Images of War

[Helmut]

Servus,
I see there are a lot of books in the IMAGES OF WAR Series. Any opinions as to whether they ae worth the money?
Opinions?

Thanks in advance for any replies.

Merry Christmas

Regards,
Helmut

[Lexxx]

I have a number of them that I have picked up used on Amazon over the years and they vary greatly from good to poor. None that I have seen are outstanding.

First and foremost, understand what you are getting. There are plenty of great photo books out there, but you pay for what you get. The Images of War series are about as cheap as there is, so don't have high expectations.

I have found some of the titles to be deceiving. For example, the Fallshirmjager book is a reprint of one paratrooper's photo album. If the paratrooper whose photo album is reproduced did not see service in a particular campaign or battle, there are no photos from that campaign or battle. In the D-Day book, an enormous proportion of the photos are taken at various RAF tactical air force bases instead of photos from the actual invasion itself . . . interesting, but hardly what the title suggests.

Many (and by many I mean most) of the photos are rear echelon depictions rather than the front lines. Example: many of the photos from the Barbarossa and Polish campaign books depict columns of German infantry, artillery and tanks marching off to war. From the books I have seen, combat photos throughout the series are quite rare.

I did enjoy many of the First World War titles. There are quite a number of post-combat photos in the WW1 books. The scale of the devastation to the French countryside and the human cost really comes through.

As a general rule, I have found many of the reviews on Amazon.com to be reasonably accurate or a little inflated.

Bottom line: interesting for the casual reader, but not for the serious historian.

[Andy H]

Hi

I would just like to add that Lexxx's post is a good balanced portrayal of 'Images' content and worth-Definitely a pic n mix rather than wanting to own them all.

Regards

[Helmut]

Gentlemen,

Thank you for the information. i think I will just pass on these books. With the price of good books getting astronomical. I'll just save my GROSCHEN and find a beeter book.

Thanks again.

Regards,

Helmut

[Richard Hargreaves]

For the early campaigns, up to the end of 1941, there's a host of Nazi propaganda books, e.g.

Der grosse deutsche Feldzug gegen Polen (which is A4 sized, 350 pages, loads of images). Cost about €20
Der Sieg im Osten (Poland again). Similar price.
Der Sieg im Norden (Norway). Ditto.
Der Grosse Befehl (France). About €25.
Mit Hitler im Westen (Ditto and ditto).

And many, many more. The quality of the repro/paper varies, but if you want a flavour of the campaigns...