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M113 In The 1990s Part 1

by Carl Schulze, with illustrations by Hubert Cance

Concord Publications, ISBN 962-361-677-5, Price: unavailable.

The ubiquitous M113 and its offspring constitute the most widely produced AFV in history. There have been a number of books covering this vehicle and its derivatives, including an earlier title from this publisher, but with the continued and widespread use of the M113, “updates” will always be quite welcome.

This book’s author has undertaken quite a task as he seeks (using a multi-part series approach) to tell the story of the M113 and its various users during the last decade of the 20th Century. If this first part is an indication, it will be a splendid series indeed.The book begins with an extremely competent capsule history of the early production variants, along with tabular data on the M113, M113A1, M113A2 and M113A3. Between the text and charts, an easily digested part of the production history of the basic ‘113 is made available to readers. Likewise, upgrade programs are also given a brief mention.

The full-color photographs that follow are all very well captioned and come from the likes of Peter Blume, Walter Bohm, Yves Debay, Michael Jerchel, Peter Siebert and Ralph Zwilling. As one would expect, they are of the highest quality. There are also several color profiles spread throughout the book by Mr. Cance, featuring a US M113A3, German Minenwurf-panzer M548GA1 Skorpion, Canadian M113A2 TUA (TOW Under Armor) and Danish M92 (M113A2 with OTO turret). He also provides a scale drawing in four views of a basic M113A2/A3 in a fold-out section in the book’s center.

The author has wisely chosen to tell the story in a “nation-by-nation” format, rather than a format based on variations. So, naturally he begins by showing US-manned vehicles, then Canadian vehicles, German, Danish and Norwegian. The book concludes with a single page devoted to lesser users such as Egypt, Kuwait, Portugal and Saudi Arabia.

There are a large number of variants shown, which is something sure to get modeler’s juices flowing. Due to the overall excellent quality of the photographs, vehicle colors, markings, special features and stowage are all shown to excellent effect.

A brief run-down of types depicted ought to be useful as a means of whetting the appetites of those who wish to model the ‘113 or its variants. US vehicles are: M113A2 and A3 (with and without external fuel tanks and ACAV kits), M163A1 Vulcan AA vehicle, M981A3 FISTV, M548A1, M577A2 command vehicle, M1015 containerized load carrier, M1059A3 smoke dispensing vehicle and M1064A3 120mm mortar carrier. Coverage of Canadian use includes the unique ADATS (Air Defense Anti-Tank System), DAREOD (Damaged Airfield Reconnaissance Explosive Ordnance Disposal), M113 TUA (Tow Under Armor) and M113 C&R, as well as the more conventional M113 fitter’s track, and M113 engineer variant. The German Bundeswehr is represented by various M113GA1s and GA2AOs in their Flieger-Leit-Panzer, Green Archer Radar, Beobachtungs-Panzer-Artillerie, Krankenkraftwagen, Panzer-Morser, Schreib-Funk-Panzer, Minenwurf-Panzer Skorpion, as well as several other types. Denmark is represented by standard M113A1s, Ambulances, TOW tracks, and the unique M92. Several of these vehicles are fitted with passive appliqué armor arrays. Norway weighs in with M113A1s, M548s, M577A1s, M113A1 TOW ALT and several other interesting sub-variants, some with special weapons stations or bolt-on applique armor arrays. In other words, there’s quite a selection here!

With such a widely used vehicle, featuring a multitude of variants, the M113 is surely a popular staple of model builders of post-WW2 AFVs. This book is sure to be welcomed by them as well as those who simply enjoy excellent photographic coverage of a vehicle which is still making history. Personally, the remaining parts of this series will not be available soon enough!Highly recommended.

Frank V. De Sisto

Concord Publications are available from retail and mail order shops, or from the publisher at: www.concord-publications.com