Books by Jean Restayn and the Spielberger series?

I'm thinking of buying some of the books by Jean Restayn about the Tiger and those Spielberger wrote about the PzKpfw III and IV. Are they any good, or would I be wasting my money on some of them?

 

Depends on what you want - Restayn's two (so far) books on the Tiger provide a visual record of the tank's service on both fronts, and have good photo coverage and color illustrations of the tank's appearance, as well as short histories and maps about the units. However, I think Schneider's two volumes on the Tiger (published by J. J. Fedorowicz) have superior (and more extensive) photo coverage; both are now available in softcover editions. But if you want technical information on the Tiger's development and evolution, then you'll need to look elsewhere (such as the books by Jentz). Spielberger's books, on the other hand, provide a good technical history of German tanks and are well illustrated with photos, plan and side views, and some color profiles. If you read German (which I don't), then there's lots of information for you. For service histories and individual tank camo/markings, though, Spielberger is not the best source.

 

One other thing I forgot to mention about Schneider's Tiger books is that they both include numerous color profiles of Tigers - by Jean Restayn !

 

I'll go for Schneider instead of Restayn then.

Spielberger's books sounds good to me. And they ( the first four volumes anyway ) have been translated into English.

Thanks. :smok:

 

The softcover editions of Schneider's two books on the Tiger are published by Stackpole Books. Although priced right, the photo quality has diminished somewhat in clarity, the books (and consequently the photos) are smaller in format than the hardback editions, the color profiles are about 1/2 to 1/3 the size of the originals, and the books include only about 75-80% of the color illustrations. Unless you're real strapped for cash, I'd hunt around for used copies of the hardbacks (which will outlast a softcover too). I've only seen Spielberger's books on the Pz IV and the Stug translated into English - good to hear there are 2 more.