Introduction

Militar Fahrzeug is a quarterly publication from Tankograd which provides a look at a number of military vehicles in a standard magazine format. This means a selection of articles of a few pages each. This magazine use to published in German and English in the same way as the standard Tankograd titles, however due to reduced sales of the magazine outside of Germany it is no longer printed as a duel language publication.

Here is the important information printed on the Tankograd website covering this magazine:
"We have tried several years now, but without luck. The number of readers outside the German language realm and interested in serious research becomes smaller and smaller every year. The internet offers nothing comparable in quality to our little magazine, yet the net is free, and postage becomes more and more expensive - facts that we cannot compete with any longer.

Since we have launched MILITÄRFAHRZEUG in 2002 we have tried to provide an international selection of articles for an international readership. However, the shrinking number of national outlets and shops in many countries has dramatically reduced our magazine circulation outside Germany in the past years. An online-only-version is not feasible for us. As a consequence we ask for your understanding that we are from now on unable to provide English text for the few remaining international readers, the costs outweigh the sales by far."

Contents

• Waffensysteme der Bundeswehr - GTF ZETROS - Neuer 5-Tonner Hauber
• Museen & Events - Forsvarsmuseet Oslo
• Leoparden International - Leoparden im Waldkampf
• Fahrzeug - Historie Wehrmacht - Schienen-LKW der Wehrmacht
• Neues aus der Industrie - Newsletter
• U.S. Army - Military Police
• Britische Armee - Warthog
• Einheiten der Bundeswehr - Panzergrenadierbataillon 122
• Waffensysteme der Bundeswehr - Faun Autokran 13t glw LK 12/21-400
• Einheiten der Bundeswehr - Panzerkompanien HS 4 und HS 5
• Fahrzeug - Historie Wehrmacht - Britischer Tiger ‘131’
• Museen & Events - Die Legende ist tot! Aus für Beltring!

Review

Firstly I should say that I am not a German reader and have only a smattering of the German language.

The magazine is printed on a high quality paper which is fractionally less robust than the usual Tankograd books, and they have also given the book a card cover which is again slightly lighter than the usual publications. The magazine still uses the A4 page sizes and is full high quality color and black & white photographs. The fact that I was unable to coherently read the articles the pictures do make up this short coming on my part.

Mercedes Benz 5 ton truck
This truck receives a fair amount of coverage in the magazine in the form of 18 full color pictures and a black and white line drawing over 7 pages. The detail pictures of the truck included are worthy of Tankograd, the pictures cover not just the exterior but the interior as well. The magazine also provides technical details on the vehicle.

Leopard in Waldkampf
No magazine that looks at German military ground vehicles would be complete without the Leopard tank making an appearance. In this magazine Tankograd has taken a look at the Leopard tank in Finnish service. This section of the magazine shares 10 pictures with us over 6 pages and does not concentrate solely on the Leopard MBT, this section also has pictures of Russian hardware working alongside the Leopard. One picture here caught me out as it shows a Leopard in the mine clearance role looking like an Abram’s in the ABV configuration, this is new to me as I was not aware the Leopard was used for this purpose.

German Schienen – LKW
This section of the book shares 12 pictures of this strange looking truck over 7 pages, the pictures in this section are all period photos and so are in black and white. The truck runs on rails and even has a set of buffers mounted on the front. The book would make for a good reference on scratching one of these oddities.

U.S. Military Police
This section looks a series of vehicles in use with the U.S. Military Police from World War Two to the present, there 10 colour pictures, 1 black & White, and 3 graphics of a nice selection of vehicles over 7 pages. For those that can read German I believe the text looks at the progression of the U.S. Military Police.

Warthog
This section looks at the British Viking but that is referred to here as the Warthog. There are 9 pictures of the Warthog in full color of 5 pages. There are some interesting pictures in the mix such as the recovery version with the side down exposing what is at the heart of the matter.

Panzer Grenadier Battalion 122
This section of the book covers a whole host of vehicles and types and which I suspect will be a great add to realistic weathering. The section is over 6 pages with 12 color pictures and 3 graphics.

Faun Autokran 13t
This vehicle is covered over 4 pages with 10 black & white and 1 color picture, there is also a single graphic of what I believe is a post war vehicle. I will be honest I know nothing about this vehicle.

Die Panzer Kompanien der Bundeswehr 1956 – Heute
This is a short 2 page article with 4 color pictures of the Leopard and 3 graphics.

Tiger 131
Regardless of your area of interest in the hobby Tiger 131 must be the single most known of the big cats of World War 2. Tiger 131 captured in North Africa and now restored to full working condition and housed at Bovington Tank Museum. I suspect that there are more pictures of this Tiger 1 than any of the super models that have ever been, and it gets a showing in this magazine with a 4 page article of 7 full color pictures; 2 of which look at the interior.

There are a few short articles I have not gone into here, but then again you need to have a few surprises.

Conclusion

It is a shame that a tool like the internet which generated the interest in magazines such as this is now having the effect of reducing their circulation. The internet being a free resource once you have the a connection and needed equipment, has slowly reduced the number of people willing to shell out on magazines like this to the point it is now only printed in German. If you want a magazine with a broad number of articles this could be for you as the selection in it is excellent.