Book Review - WW1, The First Mechanized War

Book Review: WWI, The First Mechanized War. Editor: Fernando Vallejo. Published by AK Interactive S.L. Softback with heavy card cover. 167 pages with color profiles and black and white photographs.

Advantages: Many never before published photographs, excellent color profiles and very clear high quality photographs.

Disadvantages: The text translation was not edited by a native English speaker with knowledge of military vehicles. Some factual and date errors. Many color profiles have been previously seen on existing model kit marking options.

Rating: Highly Recommended

Recommendation: I recommend this not only for fans of WW I models and figures, but to those considering building some of the new WWI kit releases.

I’ve always been a fan of WWI armor, but for many years both kits and references were rather thin on the ground. With the centenary of WWI beginning this year we have seen kits from the big plastic manufacturers which were previously the preserve of resin kit manufacturers. Tamiya even released a Mark IV and British figure kit. The reference industry has not been idle either. There have been a number of good books published from general histories to books on specific vehicles and weapons. Sadly, while they may be enlightening reading, they may not make good references for the modeler. This book from Vallejo is right in the model builder’s wheelhouse.

The first three chapters cover German, British and French tanks in text, photos and profiles. Each chapter covers the development and use of each countries tanks and armored vehicles, black and white photographs and color profiles. Let me first cover the three minor issues I have with the book. In this age of connectivity, I find it unusual that the editor could not find a native English speaker with knowledge of military history and WWI vehicles to review and correct the text. Turrets are called towers throughout the book and some of the sentences seem a bit confusing. Here is an example from page 19 describing the Mark V tank. “The name Mark V…..which was equipped with a box of epicyclical changes that allowed it to be driven by a single crew member”. Perhaps a more clear translation would have been that the Mark V was equipped with the new Wilson epicyclic transmission which allowed the tank to be steered by a single driver. There are also a few factual errors, but nothing really to get out of shape over. There are far more positives that make this a must have book. First, if you’re a relative newcomer to WWI tanks, this would serve as a decent introductory primer on the various makes and marks of each countries vehicles development and use. The pictures are amazingly clear and many previously unpublished. The paper and reproduction is very high quality and the color profiles are nicely done, although some may be familiar to builders of Emhar kits, among others.

The next two chapters include motorcycles and mechanization. Other armies are covered next, to include, Belgian, Italian, Russian and American, following the same format of text, photos and profiles. The next chapter is titled “A Brief Approach to Aircraft in WWI”. While it truly fits under the rubric of the first mechanized war, I’m ambivalent on this chapter. I would have preferred more photo coverage or more profiles on ground vehicles or artillery pieces. Larger reproductions of some of the smaller photos would also have been a better use of the space, but your mileage may vary. My thought is that the aircraft guys have some really great references out there already, so this may be wasted space. But hey, if you swing both ways, this may be your cup of tea.

The last three chapters cover First World War Armour Vehicles Colors, Uniforms Colors Study and Memory Boxes. The chapter on colors is a pretty fair representation of the current state of knowledge of vehicle colors with color squares, but the chapter is only two pages and very general. The Uniforms get a more cursory treatment over two pages with only British, German and French basic uniform colors presented. Again, this has little or nothing to do with the theme of mechanization so the space may have been used to advantage to expand the chapter on vehicle colors. That said, if you are a first time building the Tamiya Mark IV with the British Army figures, this could be useful as a one stop shop for all your painting needs. The final chapter covers a collection of photographs taken by a French Officer and discovered in a market in Morocco in 1999. This is a fascinating collection of very clear photographs of aircraft, vehicles, artillery and general scenes of life at the front.

Overall, this is a useful reference, the text is basic and perhaps not as useful to the researcher, but the photographs and color profiles are the books strong point. For example, many builders were confused by the inclusion of headlights in the Masterbox kits of the Mark I tank. There is a very clear photo on page 19 of a Mark I with the left headlight visible, more are visible on the following pages, although they are absent on the Mark I color profile. There is another unique picture on page 21 that is identified as a “training exercise of the Royal Tank Corps”. While this may be true, the real value of the photograph is that it is actually a converted Supply tank. A number of unique French vehicles are also covered.

The rear flyleaf cover contains an advert for the AK Range of WWI vehicle and uniform color paint sets.