Book Review: Allied-Axis: The Photo Journal of the Second World War; Issue 19 (2007), 96 pp., no ISBN number; published by Ampersand Publishing, Delray Beach, Florida; price $16.95
Advantages: big, clear photos of subjects, keyed for the most part to recent plastic kit releases; wide variety of archives researched and used
Disadvantages: some photos familiar to all from NARA or other heavily used sources
Rating: Highly Recommended
Recommendation: to all WWII fans
I like to pick up the "Allied-Axis" series of books when they come out and I recently spotted this one at the Ordnance Museum Gift Shop here in Aberdeen. As with all of their past efforts, this one does not disappoint.
This volume covers four basic subjects: the M2/M2A1 halftrack, captioned by Denise Moss and Pat Stansell; Sd.Kfz. 10 Demag D7 1-ton halftrack, captioned by Pat Stansell; Bergepanzer recovery tanks, captioned by David Doyle; and Krupp L2H143 Mannschaftstransportwagen, captioned by Ken Dugan.
The M2/M2A1 section covers 32 pages and, in light of many recent books on halftracks, does not plow former ground but instead provides new coverage wherever possible. Fans of the 2AD M4 conversion that reversed the direction of the mortar, while the photos are relatively well known, will appreciate the full page clear photos here when making the same conversion with the DML kit.
While the only kit currently available of the Demag D7 is the revived and slightly reworked ESCI one, the book provides 24 pages of coverage of this popular little vehicle in action, which is always a good topic for modelers. The photos give a wide selection of presentations of the vehicle - top up, top down, new, loaded down, worn out, and several different field camouflage paint schemes.
The section on recovery tanks is short but has 23 pages of some nice new (to me at least) shots of the Pzkw. III, Hetzer and Panther recovery vehicles in action.
The last 17 pages cover the Krupp 6 x 4 "Protze" cargo truck and present 12 pages of them which cover a restored vehicle in private hands.
Overall this is another good photo essay and a handy item for modelers or historians.
Cookie Sewell