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Historie a Plastikove Modelarstvi
1999 (History and Plastic Modelling) |
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Czechoslovak Armored Fighting Vehicles 1918-1948, Charles K. Kliment & Vladimir Francev |
The Prague publishing house Ares brought to the Christmas market an outstanding book, dealing with the history of our armored vehicles. The renowned author Vladimir Francev with his co-author already published this book in the USA; now we finally see it in Czech. On 380 pages of polished offset paper we would find a total of fourteen chapters, accompanied by an unbelievable number of photographs. The book is complemented by fifty drawings in a separate folder. The first chapter describes the origin of the Republic, the second the arms manufacturers. The following chapter describes the development of Czech armored vehicles, tanks, armored cars and self-propelled guns. The fourth chapter deals with export vehicles. The following chapters describe the weapons of the armored vehicles, their camouflage and markings, the organization of tank units and the uniforms of their crews. A large chapter deals with the development of armored vehicles during the German occupation and list all designs utilizing the original Czechoslovak chassis. The following chapters follow the post-war developments and the history of artillery tractors and armored trains. The text closes with well organized tables of technical data.
The history of Czechoslovak armored vehicles was never presented before in such detail and wide scope. The book literally represents the lifework of both authors, the result of many years of painstaking archive research. The wealth of the photographic part, which complements the text, is also unique. There is an unbelievable number of photographs, all of them of very good quality. Here we find types previously unseen in available literature, because they have only now stepped out from the musty darkness of the archives. The uniqueness of the book is accentuated by many photographs of details and interiors of the vehicles, which would be appreciated especially by modelling enthusiasts as well as kit model builders. A small number of photographs are even in full color. Despite the issues with the presentation of the drawings, this book should not be missing in the libraries of people interested in Czech military history. The wealth of information and the sensitive combination of historical and technical facts, combined with contemporary photographs, could bear any comparison with famous foreign works of similar genres, such as the well-known books by W. Spielberger on German armored vehicles, or the similar American coverage of vehicles of the US Army, authored by R. Hunnicat.
Ivo Pejcoch |
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Order Information Please send personal check or money order, payable to "Charles Kliment" to: Kliment Books, 321 Walnut Lane, Princeton, NJ 08540
NOTE: Prices and S+H are for US market only.
PayPal address: kkliment@verizon.net
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