Over the past two decades, the Panzerwrecks series of books has become known for quality books showcasing photos of WWII armor. Founded by Lee Archer and Bill Auerbach, Panzerwrecks has became both a book series and a publishing house focusing on armored warfare in WWII. Unfortunately, co-founder BIll Auerbach passed away in 2015, but Panzerwrecks has soldiered on, both with the original Panzerwrecks series and
with titles by a new generation of authors. One such writer/researcher is Darren Neely. Last year Panzerwrecks released his book Forgotten Archives 1: The Lost Signal Corps Photos. This month saw the release of the follow-up book, Forgotten Archives 2: The Lost Signal Corps Photos in the UK with release in the US coming this July.
We had a chance to examine a copy of this latest book and it is a very handsome volume indeed. This is a large hardcover volume of 240 pages. Primarily a photo book, the pages are printed on high quality glossy paper and the photo quality is excellent. The black and white photos, of which there are 252, are generally printed one to a page making it very easy to see the details contained in the images. There are also a small number of nicely done color illustrations by artist Felipe Rodna.
The subject matter of the book is, of course, WWII armor, specifically US and German armor in the ETO 1944-45. This ground has been covered extensively over the years by numerous authors and publishers. Probably everyone with an interest in WWII armor has had the experience of getting a new book on WWII tanks and upon cracking it open, finding the same familiar photos that get recycled year after year. Fear not, this is not the case with Forgotten Archives 2. What makes this new book unique is that the author was able to work with the families of eight former US Army Signal Corps photographers, going through the photo collections that these men brought back from the war. Each photo is accompanied by the original caption written by the wartime photographer as well as a caption by the author, noting any errors or discrepancies in the original captions. The book is arraigned by photographer, each chapter dedicated to a particular Signal Corps soldiers’ collection. In organizing the book this way, each chapter tells the story of that particular photographer, marking the places they passed through and the things they saw and experienced. Being presented in this way, the book becomes a tribute not just to the fighting men captured in the images, but also to the men who risked their lives behind the camera.
For those looking for original, never before seen photos of US and German armor in the ETO, we highly recommend this book. Both the content and the presentation are top notch and should prove a valuable reference for both tank historians and model builders. The book is currently available at the Panzerwrecks website.
pages samples and images below:
Tank and AFV News 
Leave a Reply