Hauptbeschreibung

The Sturmartillerie was extablished before outbreak of WW II as an integrative support arm of the infantry, which was far way from thorough mobility. Sturmgeschütze - assault guns - turretless tanks armed with a 7,5 cm gun - should push forward the attack breaking any enemy resistance, destroying infantry guns, MG nests and bunkers. In the further course of the war the young service branch would have to stand the impetus of ever growing numbers of enemy tanks.

This book is the first of a series. Its purpose is to introduce this small, but remarkable service arm to the reader. Development and combat of of the first units in battery - scale and the later Sturmgeschütz battalions resp. brigades will be explained by photos, diagrams and colored artwork. The author turned his attention to the identification of Sturmartillerie units, markings and characteristics will be clarified wherever possible.

During his research the author relied only on sources found in German archives. Subjective recollections of veterans have been used to illustrate the nature of this service arm.

It all began with a plastic kit Still being an enthusias-tic modeller, the author quickly found his interest in the history behind the weapons and soldiers. Thomas An-derson, an independent sales representative, has been working for many years for a number of historical and modelling magazines, and as advisor for model manu-facturers. His interest on German military history is fo-cused on the field of the Sturmartillerie and Panzerjäger units and their equipment. Thomas Anderson is aged 51, he is married and lives with wife and three children in the little town of Hänigsen near Hanover, Germany.