The origin of Pen & Sword Books is closely linked with its sister company, the Barnsley Chronicle; one of the UK's oldest provincial newspapers, established in 1858, and one of the few weeklies still in private ownership. The first books published by the company were in response to public demand following of a series of articles published in the newspaper: Dark Peak Aircraft Wrecks told the story of crash sites in the Dark Peak area of the Peak District National Park, and a further weekly feature on the history of two Kitchener battalions, known as the Barnsley Pals, aroused a thirst for more information. Following on from the success of those books, a number of local history paperbacks were produced along with a series of battlefield guidebooks. Battleground Europe proved immediately successful, and the company made the decision to launch a book publishing arm of the group.

At dawn on 22 June 1941, German forces launched an attack along a vast front stretching from the Baltic Sea to the Carpathian Mountains against their ‘best ally’ – Stalinist Russia. The element of surprise, combined with the concentration of powerful formations, primarily consisting of armored and motorized units supported by the air force, allowed the Germans to penetrate deep into Soviet territory.

Barbarossa Victims, Luftwaffe Kills in the East, Vol. 1 is No.34 in the MMP Books/Stratus “Camera On” series of photo albums from the German perspective, typically focusing on weapon systems and vehicles. The beauty of these books are the photos taken by German soldiers during their wartime service. Typically, the “Camera On” series is written by Alan Ranger. This is the first by Tomasz J. Kopański, and he carries the series well.

First, the usual “thank you greatly” to SAC for providing this set to IPMS USA. We appreciate the continual, long-term support from this manufacturer, and it’s always a good day when a package arrives from SAC HQ.

This metal gear is exactly what SAC says it is; an improved version of the kit gear. From their website: “The Trumpeter main gear is too long. Our set corrects this problem. Also, we recommend the modeler purchase a set of ResKit wheels because they have much better detail and they lower the model by an additional 1 mm”.

Out of the box, the kit has two different landing gear options; Plastic gear parts for a standard build, incorporating brake lines and other details, (which will begin to fail over time), and a cast- steel copy of the plastic gear without the brake lines. These lines are provided for by black vinyl add-ons in a bag containing the vinyl/rubber tires for the basic kit.