So now that I have Wargames
Illustrated 319 in my hot little hands, and I can get a good look at the “Bridge
at Remagen” article as printed, and I can talk a little more about what it
says. First, yes, that’s my name next to
Mike Haught’s name as a co-author of the article. Second, no, I can’t tell you anything more
about the book than what is in the article other than to say I had a large role
in writing the German half of the book.
Once the book itself is out I’ll go into more detail, but for now I can
give you guys a some thoughts on what I’m looking forward to and some
information on the history.
While I didn’t work directly on the American half of the
book, the forces covered honestly look like a lot of fun. Sure, there’s the addition of all the new
toys the Americans received toward the end of the war – like the Pershing – but
I’m enough of a fan of “expedient” weapons to really be looking forward to the
B36B1 tank destroyer. Back in the early
90’s I was building a lot of tank kits, but 1/35th scale armor was
still hitting its stride. You couldn’t
even get a decent Panzer III or Stug III kit without spending a lot of money
for a Gunze Sanyo kit. However Testors
through a partnership with Italeri actually produced a kit of the M36B1 and I
fell in love with the clunky beast at that point.
On the German side, the book is mostly focused on Schwere Kampfgruppe Hudel, but it also
includes SS-Panzer Brigade “Westfalen”
as well. Hudel gives you access to the three heavy battalions which made up
that unit. The 512. Schwere Panzerjäger Abteilung provides the ability to field CV
and RT Jagdtiger. For a unit with such a
short duration in the field, the 512th has a very fascinating
history. For anyone interested in
fielding Jagdtiger units, I strongly recommend Devey’s Jagtiger: Operational History and Meadows’ Jagdtiger: Design, Production and Operations. Both provide good overviews of the vehicle
and its deployment.
You can field the Normandy version of 654. Schwere Panzerjäger Abteilung in Atkantik Wall, but the unit continued to
fight through the end of the war. The
unit was virtually destroyed and reconstituted on multiple occasions. The best history for this unit is Munch’s Combat History of the 654th SchwerePanzerjager Abteilung. This is not a cheap book, but it is an
amazing book. In my opinion, only Munch’s history of 653. Schwere Panzerjäger Abteilung
exceeds it for a comprehensive unit history.
Unlike many of the other heavy tank battalions, 506. Schwere Panzer Abteilung doesn’t
have a readily available unit history in English at this point. You can, however, glean a lot of its history
from broader references like Schneider’s Tigers in Combat and Trojca’s Pz.Kpfw.VI Ausf. B "Königstiger:" Technical andOperational History and his Tiger Tank: Technical / Operational History, Vol 2: 1944-45.
Though you’d infer that it is a panzer unit from its
name, SS-Panzerbrigade “Westfalen” was
primarily an infantry force, though it did have a small group of training tanks
as part of the unit. The unit put up
surprisingly fanatical resistance in the area around Paderborn and delayed the
closure of the Ruhr pocket by American forces.
Wilhelm Tieke’s history of the unit, SS-Panzer-Brigade"Westfalen", Activation-Operations-Destruction is probably the best single reference on the unit currently available in
English.
Obviously I’m really looking forward to this book. In terms of overall participation this is the
biggest thing I've done for Battlefront, and I had a really great time working
with Mike Haught to bring the book together.
I hope everyone enjoys playing the forces as much as I enjoyed researching and organizing them!
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