Compared to the fighting in Northwest Europe or the epic battles in the Soviet Union, the battles for the possession of the Italian peninsula seem to seem to pale in insignificance. The Allies regarded it as a side-show and the men that fought there were often referred to as the ‘D-Day Dodgers’. The Germans must have regarded it similarly judging by what forces they sent to Italy. Nevertheless, while the terrain in the Italian peninsula was often unsuitable for the offensive use of armour, it was entirely suitable for armour in a defensive role. As the Allied troops were soon to learn, often a lone tank (quite often a Tiger) or assault gun, strategically placed, could hold up an entire advance for hours, if not days in some cases. Moreover by the time the Allies had reached the Gustav Line around Cassino, German resistance had hardened. From here, the Liri valley offering what appeared to be an easy route northwards to Rome, was in fact the opposite and the strong defense put up by the German troops there proved a major stumbling block to Allied plans. This prompted the Allies to seek a way around this, one that involved landing troops at Anzio-Nettuno in January 1944. Here the Germans were quick to respond and soon contained the Allies to a narrow beachhead and one that they were unable to break out of until June that year. This deployment involved a wider range of armour than the Allies previously had to deal with. Not only was this it first time that Tigers had been employed on mainland Italy, but it was the first time the Elefant heavy tank destroyer went into action against the Allies. The Sturmpanzer 43 or Brummbär, an infantry support self-propelled gun, also made its appearance on this occasion. As the Germans continued their retreat up the Italian peninsula, vehicles such as Sturmgeschütz IVs, Jagdpanzer IVs and Hetzers were added to their inventory. The Germans became more dependent on Italian armor, bringing into service some of the higher performance Semovente assault guns. Concurrent with this was the deployment some of their obsolete types with police units in the rear areas, often in anti-partisan operations. These included the PzKpfw III Ausf. N with its 75 mm L/24 gun, the Italian AB41 armored car and P 26/40 tank, along with some Russian T-34/76 tanks. This proliferation of vehicle typesalso saw a move away from the overall Dunkelgelb finish that seemed to be predominant in the earlier engagements in Italy. This saw the use of Olivgrün, Rotbrun or both in a variety of patterns, something that had started to happen at Cassino. Italian armor taken into service usually retained its factory scheme of Dunkelgelb, Olivgrün and Rotbrun, but some units repainted them with a scheme of their own.

A comprehensive and fully illustrated account of all the vehicles needed to move, use, and maintain communications equipment vital to the success of the U.S. Army during World War II, including trucks, workshop trucks, vans and trailers all designed by the Signal Corps, described in technical detail and illustrated by hundreds of period photos. The Signal Corps was at the forefront of the technological development of communications throughout World War II. Tasked with coordinating all American military activities, the Signal Corps initially had to rely on a communications landline network covering some 1 300 000 km. This was soon overtaken by radio communications. however adaptation remained a priority within the US Army Signal Corps for when landline networks were unavailable or radio silence had to be observed.Almost every large piece of Signal Corps equipment required wheeled transport, and over a hundred vehicles and trailers would be specially designed, many associated with one particular radio or radar installation. This comprehensive and fully illustrated account covers radar and radio vehicles, plus specialised vehicles such as telephone repair trucks, mobile telephone switchboards and homing pigeon units, all described in technical detail and illustrated by hundreds of period photos.

Hitler’s drive to modernize his armed forces gained a new momentum with the arrival on stage of Col. Heinz Guderian – the future spiritus movens of German armored warfare doctrine. Behind the scenes German design teams were busy working on prototypes of vehicles that would soon become the tools of the future war – light Pz. Kpfw. I and II, heavy (in keeping with contemporary classification) Pz.Kpfw. IV and medium Pz.Kpfw. III armed with a 37 mm gun. In the early stages of fighting in France it became clear that the vehicle didn’t carry enough punch and in later marks of the tank the 37 mm main gun was superseded by a 50 mm weapon. The ultimate version of the Pz.Kpfw. III was armed with a short barrel 75 mm gun, the largest that the tank’s turret could accommodate.

M4 Sherman was the most popular American tank of World War II. Between February, 1942, and June, 1945, a total of 49.000 units of all versions were produced. Dozens of variants of M4 tanks were created. They differed in the method of hull production (welded, riveted, casted) as well as turret, main armament and additional equipment. Several special versions were also made (especially for the needs of the Normandy landing in 1944): the floating Sherman DD (Duplex Drive), Sherman Crab (with anti-mine trawl), Sherman Dozer (with bulldozer at the front – for demining and engineering tasks), Sherman Zippo (Sherman with a flamethrower mounted instead of the main gun).

