Schiffer Military's Legends of Warfare series has a volume dedicated to the German medium tank Panther. It is a hardback book with an uncommon format: square, 23,5 by 23,5 cm. It is written by David Doyle, and has 128 pages of text and photos, using a good quality paper.
The book focuses solely on the Panzerkampfwagen V Panther, variants such as the Bergepanther or Jagdpanther are not included.
It opens with a brief historical introduction to the tank, followed by a comparative table of the characteristics of each manufactured variant from Ausf A to Ausf G and four profiles to visually see the differences.
Then come four chapters, one for each of the versions, with a one-page history and features, some colour profiles and a multitude of war photos. Also for each variant there is a set of plans, without scale indication, with several views.
The last chapter is much shorter, with only two pages of photos devoted to the Ausf. F, which never went into production.
Apart from the wartime images, the Ausf A and Ausf G chapters have a number of photos of vehicles preserved in museums, allowing a better appreciation of the details. The Ausf A walkaround also includes interior photos.
Although restorations must be taken carefully when using them as reference, they offer an unique chance to clearly see details that otherwise would be hard to spot on wartime photos.
The photos are very varied, of good quality and quite clear. They are usually printed half-page and some full-page, which makes them look very good. Some of the images are quite well known. There is a wide range of subjects, with pictures in dry weather, in mud or snow, with different types of camouflage, in service or destroyed, in open field or in town, with or without crew.
They have quite complete captions with the available information such as the unit, location or any other detail worth to be highlighted.
Conclusion
An interesting book that can serve as an introduction to the Panther, with sufficient basic information and a good number of photos, including several of vehicles in museums. In addition, it contains colour profiles and drawings to visually show the differences between versions.
It is ideal to get a general view of this famous tank, or to use as a reference for a model kit that does not need to go in depth.