you too dry.
The first fifty pages are all historical, with insights into
each of the three main types, their development and their orginasitonal
deployment in each unit. How the different variants changed through their
development and in plusses and minus points of each are freely discussed. There is also a few paragraphs as to the
colours and markings of these weapons and the choices in the modelling world
you have (I hope you like old kits – cause this tells you that that’s all there
currently is on the market)
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There are just on 250 pictures dispersed in this section and
mainly in the large portion of pages dedicated to the pictorial history of the
werfer family. We start off with the smaller calibre Nebelwerfer and then go
through the time to the larger rocketed variants, then through the armoured
Panzer werfer tracked trucks from all angles and in snow and mud. This portion of
the book ends with the SS sponsored (and constantly lacking ammunition) Vielfachwerfer.
These pictures not only include the generic shots but design
promotional and vehicles in development pics, in combat in various theatres,
shots of the ammo, vehicles in transport and at rest and even the FW 190
mounted version of the weapon. This is an all-encompassing volume. The text in
dual English/German adds quite a lot the pictures as well.
Next is the set of 24 blueprints of the three main types – I
noticed that the Authors used measurements from the Vehicles in Samur which is
a great step in the right direction towards accuracy.
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These drawings are all in 35th scale which is
helpful to 85% of modellers of the type I would think- other scales will have
to suck it up and scale down or up. Prototypes and the munitions carrier are a
thoughtful addition as are the close ups of the rocket rails and ammunition.
Next we get a coloured section of 19 camouflage schemes of
each of the werfers – with lovely little pictures of the shots they are representing
in the corner of each plate. There are some faithful representations here and
interesting subjects.
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Lastly there is a big walk around section of close up and
walk around pictures of the Werfer family. With shots taken from museum
vehicles from all around the world (mentioned in captions) 113 shots show you
the Werfers from every angle and these must be a help to all novice historians
and modellers.
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Speaking of Modellers there are three excellent models
displayed in the rear of the book – long with helpful text on the construction
models of the Panzer and Vielfachwerfer armoured rocket launchers by Tony
Greenland and a lovely little Nebelwerfer by Vinnie Brannigan. This is like a
bonus section for all of the modellers out there and pretty inspirational if
you are thinking of modelling these subjects.
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This isn’t a casual reader’s book – it is as in depth as you
would like to get – but in that it is the most concise and interesting book on
the werfer family I have read. It is a great book to all those interested in
the Werfers.
Adam Norenberg.
This book is
available from the Nuts & Bolts site
now.
