One rarely thinks about the things that tow stuff when it comes to military vehicles. Yet those big artillery pieces had to get into position somehow. Even with the advent of self propelled guns, there were always guns too big to put onto a chassis.

This book is a visual history of American tracked prime movers from WWII until the mid 1960s. It starts with the general development of the type and then gets into the basic movers. The first is the relatively small M2 7 ton tractor that was used a great deal by the Air Force to tow aircraft and perform other similar functions at air bases everywhere. It then goes through the 18 Ton M4, 13 ton M5, the huge 38 ton M6 and finally the last of the type, the M8 which shared much of its running gear with the M 24 Chaffee light tank.

Each type is lavishly illustrated with both factory, museum, and 'in action' photographs. These show all of the various aspects of each vehicle, a real boon for modelers. The captions provide insight into the operations and locate of each of the photos.

Overall, an excellent book on the type, and while a bit light on the history of each vehicle, the photos more than make up for that. Those interested in modeling these vehicles can find no better reference.

My thanks to HobbyLink Japan www.hlj.com for the review sample.

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