We review the Latest Allied - Axis - no: 29

The latest pictorial reference book “Allied-Axis” is evenly set out between the US and their German enemies this issue – with three vehicles from each side why not we adjudicate to see who wins this fight between the two?

Allied–Axis No.29 from Ampersand Publishing

By David Doyle, Kurt Laughlin. Patrick Stansell & Jeff Kleinhenz

Publisher: Ampersand Publishing

Language: English

Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.3 x 0.2 inches (A4 Landscape) 

Price: $15.95

Available from: Ampersand directly

With all of the attention on Ampersand’s latest Opus “Son Of Sherman Vol. 1” – and the three all German themed Allied-Axis  and their later magazine MMiR life has still carried on with their regular series entry of Allied-Axis this month – today we review their latest- no 29 in the series.

This book is the same as the others in the series for those familiar with it – in that it is a landscape profile in a glossy softcover filled with black and white large pages sized pictures of archive and contemporary pictures of vehicles both in the battle and at museums restored.

Each subject has a good 10-15 pages of pictures and captions dedicated to them –  and even though the focus of this edition is the  M3 light tank on the cover I feel that the content is pretty evenly displayed between all of the vehicles included here. I’ll take you through them quickly

Firstly there are seven pages devoted to the “kitbashed”  vehicle - the L.g.s.F.H.13 (Sfl.) auf Lorraine-Schlepper  - these used a French chassis of the Lorraine  AFV and a German  15 cm gun with eight rounds of ammo inside an open assault gun style setup. Several very clear pictures of this tank either in the desert, or being evaluated in the states after the war are in this section. Clear in these shots are the vehicle’s wear and weathering and little interesting details like the land anchor that whet the appetite to make this lilt vehicle as a kit. Lots of scratches and internal detail here.

Next we have a recent favourite vehicle of a lot of modellers out there – the German Daimler-Benz L1500 A/S light truck/heavy car combo. These were kitted recently by MiniArt and by gee I would like some nice reference like this when I was making mine. Combined with shots of the car and the truck in different combinations and applications this section features several walkaround pictures of the vehicle restored in black and white. I would however like these to be colour – but I suppose there is room for error in restorations and that is my guess why the pics here are monochrome.

The very common battlefield car for the Germans – the German Horch 901 Type 40 E.Pkw, is next in part 2 of the series of this large utility and staff car. There are some interesting photos of these vehicles and the soldiers who used them (and maybe even Rommel himself in one shot) River crossings, the desert, in American hands and in service of generals, this vehicle gets a nice showing off.

I did not know about his one before – several pages of the tractor variant of the U.S. T16 Diesel Heavy Tractor was proposed as an alternative tractor for men and arms. Built on the M3 Medium tank chassis we see some excellent pictures of the two prototypes at the beginning, and interestingly at the end of their careers – it is great to see the changes brought upon these once they had proved not fit for adoption by the army.

The U.S. made GMC LeRoi Compressor Truck in the various forms of it’s incarnation get the in depth photojournalistic treatment. You see some very nice pictures of these compressor trucks in service from the pacific to the snow covered fields of Europe. Interesting was the pictures of crewmen working at close waters with this and the panels in the sides open to reveal what was carried with the trucks.

Lastly the “cover star” of this issue the U.S.M3/M3A1 Stuart Tank is shown in very good detail. From the first tanks with MULTIPLE machine guns (5!) and a 37mm main gun with a bolted square turret to the later rounded turrets with deleted sponson MG ports. This little tank has some great pictures in all different corners of the war – from Australia and Papua New Guinean jungle, the dry ranges of the US where it was developed to North Africa to the pacific atolls and even Iceland! These little tanks saw some action and the pictures and captions along with them reveal a fair bit to the reader.

I found the book well read and the pictures excellent, while the caption narrative made me understand a lot more of these vehicles and their features and points of difference. This is a great title well worthy of a purchase if you are interested in military history or a just a Allied- Axis fan.

A great addition to the Stable!

Adam Norenberg

We thank the excellent people at Ampersand Publishing for the book.