Casemate Publishing

Allied Liberation Vehicles 1944

by  Francois Bertin

Reviewed By  Howie Belkin, IPMS# 16

MSRP: $24.95 ISBN: 1-932033-76-9 (978-1-932033-76-2) Softcover, 7-1/4" x 10", 128 pages, more than 250 color photos. "The U.S. Army was the first military organization in the world to be fully motorized while, at the time, European armies still relied heavily on horse-drawn traction." This arsenal of democracy produced over 3.2 million military vehicles, and any historian worth his salt has to admit that this was one of the major reasons why the Allies won World War II. You can't just field your fighting man and forget about him. You have to transport him wherever necessary whenever need be, you need fuel, food, ammo, and every other logistical nightmare to come together and flow smoothly from port to pilot, from the factory to the fighting man. Francois Bertin provides a much needed photo history of this 'armada on wheels' of US, British and Canadian vehicles. This book is my favorite type - great photos of impeccably restored vehicles dominate the pages while the text, though profuse, is tight and precise. Francois has put together a 'must' for the modeler! How so? The book is divided between American, and British and Canadian vehicles. First, he explains in simple English how the US had 4 basic categories of vehicles and what they were, how many of each type was built, what companies built them. He also illustrates and explains vehicle markings including how the serial identifies the class, how the bumper codes explain the vehicle's unit, and what specific markings appeared where and when (i.e. shipping markings for Normandy). Any modeler can create correct bumper codes or correct wrong ones supplied on a decal sheet, for any model he models from now on. Each vehicle has a brief history and photo coverage relative to how many of the real thing was produced. For example, the Cushman 53 Autoglide airborne scooter gets one page, while the jeep has five. The many different variants of say, the deuce and a half are explained and illustrated and some photos show the dash board, crew stowage, ropes and weapons. Many rarely seen vehicles are included, like the Diamond T, Mack, White, Autocar and Ward-La France. The British and Canadian vehicles get the same explanation of their unit and tactical markings and serial codes. Photo coverage begins with four different motorcycle makes, Carriers, Command vehicles, Daimler and Humber armoured cars, ambulances, light, medium and ends with heavy trucks. Photos illustrate some 'Mickey Mouse Ear" and other camo schemes and colors very well. Some minimal coverage is given to the Sherman, Cromwell and Churchill tanks but that space might have been better served in a book like this with more photos of wheeled and half-tracked vehicles. Much has been published on tanks (not enough on the Allies) but so little has been done on Allied soft-skin vehicles. Don't get me started! This book is highly recommended and could stand as a basic overall reference book on Allied wheeled and half-tracked vehicles. But even the author admits that this is too broad a subject. It's not perfect - there are no interior photos of the Dodge WC 54 ambulance for example. The Dodge WC 56 Command Car has a U.S. 2d Armored Division insignia on its right bumper, and a British tactical square marking with the top 1/2 red, bottom 1/2 yellow on the right, which one might guess was a restorer's idea of cool markings without regard to the real system used and explained in this book. At $24.95 it's a little pricey for soft covered books but priced in line with the excellent Osprey series aimed more for the historians among us, while this is far superior for the modeler. Available in better hobbyshops, bookstores, book clubs or go to www.casematepublishing.com . Many thanks to Casemate Publishing for the review copy.

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