History

This book is part of a series of excellent Osprey Publications dealing with the history of World War II in the air. This volume deals with the conflicts between the Japanese Army, who were attempting to dominate New Guinea early in World War II, and the United States Army, who were attempting to remove the Japanese and send them back where they belonged. Several JAAF units were involved, using primarily the Nakajima Ki-43-II “Oscar” fighter, opposed by the U.S. 5^th Air Force P-47D units. This story has not been told before.

The story put forward by author Annette Carson, took place over 100 year ago. It is the story of a young man named D’Urban.V. Armstrong. DVA, as he is called throughout the book, was one of many airmen who served during the Great War. Unlike many of the pilots who became famous for their exploits during World War I, DVA survived the conflict, (spoiler alert!!!) only to meet his end two days after the Cease-Fire while flying an aircraft (Sopwith Camel) which he had gained fame having mastered. Ms. Carson writes about the reputation of the Camel being less than positive, and how DVA learned how to control the aircraft, and then instructed others how to control the Camel, significantly reducing accidents during training, (350 men died in Camel-related air accidents during training) and leading to the Camel having a very positive reputation among today’s historians.

This is a thin book but very large format, and the images are of a very high quality of the various 4 Wheeled German armoured cars of WWII.

The book covers the Kfz.13, Kfz. 14, Sd.Kfz. 221, 222, 223, 247, 260 and 261.

The most widely used 221, 223 and 223 take up most of the book. The photos and descriptions are great and very detailed.

I found this book fascinating and will be using some of the Photos as inspiration for a few kits in my stash. This this a fantastic reference for all armour modelers.

I highly recommend this book.

Thanks to MMP Books and Casemate Publishers for providing this book for review and to IPMS USA for allowing me to review it.

If you are in the market for a single, thorough modelers guide to the venerable Spitfire, this new offering from Model Aircraft Publications LTD would certainly fit the bill. With photos and text of scale model builds of the plane in 1/72, 1/48, 1/32, and 1/24 scale, this book covers 17 variants of one of the most famous fighter planes of WWII. For fans of the Spitfire looking to create their own in plastic, I would consider this a must-have book. While the company currently shows this as a pre-order item with a June 2020 release, I have recently seen it available through an online retailer here in the USA.

This book covers the complete history of the 3^rd SS Panzer Regiment – part of the Totenkopt Division. The subject is approached from the men’s stories, profiles, battles and weapons used.

The “first person” accounts are the highlight of this book. It is written in such a way that it draws you in and you are there experiencing what they did. I must admit I enjoyed this so much and learnt a lot about the feeling, day to day routines as well as the battles. The soldier’s profiles are another great way to help you understand who these people were.

The regiment was formed in late 1942 in France but was transferred to the Eastern front and was involved in many major campaigns and battles in this part of the war. The chapters are broken down well and each covers major events and periods in the regiment’s history.

The illustrations, photos and documents are impressive and significantly added to understanding the whole period in history for these men.