Encyclopaedia of the German Army in the 20th Century

Patrick Stephens Ltd. Very Good/Very Good. 1989. Hard Cover. 23.4 x 20.6 x 3.8 cm 0850599229 Dust jacket unclipped rubbed to top edge. Black cloth boards with bright gilt titling on spine. Illustrations, photographs. 400 pages. No ownership marks. Clean and tight. From the Kaiser's army during the First World War to the 12 divisions of the modern Bundeswehr which stand in NATO's front line, this book examines practically every aspect of German army organization and equipment from 1900 to the present day. Never before has so much detail on the subject been presented within the covers of a single book, much of it otherwise unavailable except in German. The author describes the growth of German militarism from the Austro-Prussian War which brought unification to the country and the inevitable drift towards a major European war which was finally sparked off by the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914. There is a chronology of the major events of the First World War followed by data panels and descriptions of the small arms, artillery and vehicles of the period. The provisions of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 restricted the size of the army to a mere 100,000 men and prohibited much weapons development, but those new ones brought into service during the 1920s are also described. A major part of the book is inevitably devoted to the rise to power of Hitler, German rearmament after 1933 and the relationship between the Nazi Party, the Army and the Waffen-SS, plus the creation of Luftwaffe parachute forces and field divisions. The Second World War, for which achronology is again provided, produced a spate of new weapons, data being given for each. These range from infantry small arms and support weapons through cars, trucks, motorcycles, half-tracks, armoured cars and armoured personnel carriers, artillery and self-propelled guns to tanks. Finally, the book shows why West Germany was able to build up a new army so soon after 1945 and what a vital part of NATO it now is. Again, there is data on all weapons systems and vehicles from 1955 to the present day. The book is illustrated with 500 photographs and constant 1:76 scale plans of the most important weapons and vehicles, both static and in action, making it the most comprehensive single reference source on the subject ever published. Bruce Quarrie is the author of over 30 other books on military history, including three on individual German divisions, two on German Airborne forces, one on mountain troops, one on the Afrika Korps and eight on armoured warfare. .