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Rating: 
Summary: Good but flawed
Review: I enjoyed this book. There is a lot of information in it, presented in a well-written and accessible manner. I am not aware of a similar resource in English, and I am happy to have added it to my library.Unfortunately, the book suffers from proof-reading errors which detract from its readability and authority. Some examples: the map of the port of St.-Nazaire on p. 188 clearly confuses the submarine pens and the railway station, and mixes up the shipyard and the docks. There are a number of diagrams which label parts of bunkers or geographical features with numbers which do not appear on the legend to the diagram. On p. 299, reference is made to an underground factory consisting of two main tunnels "over 1.5 meters in length". Was this supposed to be 1.5 kilometers, 150 meters or some other figure? Unfortunately, the reader has no way of knowing. Obvious errors such as this make the reader wonder whether or not there are other, less obvious, errors. The book is organized roughly chronologically, which may be a reasonable choice given the changes made in fortifications during the war. However, the authors spend too much time informing the reader of the progress of the war generally, whether or not the information is pertinent to fortification issues. I suspect that the readership of this book is primarily going to be people who already have a solid grasp of the chronology of World War II, and these overviews are unnecessary. Overall, however, I thought this book was a worthwhile purchase. There is considerable information in it I have not found anywhere else. The diagrams and maps are generally very good, and the text is well-written and well-organized.
Rating:
Summary: Good but flawed
Review: I enjoyed this book. There is a lot of information in it, presented in a well-written and accessible manner. I am not aware of a similar resource in English, and I am happy to have added it to my library. Unfortunately, the book suffers from proof-reading errors which detract from its readability and authority. Some examples: the map of the port of St.-Nazaire on p. 188 clearly confuses the submarine pens and the railway station, and mixes up the shipyard and the docks. There are a number of diagrams which label parts of bunkers or geographical features with numbers which do not appear on the legend to the diagram. On p. 299, reference is made to an underground factory consisting of two main tunnels "over 1.5 meters in length". Was this supposed to be 1.5 kilometers, 150 meters or some other figure? Unfortunately, the reader has no way of knowing. Obvious errors such as this make the reader wonder whether or not there are other, less obvious, errors. The book is organized roughly chronologically, which may be a reasonable choice given the changes made in fortifications during the war. However, the authors spend too much time informing the reader of the progress of the war generally, whether or not the information is pertinent to fortification issues. I suspect that the readership of this book is primarily going to be people who already have a solid grasp of the chronology of World War II, and these overviews are unnecessary. Overall, however, I thought this book was a worthwhile purchase. There is considerable information in it I have not found anywhere else. The diagrams and maps are generally very good, and the text is well-written and well-organized.
Rating: 
Summary: Great View of German Defensives Works of World War II
Review: This book covers a vast topic in a short space and does not bore the reader with tons of useless information on how much ribar and concrete was used or other technical engineering data. Everything from the various types of bunkers in the first fortifications built after World War I to the giant submarine pens and air raid shelters are covered. There is even information on the minefield barrier in the Gulf of Finland and obscure German defensive lines in Europe as well as World War I era defense brought back into service. Certainly there are books that give greater detail on the Atlantic Wall and other indvidual fortifications, but this one is loaded with enough information to give a great overview. Main shortcoming is that the photos are not of the highest quality and some of the wonderful drawings appear to have errors in labeling, but there is no problem in interpreting them properly. Excellent work and well worth the price!!!!
Rating: 
Summary: A worthy addition to your library
Review: This book covers alot of ground both figuratively and literally. It provides an excellent survey of German fortifcations, both WWII and some of their antecedents, from west to east, north to south, and in the water. As others have noted, this book is easy to read and is organized in an accessible manner. Also, as others have noted, some editing goofs and mistaken picture atributions do mar the book (I should know - some of those relate to my pictures in the book!). The quality/resolution of some the pictures is fuzzy, but the quality of Robert Jurga's line drawings is great as always (though they too suffer from some attribution and editing errors). What really makes this book worth putting in your library is its scope of topic coverage. I don't know of anything else that gives as good a survey as this book does.
Rating:
Summary: A worthy addition to your library
Review: This book covers alot of ground both figuratively and literally. It provides an excellent survey of German fortifcations, both WWII and some of their antecedents, from west to east, north to south, and in the water. As others have noted, this book is easy to read and is organized in an accessible manner. Also, as others have noted, some editing goofs and mistaken picture atributions do mar the book (I should know - some of those relate to my pictures in the book!). The quality/resolution of some the pictures is fuzzy, but the quality of Robert Jurga's line drawings is great as always (though they too suffer from some attribution and editing errors). What really makes this book worth putting in your library is its scope of topic coverage. I don't know of anything else that gives as good a survey as this book does.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Survey
Review: This is a wonderful survey of German fortifications and defenses during World War II. The book covers the better known German Fortifications such as the Eastwall, Westwall and Atlanticwall. More importantly, it also describes many lesser known German fortifications such as the many fortified lines built or planned on the Eastern Front, in Italy and some really obscure fortified lines like the Ingrid Line in Crotia and Slovenia. Also covered are the tunnels and bunkers built to shelter Hitler's command train in Poland, German Air Raid Shelters, U-Boat and S-Boat Pens, Flak Towers and much, much more! Much of this information has not appeared previously in the English language before the publication of this book.
Sidebars describe fortification related topics like German radar and landmines.
There are many photos and excellent drawings and maps(although a few of the photos are dark and there are some photo caption errors and labeling problems with some drawings).
I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in German Fortifications in WWII.
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