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Otechestvennye bronirovannye mashiny-
XX vek Tom 2 1941-45
by A. G. Salyankin, M. V. Pavlov,
I. V. Pavlov, I. G. Zheltov
Eksprint 2005
This new Russian book titled “National Armored Vehicles, Volume
2: 1941-45” is the best single volume history of Soviet AFVs of
World War II to have appeared to date. It is hardcover, 448 pages long,
A4 format, and includes a couple of thousand photos and illustrations.
It can be compared to a Hunnicutt book on Soviet AFVs. The earlier volume
covered AFVs from 1918 to 1941 and was about half the size, though of
similar quality and appeared in print three years ago. The chapters cover
tanks; self-propelled artillery; specialized armored vehicles (flamethrowers,
wading tanks); specialized AFVs and tank chassis (armored tractors); armored
engineer vehicles (minerollers); and armored cars. Each chapter begins
with an overview and the tank introduction is 103 pages long treating
issues such as trends in design, wartime production, armament, ammunition,
radios, fire controls, and other subjects. The chapters then progress
to an encyclopedia treatment of the wartime vehicles by category (light,
medium, heavy) and by type.
The book is a bit problematic for English-speaking audiences since it
is entirely in Russian. On the positive side, there are numerous illustrations
and drawings. The photos are generally small and well reproduced but since
it was printed on soft paper the clarity is good but not quite as good
as those in Hunnicutt or similar books on gloss stock paper. There are
numerous scale plans in the book to no particular scale but they tend
to be side/front views with few comprehensive 4-view drawings. However,
there are numerous illustrations extracted from technical manuals and
other sources providing cross-sections of tanks, tank components, armor
layouts or other details. In spite of the relatively small size of the
photos, this is offset by their selection and rarity. The book covers
many tanks and ther AFVs never seen in print before including new shots
of some of the lesser known tanks as well as the first photos yet published
of many prototypes. The book is not really aimed at modelers specifically,
but at a broader audience. So there are no color drawings nor are their
many detailed close-up photos. However, there are plenty of photos of
interest for anyone who regularly models Russian subjects.
The book provides a great deal of new detail on Soviet wartime tank design
including the most comprehensive tank production figures to date, and
some excellent charts on Soviet tank deployment in 1941. The histories
of the individual vehicle types are excellent. For example, the section
on the T-34 contains the best survey to date of the origins of the T-34-85
including several new photos of interim 85mm tank types. This is not a
modeler’s guide however, so don’t expect to find a comprehensive
list of every production variation of the T-34. This book is an exceptionally
fine study of Soviet tank development, and an absolute must for any modeler
seriously interested in Soviet WW2 tanks. Two further volumes are planned
on post-war AFV development.
I mail-ordered my copy through Eastview Publications based in Minnesota
which has an office in Moscow that handles the actual orders. On the positive
side, they are a US based firm so credit card orders are not a problem
and I have ordered from them frequently. On the negative side, the price
is not cheap at $59.00 and about $20.00 airmail shipping. Their order
number is A2046782 and they can be reached at www.eastview.com.
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