Military Model Scene

...from Pen & Sword

 

Title: Hungarian Armoured Fighting Vehicles in the Second World War

Author: Eduardo Manuel Gil Martinez

Publisher: Pen & Sword

ISBN: 978-1-52675-381-6

 

With the collapse of the Warsaw Pact now well behind us, we continue to benefit from the new historical information and photographs that are still emerging from the countries of Eastern Europe. In this case we not only read more about the Hungarian armoured forces, but see images of their equipment during the war as well. Hungary was also a country that had its' own manufacturing base for military vehicles, both armour and soft-skins. They were not as strong as many of their common opponents (the Russian T-34) but they had a part to play all the same. For added firepower, their German allies supplied additional equipment such as Pz IV, Panthers and Tigers. Less powerful, the Hungarians also used the Italian CV33 tankette.

The book tackles the story in a logical, chronological sequence and spreads it across 6 chapters which follow on from the Introduction. They are The Birth of the Hungarian Armoured Forces: The Second World War Begins:  Action in the Ukraine, 1942: Reorganisation After the Storm, 1943: Defending Hungary, 1944:and The Swansong of the Hungarian Armoured Forces, 1945. Each chapter has text to tell the story, some sub-divided into various sub-headings.  All are accompanied by some excellent archive images, most of which I hadn't seen before, and all are well captioned.

All sorts of vehciles are featured, including the Turan and Toldi tanks, the Zrinyi self-propelled guns, Nimrod AA vehicle, Bata Rotund trucks and the Czaba armoured car. Add various Russian AFVs and Hungarian operated Panthers there is plenty in here to interest the AFV historians and the modeller in particular. A couple of rare photos showing experimental rocket launchers fitted to Hungarian tanks were especially interesting.  There are some fine kits of Hungarian AFVs on the market these days, hence this will be of interest to plenty of armour modellers. Another good addition to the series.

 

Thanks to Pen and Sword for this review copy.

​

Robin