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It all started with a movie. It was not very accurate but that didn't bother a 10-year old. To me The Battle of the Bulge was the greatest movie ever. Who cares if the "German" tanks were American M-48s? Who cares if a dusty Spanish plain substituted for the wintry Belgian forest? The combat scenes were awesome and they were what mattered. The Battle of the Bulge ignited in me a long-standing and continuing fascination with the weapons, people and events of World War II. The interest started small, with sketches, models and games, but it has since developed into a few research projects and this website. My ultimate goal is to create a comprehensive site to cover every weapon used by the Axis nations. Well I still haven't introduced myself, have I? My name is Ricky Law. I graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, with majors in, you guessed it, History and German. In school I focused more on the political history of Nazi Germany, particularly its relations with Fascist Italy. My undergraduate research project discusses the interaction and contradiction within the Rome-Berlin Axis. I also wrote a graduation thesis on how Nazi historians portrayed the Jews in Greco-Roman Antiquity. If you are interested, I am only too glad to send you a copy of my papers. I grew up in sunny California. It was not until August 2000 when I finally had the chance to go to Germany as an exchange student. During that year in Europe I toured sights I had only read about in books. From Hitler's retreat over Berchtesgaden to the Nazi rally grounds in Nuremberg to the death camps in Poland and to the Berlin Wall, my journey rode with the crests and troughs of modern German history. And visiting various military museums literally solidified my ideas about these magnificent machines. Thumbing through pictures is one thing; actually seeing that the turret of a King Tiger is as big as a car is quite another. Many have asked me what my favorite German weapons are. No doubt the Tiger, Panther and Me 262 are convincing candidates, but I like most the humble PzKpfw IV. It's everyman's tank, the ultimate workhorse. At any time in any battlefield in the European or Mediterranean theater you could find the PzKpfw IV in service. It had great potentials, growing from a clumsy infantry-support vehicle to a formidable medium battle tank right till the end of the war. And it was versatile - its chassis served as the platform for anti-aircraft guns, artillery, anti-tank guns, assault guns, urban assault guns, ammunition carriers, command/communication vehicles, amphibious crafts and engineering/recovery vehicles. How can anyone not like such a total package of a machine? If you have questions, comments, suggestions, or just want to say "hi" please feel free to email me at panzer_iv_rules@hotmail.com. I shall try to respond promptly. |