Introduction

The following introduction is taken from the Tankograd website:

The backbone of motor vehicles in the Imperial German Army comprised cargo trucks, staff cars and motorcycles. Yet with many new military tasks arising on the German side in World War One, the demand for motor vehicles in specialised roles grew exponentially.

This publication extends the previous books in this series by describing, for the first time ever, specialised German Army vehicles ranging from the technically interesting and fascinating, to the weird and wonderful, and to sometimes even the odd. Covered in this book are aero-sleighs, tricycle motor vehicles, recovery vehicles and wreckers, fuel tankers, railroad trucks and other rail-bound motor vehicles, bathing trucks, signals motor vehicles, buses, motorised field chapels, delivery vans and light trucks, field mail service motor vehicles, motorised dummy tanks, snowploughs, searchlight vehicles, firefighting vehicles, recovery vehicles for aircraft transport, meat vehicles, motor vehicles with wire cutters, trench diggers and machine gun-armed soft-skin vehicles.

Review

This offering from Tankograd is one of those books that I think of as an extra special release, as the page count in this offering is 96 pages, which are protected by a card cover that does a reasonable job depending on your handling. Another aspects that I consider that makes this special release is that the author is Jochen Vollert himself. This offering from Tankograd covering German specialised motor vehicles presents its contents in a logical manner, and is also presented in English only. 

The contents are presented as follows:

Introduction by the publisher

Imperial German Military Specialised Motor Vehicles

Aero-Sleighs

Tricycle Motor Vehicles

Vehicles Recovery and Wreckers

Road Fuel Tankers

Rail Road Trucks and Other Rail-bound Motor Vehicles

Bathing Trucks

Signals Motor Vehicles

Buses and Sight Seeing Vehicles

Motorised Field Chapels

Delivery Vans and Light Trucks

Field Mail Service Vehicles

Motorised Dummy Tanks

Snow Ploughs

Searchlight Vehicles

Fire Fighting Vehicles

Tow/Recovery Vehicles for Aircraft Transport

Meat Vehicles

Motor Vehicles with Wire Cutters

Trench Diggers

Machine Gun - Armed Soft - Skin Vehicles

This release covering German specialised motor vehicles is presented in the usual manner of many of their previous offerings. What I mean by this is that the sections are presented with a short written insight into each of the various sub sections, followed by well chosen photographs of vehicles within each section that really bring Tankograd books to the height of the popularity they have. World War 1 can in many ways be considered the birth of mechanised warfare. The result of this is that the vehicles were very diverse in their nature, and so a number of them were evolutionary dead ends, but were seen as providing everything the military needed by the Germans. 

The photographs provided in this publication are period offerings of exceptional quality that clearly display aspects of the vehicles that we as modellers love to pick up on and replicate. Each of the images have well written captions, providing information to varying degrees. One aspect of this book that should prove particularly interesting to the modeller are the motorised dummy tanks. The reason I say this is with them being wooden structures mounted on the top of various base vehicles it opens up the possibility that with some spare wheels, and a little ingenuity with a craft knife you can obtain a unique model, not currently available on the open market by any manufacturer. 

Conclusion

When you open this release from Tankograd, I suspect that you like me will be surprised by the variety and diversity of the vehicles covered. The picture quality, while limited to a single image in most circumstances provides a glorious look at the vehicles produced at the beginning of the first mechanised war. Vehicles such as the motorised field chapels would make for surprisingly stunning models, due to the intricacies of both design, complexity of painting and stunning finish. Those with the ability to paint intricate detail could produce something truly original and stunning to behold. A fantastic book, covering an aspect of warfare that gets very little coverage. The cost of this release is €25 may initially seem a little on the high side, but I promise that once you look inside you will not feel that way or regret the purchase.