German Infantryman (1) 1933-40

Warrior 59
David Westwood
Colour Plates by Adam Hook
Osprey Publishing Ltd, 2002
ISBN 1-84176-462-0
64 pages, softbound

Reviewed by John Prigent

This is one for Wehrmacht fans, and they’ll love it! The recruitment and training of German infantry is covered in good detail, and the tactical methods taught are very clearly shown. Everything is here, from the organisation of a pre-war infantry regiment in 1939, and the standard platoon tactical order of march in the approach to contact, to a table showing who carried what in a rifle of machine gun section and their respective duties.

But that’s not all. The second half of the book is devoted to how all the training worked out in battle during the Polish and French campaigns. Here there are plenty of descriptions from veterans – again, everything from food and rest on the march to river crossings against opposition and fighting in built-up areas. Pre-war and wartime photographs, show what the men looked like both in training and on active service, and the colour plates include not only the expected uniforms and equipment, including MG08. 13 and 34 machine guns and the heavy and light infantry mortars, but also birds-eye views of the standard tactical approach to contact in open country and of the actual course of one small fight in Warsaw in 1929.

Recommended for anyone wanting to understand how German tactics worked or to model German infantry in authentic dioramas.