Concord Publications

Into the Cauldron Das Reich on the Eastern Front

by  Robert Michulec; Illustrations by Dmitriy Zgonnik

Reviewed By  Perry Downen, IPMS# 44000

MSRP: $16.95 ISBN: 962-361-170-6 Publisher website: www.concord-publications.com Distributed by Dragon USA www.dragonmodelsusa.com Das Reich is the name of Germany's WWII 2nd SS-Panzer Division. It was one of the elite divisions among thirty-eight fielded by the Waffen-SS. It was formed in October 1939 from the Deutschland, Germania and Der Führer regiments of the SS-Verfügungstruppe (SS-VT), the predecessor to the Waffen-SS. Das Reich first saw action during the invasion of France and ceased to exist with its surrender to the U.S. Army in 1945. From beginning to end, it saw action in several major battles on the Western and Eastern Fronts. Into the Cauldron examines Das Reich's participation on the Eastern Front. This book is another in Concord Publication's Warrior Series. Like the others, it is a paperback 8-1/2" X 11" book and consists of 52 pages. The backing and pages are printed on polished paper. The book contains 134 black and white photographs and four color plates. The plates are done by Dmitriy Zgonnik and are beautiful illustrations of the Waffen-SS troops' uniform and equipment. Accompanying each illustration is a description of the uniform and equipment depicted.

With the first sentence in the Introduction, the author begins immediately with the Das Reich Division's attack on the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941. There is no prologue, or preface introducing the Division to the reader. It is assumed the reader has knowledge of this unit or has read some of Mr. Michulec's previous publications. Regardless, the two-page introduction provides a thorough history of Das Reich's victories as it swept across the vast plains of the Soviet Union and its losses as the Red Army hammered it back into Germany. The author also describes the various reorganizations the Division underwent necessitated by the tremendous losses incurred during the fighting. Following the Introduction the remainder of the book is filled with photographs. Every photograph is enhanced with text detailing equipment, conditions or organization. These photographs show troops at leisure, at work and in combat. They show the difficulty they experienced with the weather and field conditions. They show equipment such as cars, trucks, tanks, motorcycles and guns. In short, they illustrate the time Das Reich spent on Soviet soil.

Into the Cauldron is an interesting read. How can the modeler use this book? It is full of pictures showing uniforms and equipment detail as they were actually used. Many of the pictures can be the basis for building an interesting diorama. For these reasons I can easily place this book on the "Recommend" list. My sincere thanks goes to DRAGONUSA and Concord Publications Co. for providing this book to IPMS/USA and to IPMS/USA for allowing me to review it.