Here is a fascinating book for the WWII enthusiast. This is not really so much a history book in the manner of which we are used to seeing such titles, but in reality it is just as interesting and important. Frontline Publishing has gone through the effort of reprinting and in many cases redoing what was basically a catalogue of weapons that was used by the Ordnance Department in 1944/45.

It basically includes all of the different weapons and support equipment needed to fight a ground war, each entry having as full a description of the item as security would allow along with a photograph or an illustration to help those using this book.

Prior to the release of this catalogue, every different section of the Army had their own catalogues, sometimes with contradictory information regarding the same item. It was felt that the best way to take care of issues of inaccuracy and duplication was to make one service wide reference to be used by all, and that is where this catalogue comes into play.

If you can think of it and it was used in 1944/45, then it is in here. Everything from tanks to trucks to flame throwers to rifles, pistols, howitzers, and a ton of ammunition types. This also includes some rather esoteric things like aircraft rocket tubes, ordnance trucks, fuzes, gun mounts and so on. One thing I noticed is that there is little in there on Army Air Forces specific stuff. No planes or bombs or air field fuel trucks or the like so I can only assume they had their own reference.

It all makes for a book that is more of one through which one browses more than starts at the beginning and reads through to the end. It is a volume where one can easily while away hours going through the various sections just to see what is in there.

I found the book to be quite well done and one that I thoroughly enjoyed pursuing as the time ticked by. Highly recommended. 

July 2014

Review book courtesy of  Casemate Publishing, where you can order your copy from this link.

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