Czechoslovak Armored Fighting Vehicles 1918-1948, Charles K. Kliment & Vladimir Francev
Schiffer Publishing Ltd. 77 Lower Valley Road, Atglen, PA 19310, USA
e-mail: Schifferbk@aol.com
ISBN: 0-7643-0145-4
8.5"x11", hardcover, 384 pages with 800+ photographs and line drawings. Some colour illustrations and photos included.

This is the text of the summary on the jacket of a unique publication, published at the beginning of 1997 in Pennsylvania, and destined primarily for an American reader. Two renowned experts in the field of armored vehicles joined together and produced a book which surpasses in every aspect all the hitherto published attempts to capture the development, production, operations and combat utilization of Czechoslovak armored vehicles. The book's text is divided into fourteen chapters with bibliography and 20 tables in the text, which is complemented by 869 photographs. The Czech reader can gain insight into the contents of the book from the names and sizes of the chapters.

The first chapter, Introduction (p.9-13) informs an American reader about the formation and development of Czechoslovakia, and the second, The Manufacturers (p.14-17) about its armaments manufacturers. After those in logical succession follow chapters Development of Czech AFV (p.18-108), Export of Czech AFV (p.109-137), Weapons used in Czech AFV (p.138-144), Camouflage, Markings and Numbering (p.145-155), Organization of the Armored Units of the Czechoslovak Army (p.156-165), Czechoslovak army Uniforms and Insignia (p.166-174), Wartime use and Development (p.175-246), Post-War Developments (p.247-252), Fully Tracked Artillery Tractors (p.253-260), Armored Trains (p.261-270), Vehicle Specification Sheets (p.271-314), and Plans (p.315-381).

Both authors demonstrated a full knowledge of the covered subject and enriched our contemporary knowledge by new, hitherto unpublished and in some cases completely unknown data, and complemented them by many so far unpublished photographs and drawings. In great detail is for example covered the further development and production of the original Czechoslovak tanks for the German army and their wartime use between 1939 and 1945. It is also praiseworthy that the authors did not rigidly maintain the time period as specified in the book's title, and followed some types of armored vehicles up to the Fifties.

Let us hope that the American reader would tolerate the many Czech names, shown in the Czech transcription with all the signs, typical for the Czech alphabet. In all probability, some detail inaccuracies in technical data and captions for the photographs are the fault of the publisher. For example, on pages 30 and 31 are two identical photographs of the OA vz.30, there are two identical color photographs from the Eastern front with interchanged captions (p.152-153), and there are two identical sets of drawings of the turret and hull details of the various production versions of the Pz.Kpfw.38(t) (p.314 and 316).

What to say in closing? I can only regret that for Czech readers this book is difficult to obtain, and to thank the authors for a job well done, which will inform the American reader about the capabilities of the armament programs of the inter-war Czechoslovakia.

Oldrich Pejs
(translated from Czech original)

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