Allied-Axis
The Photo Journal of the Second World War

Ampersand Publishing Co. Inc.
Delray Beach, Florida USA
Editor: John K. Small
MSRP $15.95

Reviewed by Ray Mehlberger

This new, virtual photo album, with its 96 pages…appears to be the first of what looks to be a new series of these books. The corner of the cover says it is "ISSUE 1", so I assume it will have other issues later.

The layout is similar to a Squadron In Action book in size…but this book is a ¼" thick. It is full of mostly full page size, black and white, WWII photos. Most of which I have never seen before elsewhere. It is a soft cover book and the photos selected for inclusion are real clear and sharp and very high quality.

The book is divided into 5 chapters. The first chapter is about the German A4/V2 Missile. There are photos of all the support equipment that was used to transport, fuel and launch this rocket. The shots of the control room vehicle intrigued me the most…I think with the high quality shots of this ½ track vehicle a modeler could easily use it as reference to convert the Tamiya kit into this vehicle. The captions are longer than most you see in books and explain things pretty well.

The second chapter is titled "Panther Attack in Alsace-Lorraine, 1944" and has some great action shots of Panthers used during that campaign. Some real diorama ideas cross my mind while drooling over these great shots…you can really see some of the body detail on Panthers real clear in these shots…and how troops piled aboard them for rides., and also how foliage was loaded on them for camouflage. There is even two very clear shots of M-8 "Greyhound", U.S. armored cars, in captured German markings included in this chapter…a real BONUS! Two more shots of a German Pak 50 are included too. Finally, in this same chapter, is a single shot of a captured U.S. M3 halftrack in German service and festooned with tree branches and leaves.

Chapter 3 is on the British "Tetrach Airborne tank" showing the prototype and production ones up close. The airborne tank "Locust" or T-9 is also featured…with shots of it being loaded aboard a "Hamilcar" glider and how it was stowed once inside. There are ten small "walkaround" shots of the "Tetrach's" anatomy at the end of this chapter.

Chapter 4 is on the Sherman "Crab" mine-flail tank. With some real detail shots of this beast. Included are 2 shots of it clearing a mine field…and these have to be the best shots of the chains the thing mounted I have ever seen!! I have a Coree conversion set to use on a Sherman tank model here to do and this will be of much value for reference.

The final, 5th chapter, is on the German Wirbelwind anti-aircraft tank….there are many detail shots in this chapter and a lot of walk around shots of one being restored in a museum.

I recommend this fine book to all armor modelers…there is a wealth of info in this book to get the details right on these various vehicles…that I have not come across before elsewhere. Highly recommended.