HISTORY:
** Between the world wars, Hungary was a relatively small country aiming to recover territory lost because of World War One, and its Army was trained, equipped, armed and prepared to fight with its neighbours, to this end. At the onset of World War Two, Hungarian involvement in the war was minimal. Then suddenly, this small country found itself in a total war with the Allied nations, primarily the Soviet Union. Although in 1941, this war was remote, in 1944-45 it arrived in Hungary, crushing the kingdom.
This book gives a brief history of the Hungarian Army (Honvédség), focusing on the main armament of the land forces: armoured vehicles, artillery pieces, infantry weapons and motor vehicles. The Hungarian Army had an interesting mix of weaponry and equipment inherited from the Austro-Hungarian Army, purchased from Germany, Italy, Sweden and Switzerland and produced by the Hungarian war industry, based on licenses or its own designs. The 170 illustrations include 18 original colour plates and 18 colour profiles, skilfully painted by Tamás Deák. **
** Quoted from the back cover of the book.
THE BOOK:
Key Books, an imprint of Key Publishing Ltd., has released Hungarian Arms and Armour of World War Two as Number 3 in their Modern War Series. It is a 96-page soft cover book, 6.69 x 9.57 inches in size. Included with the text are black and white photographs, color photographs, color illustrations and more. It has a 2021 copyright, and the ISBN is 978-1-913870-64-5
CONTENTS:
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 – The Hungarian Army
- Chapter 2 – The Hungarian Defence Industry
- Chapter 3 – Armoured Fighting Vehicles
- Chapter 4 – Artillery
- Chapter 5 – Infantry Weapons
- Chapter 6 – Motor Vehicles
- Further Reading
THE TEXT:
Author Péter Mujzer provides a well written and informative text detailing the armored vehicles, artillery, infantry weapons and vehicles used by the Hungarian military during World War Two. Muizer goes into great detail for the featured light, medium and heavy tanks, self-propelled guns, armored cars, howitzers, anti-tank guns, infantry weapons such as rifles submachine guns, pistols, machine guns, grenades, mortars and anti-tank weapons, as well as trucks, staff cars and motorcycles. Muizer provides information such as which items were of Hungarian manufacture and which items were donated by or purchased from other countries such as Germany, Italy, Sweden and Switzerland as well as items captured from the Russian military such as armored trains. Details are provided such as numbers of the listed items possessed, numbers lost and destroyed, shortcomings and improvements made and vehicles that were redesigned and repurposed for different roles than originally designed for and areas where they were deployed and used as well and the military units they were assigned to. One of the main things that I found to be particularly helpful with the information provided by Péter Muizer is that it is written in a no-nonsense type of writing that provides the history and information on all of the detailed subjects and he does not use what I would refer to as fluff writing where a large amount of non-essential extra text is proved just to help fill the pages. The text in the book is nicely written and well detailed. As I read through the text, I didn’t notice any spelling or grammatical errors. Grammar and spelling might not be an important factor to everyone however it is something that I take notice of and pass on my findings. I feel that if the text is well written then it shows that the author has taken the time to be professional with their writing. Anyone wanting to add an excellent reference and history book detailing armored fighting vehicles, artillery, infantry weapons and vehicles possessed and used by the Hungarian military during World War II to their personal library will be pleased with this informative and interesting book.
THE PHOTOGRAPHS:
A total of 133 black and white photographs and 20 color photographs are included in this volume. The photographs range from wide angle photographs to close-up detailed photographs. The contain a combination of in-action photographs, photographs removed from motion pictures to photographs that have been staged for the photographer. The majority of the photographs are clear and easily viewable; however, a few of the historical photographs have an out of focus look to them and some appear to be too dark, and others appear too light. This is typical for the discussed period of history and consideration needs to be given to the fact that the photographs are over 75 years old. The quality of some of the photographs is of no fault of the author and do not take anything away from the book. Author Péter Mujzer stuck to the title of the book and chose subject specific photographs and did not include photographs that strayed from the main subject of the book. The majority, if not all, of the photographs will prove to be a wealth of information to anyone interested in Hungarian weapons, vehicles, and armor of World War Two due to the details they contain.
THE ILLUSTRATIONS:
There are 18 color illustrations included in the volume by illustrator Tamás Deák. The illustrations are very well done and nicely detailed. The illustrations are mostly side view illustrations showing various Hungarian military vehicles with the majority of them being of armored subjects. All of the illustrations will prove to be a valuable reference for the scale modeler as well as the armored fighting vehicle and military historian. Each of the illustrations are accompanied by a detailed caption describing the vehicle shown, the military unit to which it was assigned, and the specific type of camouflage and colors used.
THE CAPTIONS:
The captions are well written and explain the accompanying photographs and illustrations in great detail. The captions go into very specific detail as to the subject shown, camouflage and unit markings, the military units to which the vehicles were assigned, key individuals, dates, locations and other such pertinent information. As I read through the captions, I didn’t notice any spelling or grammatical errors. I was impressed by Péter Mujzer’s captions as they are very helpful to the reader due to their detailed content as opposed to other captions that I have seen that are very brief and lacking in detail.
MAPS:
There are 2 maps included in this volume, one black and white and one in color. The color map contains detailed keys.
The maps are of:
- Hungarian propaganda map from the early 1930s showing the territories given to Hungary’s neighbours.
- Hungary’s territorial gains from 1938 to 1941 and the position of the Hungarian Army in 1938.
Key Books, Hungarian Arms and Armour of World War Two, is also available digitally from:
Amazon
Apple
Barnes & Noble
PRICE:
UK £15.99 / US $22.95
https://www.keypublishing.com/
https://www.casematepublishers.com/
This book was provided to me by Casemate Publishers. Please be sure to mention that you saw the book reviewed here on the KitMaker Network when you make your purchase. Thank you.