Ferdinand and Elefant Tank Destroyer (General Military) Hardcover – April 21, 2015

As someone who owns many texts written by German nationals, I have to preface this by stating that the grammar and syntax seem to have suffered significantly from being poorly translated or at least written in English, by someone who's sentence structure in their native language is far different from ours. I find myself sitting with a pen and erasing needless words, or changing others so that they make sense to a native English speaker.That said, this is a very fine book, with some incredibly rare photographs. The author even manages to get in a brief chapter on the Sturmmorser Panzer, which I feel is one of the rarer, and more interesting tanks of the Second World War. Moreover, the author admits from the start that the Ferdinands did have a flawed drive system, but brings up many of their positive points as well. Mr. Anderson discusses the merits of the Ferdinand and compares it with the rivals it faced in Africa and Russia, especially the T-34. The author even went to the trouble of conducting numerous oral history interviews with Russian tankers, in order to get a feel for how they felt the Ferdinand performed in comparison with their vehicles, and whether they suffered from similar mechanical reliability issues.Lastly, Mr. Andersen covers many of the technical subsystems of the Ferdinands in detail, including the evolution of the canons utilized as well as the small arms carried on-board. Overall, this is an excellent reference work for the WWII armored warfare enthusiast, provided that one can look past the syntax and grammar issues.

The translation to English is a little "odd" at times, but the information is quite interesting. The Ferdinand was a part of a weapons system intended to be the answer to cracking the Russian defenses at Kursk. It was, along with the Brumbar (Grizzly Bear) armored vehicle and the various Funk Link vehicles supposed to open lanes to the mine fields and to demolish fortified structures. According to some records the integrated weapons system initially worked well, but quickly ran into numerous problems. The Ferdinand was complicated and not a particularly durable vehicle (with many engineering shortcomings), the Brumbar initially used recycled and worn out Mk IV chassis that were not up to the task and the radio controlled vehicles were not numerous enough to overcome all the battlefield obstacles (considerable and in depth). Many new photos were in the book which are quite interesting too. Altogether this is an interesting book for WWII armor students and enthusiasts.

I was looking for technical/mechanical details on this German tank destroyer. Instead, the book deals with practically every other piece of armor in the German war inventory plus details of the organizational structure of various panzer units their designations and re-designations throughout the war years. If that isn't bad enough, the reader is bombarded with seemingly endless diary entries of some geek in the HQ battalion of the 9th Army who gives a play by play of the daily activities of the army during various operations. The author does not really say much about the Ferdinand until you are nearly half way through the book when he decides to talk about Operation Citadel (Kursk offensive). Only then did I find out that the fuel tanks were located in the engine compartment; many thanks for that. There are NO cutaway views or schematics dealing with the interior and there are NO photographs of the interior either. The work was supposedly edited but it appears that the editor failed to read most of the text because the book is full of typographical errors. For some reason many publishers these days place little value on spelling and sentence structure. To be fair, the photos are good (b&w) though even the captions had typos! If you are looking for in depth technical/mechanical details on the Ferdinand/Elephant don't waste your money on this book.

Ferdinand and Elephant tank destroyers, good book that sets the record straight on this tanks destroyer and its much successful engagement it took part in. This Book traces the history from design stage to its combat stage and destruction. Good history coverage with the combat seen and the adjustments made to this vehicle after its first showing in combat. After that this tank serves with one unit until the end of the war and sees much combat. One interesting part of this book is the amount of kills this tank destroyer inflicted on the Russians and allies in Russia and Italy. Nice descriptive book

I had thought this would be a fascinating history with technical details, but it seemed to me that far more of the text was devoted to the remotely-controlled miniature vehicle used to deliver explosive charges and withdraw (don't recall its name) and to the Sturmpanzer, a huge mortar mounted on a Mark IV chassis, than to the title vehicle. The combat histories are brief and not particularly interesting.There are some interesting photos, but - at least in my Kindle - they would not enlarge to show the detail probably visible in the book version.

I've never seen much on the Ferdinand/Elefant before. This book does a good job tracking the development and deployment of this weapon. It has lots of photos I'd never seen before. You also get information on the Goliath and Borgward B IV explosive delivery weapons and Sturmpanzers used in Russia. A great book about these weapons.

Well researched and full of very rare photos, but again it too detailed. Lacks any first hand combat accounts, from crew etc and relies on after action reports.

As other reviewers have said, this book doesn't just focus on the Ferdinand/Elefant, but also covers the Sturmpanzer and remote-control demolition vehicles. While this should be clearer in the title, I see it as a bonus. For someone not familiar with these vehicles the book is a comprehensive overview, with fascinating photos and reports from commanders using the vehicles in the field. What makes this 4 stars and not 5 stars, though, is the poor editing, with many typos, inconsistencies in spelling names etc. This, sadly, I see as a hallmark of Osprey's books - they need to invest more in editing as the content is generally very good. Occasional maps would also help.

Highly recommended to anyone who has an interest in this rare tank destroyer. There's not a huge amount of information out there on it compared to other tanks so this book is a real gem. Includes lots of imagery, even some I've not seen before on the internet!

Great quality title from the author. Not only does it contain details about the ferdinand/ elefant, but also the funklenk elements, sturmpanzer abt 216 and other units. The title provides so much more than just the sdkfz. 184.

5 star if not for the absence of any maps