"Tiger" by Rüdiger Warnick and Stephan Cazenave

[michael kenny]

A simple check in the records of 23rd Hussars would have shown it to be impossible. I think those who repeat it have no interest in anything other than how it shows the 'superiority' of the Tiger.
It seems a common fault. Reynold's also mentions it in his book 'Sons Of The Reich'. He repeats it exactly as Fey claims on page 72. He makes no checks in 23rd Hussars War Diary for the day. This is strange because he extensively references the 23rd Hussars War Diary for several other points in the same chapter!
Years ago on another Forum I disputed Fey's claims and got a reply from someone who helped Fey with the English version of his book. The poster was highly critical of Fey and his missuse of the information he was provided with. However he must have got cold feet about his comments and he deleted the post almost straight away. I only saw it because I was online as it vanished.
Given Fey's disputed late war award it would have been wise to check his claims more closely

[John P. Moore]

I have finished reading the German-language version of "Tiger!" by Rüdiger Warnick and Stephan Cazenave. My overall evaluation of this book is Outstanding! The authors combined significant archival research with extensive accounts from quite a few unit veterans from 1943 to May 1945 and presented a very good chronological history of the schwere SS-Panzer Abteilung 102/502 and its predecessor, the heavy company of the SS-Panzer Rgt. “Das Reich”. I found their descriptions of the combat actions to be very vivid, especially the thoughts of a panzer crew at the moment their vehicle is struck by an anti-tank round. There are good photos of the effects of anti-tank rounds on the panzers of Hauptsturmführers Karl-Heinz Lorenz and Willy Endemann. Unlike many other books that only briefly cover the period after January 1945, there was quite a bit of detail to be found in this book all the way up through the Halbe Pocket and it was that part of the book that I read first. The authors go into considerable personal detail on all unit officers and most NCOs. They were able to locate photos for all unit officers and most NCOs and I felt that the overall photo quality was very good, despite a few that had been over sharpened in PhotoShop. As another contributor here mentioned earlier, the publisher Heimdal has the rather unusual practice of duplicating photos in the page margins that appeared elsewhere in the book at a larger size. But here the publisher went to an extreme, the same photo of Oberscharführer Ernst Streng appeared 17 times by my count! Other unit members were not far behind. The sentence structure was fairly simple and I believe that the German text would be easy to read by anyone with a basic knowledge of German and the possible accompanyment of Tom Houlihan’s German-English military dictionary.

John

[Uncle Joe]

"...despite a few that had been over sharpened in PhotoShop."=forgery.

[John P. Moore]

Uncle Joe - That was a really stupid comment to make and probably opens you to legal action from the publisher for the obvious reasons. I also doubt that you know much about Adobe PhotoShop. I use that program regularly, mostly to enhance the appearance of microfilm scans, but also on photos. The Sharpen tool can be useful on original photos, depending on what you want to do.

[Uncle Joe]

So you don´t consider "sharpening" of a photograph a forgery? How about colourization of a black-and-white photograph? Both are just one form of digital processing in which information that does not exist in the original is invented, i.e. the end result is a fake. It is irrelevant for which purpose such alteration is done. It is still a fake. A publisher should aim to print the images as close as possible to the original, neither adding nor removing from the image.

[Mark C Yerger]

John was kind enough to take the time to repair several important but damaged photos I had that I then used in several books. Without his help, they were not usable so the benefit was for everyone. I lacked not only the costly programs, but more importantly the experience and skills to do the work. So having thanked him then, hope he'll accept a repeat thanks here. I'm sure my readers appreciated it also even if unaware of his efforts in specific.

[TimoWr]

Uncle Joe, I fail to see how sharpening a photo means "information that does not exist in the original is invented". I my opinion sharpening only makes "information" that is already there more visable. Nothing is added or "invented" that isn't already in the photo and that's not forgery at all.

[bil]

Then digitalizing a photo would also produce a 'fake'-with true film,there is information stored that is either there or not.In a good,clear black and white photo much detail can be brought up in the developement process,or by enlarging.If you enlarge a digitalised photo,you will eventually end up with a bunch of dots that convey nothing.In that instance I would favor sharpening by photoshop,however,the computer adds the sharpness where it decides,and is not always where it belongs.It is a matter of cost mostly today.If you require a certain detail from a photo,film is best,if you want a picture that just depicts the subject,then digitised is all you really need.[This is sure to get someone going! ] ---bil

[John P. Moore]

I should say that I only noticed the sharpening on fewer than 6 photos out of the hundreds of really great photos in the book. I was viewing the photos with an especially critical eye and other people may not have even noticed the sharpening effects which were usually seen as a faint narrow white outline of some panzers. I couldn't very well say that everything about the book was perfect, but it was close. Speaking of photos, one very interesting observation that I forgot to mention earlier from a study of the photos was the complete absence of the "Das Reich" cuff titles on the sleeves of the panzer wraps prior to 1944. In other photos men could be seen wearing Fallschirmjäger badges. As the authors explained, the unit received a number of transfers from the Luftwaffe, some voluntary, and these men all became well-assimilated in the panzer unit.

John

[Jan-Hendrik]

Gentlemen, why does anybody still react on these stupid comments??

We have here someone arguing on the kind of Paper used to print the books instead of considering its content for research purposes...any further commenting is simply ust feeding a troll



Jan-Hendrik

[Uncle Joe]

If you are willing to pay Mercedes price (good art paper, good printing, genuine images, readable font) for Trabant quality (font for the blind, faked images, cheap uncoated paper), then do so.

[Jan-Hendrik]

I will pay, as long as the contained info is worth it

But what is interesting for me is far above than this secondary stuff...that's fun for the DTP-junkies, not for me



Jan-Hendrik

[TimoWr]

Faked images? Whatever

[Jan-Hendrik]

Apart from the nonsense by UJ, finally I had the book in my hands yesterday when I visitied a firend in Berlin, and it is superb! Simply an outstanding Volume, superior to the Schneider Volume as it contains tons of biographical material regarding the members of this unit And the overall quality of Paper and Pictures is well, too. So if anyone is quibbling on this book without having seen it he should rather consult a doctor



Jan-Hendrik

[phylo_roadking]

And he has 30 days' time on his hands which which to do it...