First prototypes of German tank destroyer Sturmgeschütz III (StuG III) were built in 1937 and based on PzKpfw III Ausf. B tank. Vehicles were armed with short-barelled 75mm gun. From spring, 1942, StuG IIIs were equipped with StuK 40 75mm gun. Self propelled guns StuG III served in separated assault artillery units, and later in self propelled guns brigades. They were also used in support units of armoured divisions.

The PzKpfw III (Panzerkampfwagen III) is a German medium tank designed by Daimler-Benz AG. The first tests of the vehicle took place in 1936. The construction of the PzKpfw III consisted of four main modules: the turret, the front of the hull, the rear of the hull with the engine compartment cover and the lower hull. The first version of PzKpfw III – Ausf. A – was produced in May 1937. Soon after, the Ausf. B and C versions also entered production. Ausf. D version was introduced in January 1938. Early PzKpfw III models were prototype vehicles and were not suitable for mass production on a large scale. They were powered by Maybach HL 108 TR petrol engines with 250 HP. They were armed with 37mm guns and three MG-34 machine guns (two in the turret and one in the hull).

This early production T-34/76 with F-34 gun was repainted Dunkelgrau RAL 7021 and used by Waffen-SS. An additional storage box was fitted to the left side of the hull. T-34/76 with L-11 gun captured and used by Wehrmacht. It remained in its original camouflage scheme of overall 4BO dark green.A STZ-built T-34/76 model 1941 with F-34 gun coded 4 of 21st Independent Tank Brigade, autumn 1941. It received a standard finish in 4BO dark green. A STZ-built T-34/76 model 1941 with F-34 gun. The tank was painted in 4BO dark green and sported a white propaganda inscription “Beat the fascists” on both sides of the turret.

- Pz.Kpfw. 38H (f) (Hotchkiss H35 mod. 39) “Paderborn” – France, Summer 1940.- Bren 731 (e) (Scout Carrier) – 5. Flughafen-Betriebs-Kompanie, Luftwaffe II./KG55 airfield, Chartres, France 1940/41.

In the ‘30s, Americans began working on a modern vehicle for cavalry reconnaissance and artillery units in freshly formed armoured and motorized units. The American command became interested in French half-track vehicle designs. On their basis the American industry proposed its own solutions. In 1938, White Motor Company created a vehicle called T-7, which was a combination of the design of the M3 scout car and the T-9 half-track transporter. Year later, a version with a more powerful engine was prepared. The new car was designated T-14 and used mainly by artillery units. In 1940, the project was renamed M2 and put into production.

The signal of need of such kind of vehicles extension occurred when the struggle against the Soviet Union began. Another ones came from North Africa. In both cases few times turned out that hard-to-eliminate foible of the units equipped with towed guns was its mobility when the tanks and short-barreled assault guns, engaged often and often as the anti-tank artillery, revealed insufficient firepower. There were self-propelled guns called Panzerjäger, put into service in the turn of 1942 and 1943. Despite the fact of being armed with a valuable 75 mm or 76,2 mm main armament, their crews were not protected effectively – the armor plates’ thickness was merely up to 10 mm.

Master Modeller Liejon Schoot presents a visual guide to constructing a fully detailed replica of the complex interior of the famous Elephant Tank destroyer from scratch. He then goes on to modify the exterior to the same incredibly high standards as the 488 images clearly document along with unique reference images of the real vehicle.

USS Astoria was a cruiser of the New Orleansclass, built at the Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, Washington.Her keel was laid down on September 1, 1930. She was launched on December 16, 1933, and commissioned in the US Navy on April 28, 1934.

There are many "how-to" books in today's world of scale modeling, but none has covered the "why's", as well as, the "how-to's"… the artistic approach… until now. In TANKART, a painting and weathering guide book series, the focus is on taking real-life observations of paint and weathering effects and incorporate the best techniques to replicate them. The 3rd Edition of TANKART 1 German Armor book is printed in our standardized TA size format, 8. 5" x 9.5", expanded with 2 additional model chapters to 288-pages in length. Each book is wrapped in a matt laminated cover stock with the interior pages designed to show the models and writings at their absolute best. Inside the original models; Befehls Panther G, Tiger I Initial, Sd.Kfz 251/22 Pakwagen, Hetzer, and Panzer IV DAK are presented in an updated and refined layout. The guest author, Lester Plaskitt's worldclass Sd.Kfz 251/21 Drilling is expanded to match the style of the other chapters, including new orange caption boxes explaining his impressive skills.

The new format of the book - A4 80 pages archive photos color profiles mate coated paper soft cover binding