Book Review: The Einheits-Diesel, Alan Ranger

My love affair with WWII German trucks continues. I love the excellent Nuts & Bolts book I recently reviewed (find that here), but wanted more. So I ordered The 'Einheits-Diesel', by Alan Ranger.

Lots of great atmospheric pictures...

This is a somewhat different proposition to the super-detailed Nuts & Bolts treatment, and instead focuses on picture's from the author's own collection. This is great, as it means these are not the same old pictures one sometimes encounters in military reference works.

With around 130 or more black and white photographs, after a brief intro' to the subject, the text is purely the captions to the images. The bulk of the images are of the open backed 'standard' varieties, with the last quarter of the book moving over to closed box body versions.

... that you won't find elsewhere...

The Einheits-Diesel was originally an attempt to standardise German military track production, but as Ranger notes, 'in the end it only added one more to the number', rather ironically. And as the wartime evolution of technology took off, it was quickly superseded and left it behind. The consequence was that by war's end, most had been run to death.

... mostly of a very decent quality, like this one.

I'm intending to build lots of German rear-echelon trucks and trailers and whatnot. I'm gradually amassing a number of kits of this and similar types. This book is a great addition to my growing library on this fascianting subject. The text is clear, concise, and whilst short sand basic, nonetheless informative, and the pictures - whilst of varied quality - are great, chiefly because they're not images one is likely to find elsewhere.

Highly recommended.

The back cover.

Book Review: Mittlere Geländegängige Lastkraftwagen (o) - Holger Erdmann (Nuts & Bolts, 32)

I'm gradually discovering that I'm borderline obsessed with WWII German rear-echelon stuff. I especially love their trucks. So Nuts & Bolts #32, dedicated as it is to a group of German trucks, would seem made for me. Published by a German company, the title is rather verbose and unwieldy, as indeed the German language itself so often seems to be: Mittlere Geländegängige Lastkraftwagen (o), The medium cross-country lorries 3 ton (6x4) of the Reichswehr and Wehrmacht. What a mouthful! I can imagine an American version being titled 3-ton Trucks of the Wehrmacht, or something equally pithy and to the point.

I'm illustrating my review with sample pages from the publisher's website

I bought this rather costly but very nicely produced tome - as well as being very well printed on good paper it's also satisfyingly thick and weighty - at a model show in Folkestone, several years ago now. Since buying it, I've enjoyed numerous episodes of slavering over the huge array of contemporary photos, ranging from the 1920s to wars' end. And as well as plenty of black and white archival imagery, there are scale line-diagrams, colour profiles, plentiful colour-photographs of surviving vehicles in great detail, and several model builds. A real treasure trove!

Some of the photographic material is stunning.

The bilingual body text and captions are in English and German. I found the textual content pretty heavy going. It's incredibly detailed, and not always couched in prose of the finest clarity (this might in part be due to translation issues). Indeed, the body text is so arduous I've only dipped into it thus far.  

If the main text can be challenging, the photographic captions are where, for me, things occasionally become note-worthily poor. It's rare that the year or exact location of a photo is given, and sometimes the associated captions comment on some tiny detail whilst ignoring other more fundamental or interesting aspects of the image. Personally I think that all the archival images in such a book should give both date and location info (or a best guess), as a matter of course. 

Scale diagrams are useful. 

As are the excellent colour profiles.

And in a similar vein, the way the model builds appear (one is thrown straight in on the inside cover, for example, part way through and with no contextualising info at all), combined with the lack of clear signposting re the scale or the name of the manufacturer of the core kit, seems remarkable. And, until now, I haven't even mentioned the total lack of either a glossary or index. These publications exist in a hinterland between books, where such things are more normal, and magazines, where they aren't. But as this is clearly a reference work, they would make it a far better one, if included. So, for me there are a few issues that, if addressed, could markedly improve this book. 

Surviving examples are sumptuously illustrated.

Several models of these vehicles are built and illustrated.

Nevertheless, this is still a terrific resource, and a very welcome reference work for the wargamer, modeller or WWII materiel buff. I hope they do more publications on similar subjects. I'd certainly like to acquire their titles on Maultiers and RSOs. But, as great as this is, there's certainly still room for improvement. 

Misc: March 1940s Show, picture report

The very weekend we moved into out current/'new' home, three years ago to this very day, there was, we discovered, a local 1940s/WWII-themed show on. Every year since we've gone to it. We went again today. Even though it marks our third year here, this was actually our fourth visit. We very nearly didn't go, as we're both stony broke! But, perhaps foolishly or naughtily, I decided to borrow in advance from any takings I might make tomorrow, at the local car boot sale.

Anyway, as I need to get to sleep now, in order to attend said boot sale, I'll just post a bunch of pics for the time being, and return to add some text later...

There were loads of Jeeps. Here's one in RAF livery.

And a more typical Yank type.

Another, very similar...

This one had the hood up, which was nice.

Obviously a much loved vehicle!

Viewed from the rear...

The driving area.

Another closer view of that pristine engine.

Another US Jeep interior, front.

US Jeep interior, rear.

The driver's area.

Still fighting for the Emperor, a lone samurai!

Nice German BMW (R75?) m/c-sidecar combo.

A later war German m/c combo, in dünkelgelb, mit passenger.

German re-enactors camp.

Ditto.

A nice selection of 'Kraut' weaponry.

A US encampment.

Loads of great softskins!

Round the 'front' of the same US bivouac.

So many great vehicles!

More US gear, inc. a lovely looking motorcycle,

... and yet more 

'Double Deuce'.

Serving as a makeshift ambulance.

Yet another fantastic Jeep. 

What vehicle type is this ambulance? 

Another Jeep.

A British truck.

Funky US truck with ditch-escape roller at front.

Funky US truck from t'other side.

Two stoves on the go in a US encampment area.

Another vehicle like the above unidentified ambulance...

And another Jeep!

Cool short wheelbase truck.

Anyone able to identify this vehicle for me?

More Yank wheels.

And more Jeeps...

So, what is this thing? 

A rather superb British command track.

What a beauty!

This doesn't really capture how cool the interior looked.

Rear view.

There were also civilian vehicles, including these tractors.

There were even a couple of US tanks: looks like a Chaffee and a Sherman!?

Chaffee?

Very nicely presented,

Both tanks were trundling about at various points.

Yes... nice!

What a machine!

I'd have loved to have got inside...

This show is pretty good, in terms of numbers of re-enactors and vehicles, etc. But not all that well attended in terms of general public/punters. And there were noticeably less stalls than last year. I hope it continues! It'd be great if it grew bigger, but it appears to be shrinking. There's a similar show in Ramsey, which is quite near. I think that's did I. Mid-August? I'd like to check that one out as well, from what I recall of a previous visit. The Ramsey show is (or at least was) quite a lot bigger.

And finally, there are a few vehicles I've pictured here that I don't know the names of. Should anyone chance upon this post who can supply this info, I'd be very grateful if they'd help me fill in those gaps  in my WWII vehicular knowledge!