Durer’s Fight Book

Durer’s Fight Book written by Dierk Hagedorn & Daniel Jaquet and published

by Greenhill Books - £30 - Hardback - Pages 320

Albrecht Dürer is probably the most famous German artist of the Renaissance, if not of all time.

His works are world-famous and he was a master in numerous artistic disciplines such as

woodcut, copperplate engraving, drawing and painting.

What is less well known is that he was interested in weapons and fencing throughout his life. He produced several woodcuts for a tournament book by Emperor Maximilian I, but he devoted himself much more thoroughly to the subject of duels in his own extensive fencing manuscript.

Dürer’s fight book stands out from the mass of illustrated fencing manuscripts because of its outstanding quality. In well over 100 elaborate drawings, the master uniquely depicts dynamic pairs of fighters practising contemporary combat techniques, such as wrestling or sword and dagger fighting.

Since its creation more than 500 years ago, the fight book has never been published in its entirety. This edition offers the complete contents of the manuscript for the very first time: All illustrations are reproduced in colour and the complete text is presented in a letter-perfect transcription as well as a translation into modern English.

Albrecht Dürer's fight book offers a unique, new look at Dürer the artist and Dürer the fighter.

An interesting book indeed, especially if you are interested in the art of fighting or hand-to-hand combat. This book looks at the work of Albrecht Durer, a German artist who was obviously interested in the art of combat including fighting on horseback, wrestling and fencing. The book contains a copy of the original manuscript along with the English transcription along with a large collection of artistic drawings, which actually explain some of the writing very well. The attached ribbon bookmarks were excellent in that you could easily compare the drawings with the written definitions. All in all an interesting read and ideal for anyone interesting in hand-to-hand combat. Right, I’m off now to put my sons in their place in the garden with some German hand-to-hand combat.

Zeppelin Inferno - The Forgotten Blitz 1916

Zeppelin Inferno - The Forgotten Blitz 1916 written by Ian Castle and published

by Frontline Books - £25.00 - Hardback - Pages 400

At the beginning of 1916, as the world entered the second full year of global conflict, the cities, towns and villages of Britain continued to lay vulnerable to aerial bombardment. Throughout that period German Zeppelin airships and seaplanes had come and gone at will, their most testing opposition provided by the British weather as the country’s embryonic defences struggled to come to terms with this first ever assault from the air. Britain’s civilians were now standing on the frontline — the Home Front — like the soldiers who had marched off to war. But early in 1916 responsibility for Britain’s aerial defence passed from the Admiralty to the War Office and, as German air attacks intensified, new ideas and plans made dramatic improvements to Britain’s aerial defence capability.

While this new system could give early warning of approaching raiders, there was a lack of effective weaponry with which to engage them when they arrived. Behind the scenes, however, three individuals, each working independently, were striving for a solution. The results of their work were spectacular; it lifted the mood of the nation and dramatically changed the way this campaign was fought over Britain.

The German air campaign against Britain in the First World War was the first sustained strategic aerial bombing campaign in history. Despite this, it has become forgotten against the enormity of the Blitz of the Second World War, although for those caught up in the tragedy of these raids, the impact was every bit as devastating. In Zeppelin Inferno Ian Castle tells the full story of the 1916 raids in unprecedented detail in what is the second book in a trilogy that will reveal the complete story of Britain’s ‘Forgotten Blitz’.

A fascinating book about a fascinating subject in my own opinion. I have always found it staggering the size of Zeppelins and how these huge gigantic ships hang in the air. I used to live near RAF Cardington, Beds where they now keep I presume a couple of airships for promotional events and they are big, but much smaller than those used in the Great War. But it amazes me how if you were a child during WWI and you saw one of these coming over your town or area, must have left you in awe that these things were from a different planet. 

Ian Castle has written a really good book covering 20 chapters taking the evidential views and opinions of people at the time. The book follows the dates of the German blitz in and around the country, and we get to learn about the amount of damage caused. We also get essential eyewitness accounts and what it was like to experience these events and people’s thoughts. The accounts are good to read and really help inform the book and the subject, at the back of the book is also a number of blitz reports explaining who and how many died. I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone, a subject that doesn’t get the amount of attention it deserves.

Tank Craft 34: Panther Medium Tank

Tank Craft 34: Panther Medium Tank written by Dennis Oliver and published by

Pen & Sword Books - £16.99 - Softcover - Pages 64

In July 1943 the German army launched what was to be its last major offensive on Soviet soil.

Codenamed Operation Citadel, the attack had initially been scheduled to commence in May

but was postponed by Hitler on a number of occasions to allow the divisions in the East to be

reinforced and to ensure that the new Panther tanks could be deployed. In the fifth book on the

Panther in this series Dennis Oliver examines the first vehicles that left the assembly plants to

go into service against the Red Army as part of Operation Citadel and the units that arrived in

the late summer and early autumn of 1943. In addition to archive photographs and painstakingly

researched, exquisitely presented colour illustrations, a large part of this book showcases

available model kits and aftermarket products, complemented by a gallery of beautifully

constructed and painted models in various scales. Technical details as well as modifications

introduced during production and in the field are also examined, providing everything the

modeller needs to recreate an accurate representation of the Panther tanks that fought in the

East in 1943.

As I have said with previous books in this series the Tank Craft books are brilliant for model

makers, you get so many detailed photos of the various tank models in the process of being

made. But you also get the different camouflages for the different theatres of war, especially

when you enter the Cold War era you have many different designs in accordance with the

surrounding terrain. But in World War Two you’ve got different camouflages for Normandy,

France, the North Africa campaign and terrain on the Eastern Front. I think the Panther

Medium Tank is my personal favourite tank, so it has been a great read and one I would

recommend as it makes an important entry into the series.

The Battle of Halbe 1945

The Battle of Halbe 1945 written by Eberhard Baumgart and published by

Greenhill Books - £20.00 - Hardback - Pages 208

In April 1945, German troops withdrawing from the Seelow Heights were encircled by the Soviet Army near the small town of Halbe, south-east of Berlin. Rather than surrender, their orders were to attempt to break out, westward, and join up with the German 12th Army. A brutal battle ensued, with an estimated 30,000 German and 20,000 Russian soldiers killed, along with thousands of civilians.

This collection of first-hand accounts tells the story of the battle and its aftermath from the German perspective. It is an eclectic mix, containing the recollections of ordinary soldiers, SS-men and men of the Panzer Divisions, as well as civilians caught up in the battle as they attempted to flee ahead of the advancing armies. It brings to life the grim realities of this one-sided engagement, revealing the brutal vengeance of the Soviets and the desperation to escape the slaughter.

This book reveals the story of German troops being forced to withdraw from advancing Russian troops who had almost encircled them at the small town of Halbe in 1945. The battle was colossal and the number of soldiers who died was around 30,000 Germans & 20,000 Russians, and on top of that were thousands of German civilian casualties. This book which has been translated into English for the first time gives an excellent if harrowing retelling of events that occurred. With the writer relying on a number of accounts from men who were there. This was a fascinating read, of a story I had never really heard about before. The fighting and stories were staggering and I found it astonishing that I had not heard of this before. The story was a well written but easy to read the story, and there is a good number of photographs dotted throughout the book. I would highly recommend this book in which the Germans suffer an enormous onslaught from a Russian army.