In addition to being the 'forgotten front' to many WWII enthusiasts, the Eastern Front was also a place where most of Hitler's allies also fought. Frequently this was as much to gain back territory from the Soviet Union as it was a general dislike of communism. Not surprisingly, these were pretty much eastern European nations like Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania. The Italians also participated briefly as did many of the 'new' states created by Nazi Germany as they took over various lands. This included Slovakia and Croatia. There was even an attempt at mobilizing anti-communist Russians. In the north, Finland joined against the Soviet Union, again to regain territory lost in the Winter War.

The major nations such as Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania all had their own armor units, though they were generally based on obsolescent or obsolete tanks which were no match at all against Soviet armor. Hungary was probably the best off of the three, but still not that well off. Attempts to get modern tanks from Germany were constantly stifled as the German military did not want to provide any of the 'good stuff' to their allies. Even the Italians were rather lacking in quality armor as they found out in both Russia and in North Africa.

Eventually, some of the lower quality captured stuff from France or Czech designed tanks were supplied, but these were not adequate. It was only towards the end of the war, when things were pretty dire, that proper panzers were provided. However, by that time, The nations in question had either turned against the Germans or were politically unstable.

The Finns were able to use a lot of captured Soviet armor and was one of the few nations who put forward an effort to re-use captured armor with any success. They were also able to purchase some modern equipment from Germany before they reached an armistice with the Soviets and half-heartedly drove the Germans out of the country into Norway in late 1944.

German client states also got hand-me-downs of minimal usefulness though by the end months of the war, they were also getting modern equipment. Germany made a major blunder by not supplying her allies with modern equipment from the start. If they had, these states would have been much more effective against the Soviets and while it is unknown if it would have changed the tide of war, one never really knows.

In all, it makes for an excellent book and one that any armor fan will thoroughly enjoy. It is chock full of great photos and some equally superb artwork. It is divided by telling the story of each nation's armor and how it was used during the war. It is a book that modelers will find of much interest as it offers something a bit different from the norm. A book that I can easily recommend to you.

May 2013

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