Helion & Company- Imperial German Army Motorised Troops 1914-1918 Vol. 1

Origins, Organization, and Mechanical Innovation in the Great War

Book Specifics

Author: Jacek Zabielski

Price- $39.95

ISBN: 978-1-804517-64-2

Softcover, 132 Pages, 8.3 x 11.7 in, 204 b/w photos, 9 color profiles, 4 color illustrations, 5 figures, 2 tables 

What's Inside

This two part series by Jacek Zabielski takes on an in-depth look at the earliest stages of motorised support and innovations as the German Army in WWI moved away from literal horse power into coal and steam, and petrol fueled engines to propel troops, artillery, supplies, and all around transport of the items needed to wage war. After a brief glossary of abbreviations, we dive right into chapter 1 and the Origins of Military Mechanical Transport with the use of steam road locomotives obtained from the British company Fowler. The chapter moves on to staff cars and lorries as well. In some cases, the photos are blurred and worn- but that is to be expected for photos well over a century old- and it is interesting to see how many have personnel proudly posing next to them considering the novelty of this new type of motility.

Chapter 2 covers the Army Transport Service and starts with railway transport and explains the logistical nightmares of various gauges of railroads. Cars, lorries, motorcycles populate the text and photos here and these are photos I am not at all familiar with. Throughout, we get excellent detailed views of the uniforms of those operating the vehicles, as well as markings on the vehicles and what they mean. In some cases, the insignia are included as color references alongside the photo.

The text is by no means overbearing- but quite informative. The brunt of the book are the photos with fascinating captions that fill in a lot of the information of what is occurring in the photos. In the midst of this chapter are the color profiles of the tractors, lorries, guns, and cars that form a good representation of what is described in the book.

Transporting Christmas trees for the front

Chapter 3 covers Motor Vehicles Utilized by Specialized Formations and looks more in-depth at the motorcycle detachments, Signal Service vehicles, medical transport, Army Air Service, Naval (Marine) units, firefighting vehicles, and motorised field chapels. The trucks and cars towing aircraft were particularly of interest to me and I wonder how those fragile wooden and doped linen planes fared with bumpy roads and road maneuvering.

The last chapter deals with the vehicles used to move the heavy artillery guns like the Morser, which often had to be towed in pieces due to their size and weight. These heavy artillery tractors donned some strange camouflage patterns in some of the photos and I would love to see some of them in model form as they are neat looking machines. The latter part of the chapter looks at field artillery motorization with the guns in use while on the back of these trucks and tractors.

Lastly is the following appendix illustrating the development timeline of selected vehicles:

Conclusion

This is an excellent new series that thoroughly investigates the origins and evolution of the vehicles that moved supplies, men, and guns for the German Army in the Great War. Excellent photos throughout show these vehicles in and out of action surrounded by their crews and inspire many diorama ideas. It would be great to see companies like ICM, Miniart, or Vargas explore releasing these beasts in model form. A review of the second volume in the series, covering armoured units, assault tanks, and the weapons of modern warfare by the same author is forthcoming.  

Highly Recommended for Beginner to Advanced builders.

Thanks goes out to Casemate Publishing for this review sample.

Reviewed by Michael Reeves

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