Casemate Publishing

Armoured Operations of the Second World War Vol 1

by  Juan Vazquez Garcia, artwork by Julio Lopez Caeiro and Luis Fresno Crespo

Reviewed By  Howie Belkin, IPMS# 16

MSRP: $49.95 ISBN: 978-84-96016-72-9 Hardcover 8-1/2" x 12" AF Editions 192 pages, 250 full color illustrations and over 100 black & white photographs. Includes three double gatefold illustrations. Published and distributed by Casemate Publishers and Book Distributors. Casemate Publishers has now released Armoured Operations of the Second World War Vol 1, a bigger and more ambitious production encompassing defining armor ops in Europe, not just German like their previously released, fantastic Amber Books' editions of The Essential Vehicle Identification Guide series. This volume was originally published in Spain, in you guessed it, Spanish, but all of the illustrations are in English! The text has been translated but somehow this AF Editions copy missed page 46 which describes the Somua S.35 still in Spanish. There are numerous English typos throughout the book. Many modelers invest in reference books for the photos and illustrations, not knowing a word of the language they're printed in. That said, this book's English is far superior to my Spanish! More important to modelers and history buffs is the wealth of profile color artwork and photos of vehicles, accompanied by a full page description of each featured vehicle including specifications, along with a history of the military leaders and developing armored warfare through several major engagements including the Soviet invasion of Poland, battles in France, the Desert, Barbarossa, Minsk, Villers Bocage and Cobra 1944. The author has done his homework providing orders of battle describing the units and equipment they had, so a modeler could model one of these battles accurately. He explains how Hitler increased the number of divisions by shrinking them in quantity but increasing the quality (replacing earlier Panzer II and IIIs with Panzer IVs and eventually Panthers and Tigers though never enough to offset the allies' production). All of the large, color multi-view illustrations have an informative caption but when the unit is unidentified, it's usually because the photo it's based upon doesn't show unit markings. I've long proclaimed that we are 3D artists, that the model is our canvas and we use artistic privilege to make that model look 'real' to our eye. The illustrators have done in 2D what we strive to do with a model. The gatefold of the Cromwell on pages 153-54 offers a 4 view of an excellently weathered, non-monotone, shadowed and highlighted vehicle exactly as we strive to create in 3D. The same can be said for the other illustrated vehicles which make them excellent finishing guides for modelers. Unfortunately, the full page descriptive text doesn't identify that the tank is in fact a Cromwell, or the unit this Cromwell belonged to, though the unit markings are prominently displayed (the same can be said for some of the others). On the other hand, most of the photos and illustration choices are refreshingly new. In the text, the author offers up the different versions of Wittman's demise, pointing out the most likely one that killed the man and began the legend. He also mentions twice Hero of the Soviet Union (HSU) Pavel Semenovich Rybalko (equal to winning two Medal of Honors or two V.C.s) but sadly, doesn't describe the actions that earned those awards or illustrate his vehicles. Finally, instead of an index there is a "summary" at the back of the book which Americans would have expected in the front as a Table of Contents. This is an ambitious undertaking by Juan Vazquez Garcia with a wealth of photos and illustrations, maps and specs worthy of every armor modeler's book shelf. It's not perfect, losing a bit in translation but for $50 instead of my minor complaints, I'd rather they were proclamations of things done well, like going above and beyond and telling us more about Rybalko and illustrating his tanks. By choosing primarily side profile illustrations, the 'standard' of the hobby as long as I've been building models, we're deprived a view of the vehicles' other markings or the rest of the camo scheme a vehicle had. Far better if the artists broke the mold and used say, upper front 3/4 views, preferably all in the same scale throughout the book. Some of the choices of individual vehicles to illustrate are superb, like the M15A1 from the 467th AAA Bn in France 1944. This is the first time I've seen it with its dragon character, illustrated in color (more of this almost certainly would attract a decal company to release a decal sheet referenced to it). In fact, this is the first time I've read that there were a total of 2,332 M15 and M15A1 AAA half-tracks built. Compare that to the 2,876 new M16 quad fifty half-tracks built and one can only hope that we'll soon see model companies finally offer us those very significant vehicles as kits. We've already had every single German AAA vehicle released as a kit, even when the 'real' ones were never actually produced, produced in single or double digits - still, in so very insignificant numbers and less significant ability they hardly ever threatened allied air superiority! When you compare the retail price to about the cost of two of the higher priced softcover Concord or Osprey books and count the hundreds of color illustrations and b/w photos between its hardcovers, this book is highly recommended and certainly excellent value for your money. It says 'Volume 1' so I hope another volume in this series will follow with the improvements I suggested. There are dozens if not hundreds of allied tank 'aces' whose tanks I'd like to see and stories I'd like to hear. Colorful markings and colorful stories behind or on each vehicle. Author Garcia talks of WWII being global, yet the entire Pacific theatre has been saved for Vol. 2. There are certainly many more armor battles to fill many more volumes. I hope Casemate puts a cap on the price and if anything, brings it down so they'll see much greater sales. Available in better hobbyshops, bookstores or go to www.casematepublishing.com or call (610)-853-9131. Many thanks to Tara Lichterman of Casemate Publishers for the review copy.

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