Pierre Grande Guerre
New member
As some of you already know, I am a rather strange duck in this pond of Pickelhaubes forum. I am collecting WW 1 books, copies of trench maps, and of course my photographs of my visits to quite some locations of the Western Front. I am not a collector of uniforms or helmets, but I “collect” locations.
But by frequently visiting this Pickelhaubes forum I somehow got infected by the virus and I developed, thanks to you all here, a growing interest for this German uniform and helmet aspect of World War 1.
These books of the author, Nigel Thomas Ph D, “The German Army in World War 1 (1), (2), and (3), were a surprise present by my wife.
Every part is about 50 pages. In very concise texts Thomas writes about the German Empire, the several Army Units, organisation structure, ranks, etc, according to the period. Part 1 is about the period of 1914-1915, part 2 about 1915-1917, and part 3 about 1917-1918.
In the next chapters of each part Thomas writes again in concise words about the strategic developments. The last half of these books tells in concise texts but very detailed about the different field outfits, rank insignia, etc.
These descriptions are supported by maps, period photographs, sometimes too complicated tables and beautifully made colour illustrations, artist impressions, which are described in detail by the author. The first part is illustrated by Gerry Embleton, the last two parts were illustrated by Ramiro Bujeiro.
Being amongst experts, I would like to ask you all: are you familiar with these books, have you read or looked in these books? What is your opinion? Is this series a good start to familiarize one self with the complicated world of German field uniforms and equipment?
Although I do have some critical comments on the sometimes puzzling tables, I do enjoy the artist impressions. But are these impressions and the accompanying texts flawless?
I end my questions with some more detailed information:
Author: Nigel Thomas
Title: The German Army in World War 1
Resp. (1) 1914-1915, (2) 1915-1917, (3) 1917-1918
Published by: Osprey Publishing
ISBN (1) : 978-1-84176-565-5
(2) : 978-1-84176-566-2
(3) : 1-84176-567-8
Price US$: 15,95 each
Thanks for your reactions.
Pierre