One of the 'sideshows' of WWII was the German invasion of Yugoslavia in April of 1941. Hitler's ally, Mussolini, had gotten himself in a real mess in Albania and had to be bailed out. The only way for the Germans to get there was through Yugoslavia. Coming at a time when he was planning the Soviet attack, Hitler really did not need this interruption and so planned on getting things done as soon as possible. Attempts to get the Yugoslav government to grant his armies passage failed and so the invasion was on.

For the Germans, it was an overwhelming success with extremely light casualties and a war that was over in two weeks. For the Yugoslavs the casualty rate was higher and led to many years of fighting with not only the Germans but amongst themselves as various fractured factions sought to gain the upper hand.

In this book, the authors have gone through the archives to bring a collection of photographs of the German Army in the field, fighting against the Yugoslaves. The images are mostly crisp and clear and photographed in a number of locations. I found that there really wasn't the emphasis on tanks as in some other books, but this one has great photos of the secondary forces that include signals and the works done by the pioneers in building permanent and temporary bridges, a job required by the rugged terrain in this theater of war. As with all books in this series, there is a short historical introduction, followed by the photos, arranged by calendar sequence. The center of the book contains several  pages of very nicely done color illustrations of men and equipment that will be particularly well received by figure painters.

Overall, it is another superb addition to a growing line of excellent photo books by Concord. If you have any interest in the subject, then this is a book for you.

May 2009

Review book courtesy of www.dragonmodelsusa.com . Get yours at your local retailer or ask them to order it for you.

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