ICM continues its unique line of World War 1 related figure sets, and this one has to be unique in this regard, as it depicts equipment that never actually saw combat. The set provides four figures wearing the infamous Brewster Body Shield, designed by Dr. Guy. Brewster, capable of withstanding a hail of bullets from the standard .303 round of the time. Unfortunately, it was otherwise virtually impractical, as it weighed 40 pounds and restricted both vision and movement severely. The user could not turn his head, could not drop to the ground (and hope to get back up again), could barely reach his ammo belt under the unit, and was completely unprotected from the rear. Although studied by the U.S. Army at the time, it was never adopted for actual combat operations, although it might have proven useful for sentries or other fix posts.

This is the 30^th offering of this series and the 7^th in the detailing of the Tiger I and Tiger II .

The book is divided in 8 section/chapters, and include an Introduction, The Eastern Front- August, 1942- March, The Tiger Units, Camouflage and Markings, Model Showcase, Modelling Products, Technical Details and Product Contact Details.

The book focuses on the first vehicles that left the production line and that went into battle during late 1942 and early 1943. There is a detailed description of the use of the vehicles from 1 August, 1942 through 31 March, 1943. This is followed by a table stating the number of tanks in each Tank Unit in August, 1942.

Next, we go into the reporting of each unit that used the Tiger I during the time previously mentioned. There are several tables indicating the table of operations for units 501 and 503, as well as the allocation of vehicles received, lost, on hand and operational.

This landscaped, hardback book is written in both English and Hungarian, featuring select German armored vehicles throughout all theaters in World War II from 1939 to 1945. This is an incredible book with many previously unpublished photos of armored vehicles in depots, in the field and after combat. The next page reveals more surprises that the previous.

First and foremost, this book is written in Hungarian, and this language is shown first, followed by the English translation (and a great job by the editor, by the way; this is not a case of stereo instructions printed in one language and translated into another that doesn’t have words for stereo equipment). The author sets up the book with the following introductory paragraph, “In the strictest sense of the term, “Panzerwaffe” means tank or armour weapon. For the Wehrmacht (German armed forces), the Panzerwaffe was that part of the Heer (army) that consisted of armoured formations.”

The book’s title, Burma Victory 1944-1945, is a little misleading as the first, very detailed chapter delves into the Japanese blitzkrieg beginning in December 1941 through 1942. The Japanese victories in China, the Dutch East Indies, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaya and the Philippines set the stage for this book on a long forgotten and neglected theater of World War II. The author does an amazing job describing the harsh, varied terrain, weather and combatants and how the Allies regrouped and learned to fight the previously invincible Japanese military as they made their furthest incursion west.

The British, and for that matter the Allied, in general try to keep abreast of the changes on the German AFV throughout the war. The changes came from field observations and reports. The books were updated as information became available through as field observations, as well as captured machines. This was never-ending reporting as changes were continuous and the Germans improved their equipment. The book contains 39 examples of German equipment used during World War II. Although the book claims to have 39 chapters, in reality we have reports on 39 different machines.