ISBN: 978-1-84603-392-6
MSRP: $17.95
Website: www.ospreypublishing.com
The US manufactured, British used Staghound is an under appreciated WWII vehicle. Represented in only a few kits, with relatively few references available, the Staghound was a pivotal part of the war in Europe. The Staghound was developed in 1942, and was heavily used and modified throughout the war. Osprey's publication on the Staghound details the vehicles development in the states, including the vehicles that were created from the concept design. Desgined as a "trackless tank", the Hound became the father of most modern AFV's including the LAV-25 and the Stryker.
STAGHOUNDS
The book is broken up into three sections. The first follows the hound's development as a heavy armored car, which eventually became a medium armored vehicle. Originally called the Chevrolet T17E1, the Hound began life as an 8x8 vehicle, then evolved through a 6x6 to the eventual 4x4 design. the heavy 8x8 went on to limited use as the Chevrolet T18e2, otherwise known as the Boarhound. The Staghound went on to further development, and eventually several variants for multiple roles.
This merges nicely into the second section of the book which dives into the various roles and changes to the Hound. These include anti-aircraft, anti-tank, and armored personnel carrier roles. Throughout the war, and post war uses, the Hound was fitted with everything from .50 cal machine guns, to the 37mm turret, and all the way up to a 75mm main gun. Some of the rarer, unknown variants that the author was able to include were the New Zealand hound mounting a 3in Mk I howitzer and the Bantu mine-detection system.
The final section of the book chronicles the Stoghounds' service around the world. Used primarily in North-West Europe, the Hound was throughout Italy as well. After the war ended, the Hound went into use with NATO countries. The Italian State Police used the Staghound as fast response units. The British used them in Japan as part of the occupation force. Probably the strangest use, the Netherlands army took the Hound and stripped it down to the turret and hull, and then embedded the hull in a block of concrete. This created a hardened concrete bunker that was then used for airbase defenses. The final Staghounds were used into the 1980's by Middle-Eastern countries.
CONCLUSION
For such a small book [only 48 pages], the author was able to pack a wealth of information into it. With 39 photographs [mostly black and white], several line drawings, and a few color plates, the book has plenty of reference material for those wishing accuracy in their Staghound models. Its a rare, under-appreciated WWII vehicle that only in the last year of so has emerged as a subject of heavy modeling [3 new kits in the last year alone]. I would highly recommend this book to anyone building the Staghound, but also to those who study WWII armored vehicles or anyone wishing to further their general knowledge of World War II. I would like to thank Osprey Publishing for providing the review sample.