Introduction

Militar Fahrzeug is a quarterly publication from Tankograd Publishing 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 Publishing 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 Publishing 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."

Review

The first feature of this 60 page magazine/book that will be of interest to none German readers is a feature titled ‘Canadian Army Trophy’. The feature is largely made up of pictures of various Leopards with one or two other tank types getting a look in. The one aspect of this feature that will have very broad appeal are the pictures of the crew artwork that has made it onto various areas of the tanks. This is a great opening feature for fans of the Leopard or those that want to build an identifiable Leopard tank. This is followed by a 8 page article on the 2.5 ton digger and which should appeal to those who like to model the dare I say mundane vehicles or more accurately tasks. This feature is accompanied with a good amount of data that with a little effort can be understood.

The magazine than has a short 4 page article on the Dana-M1 CZ which fans of fancy camouflage will love with its two shades of tan over a very light base coat. There are a couple of pictures of the DANA firing with one looking as if two separate charges are being fired at the same time. The next feature covers a series of vehicles either during or after World War Two being modified and used as snow ploughs, the six page article shows all sorts being put to use with the usual lorries to the more uncommon tank hulls such as the Panzer 4. This is followed by an ongoing feature covering the departure of American armour from Germany after nearly 70 year presence. The feature shows a nice selection of US armour from that 70 years of helping to keep the peace.

For fans of the forces cargo trucks there is a nice feature looking at the Bedford MJ 4 ton truck in British Army service. This feature supplies a good sample of pictures showing the truck at work and also has a couple of pictures showing cab and chassis detail for the modeller who likes to get things just right. For the fans of Soviet armour there is a nice feature focusing on Russian machine guns used in Soviet tanks. This feature has some excellent reference material for the perfectionist modellers and those with a passing interest.

The Indonesian Leopard R1 gets a short walk around and it is one sexy looking Leopard that I think all Leopard fans will have to have in their collection as soon as it is available. This is coming from a Brit who thought nobody could beat the Challenger II when it came to good looking armour. The magazine then finishes with a continuation of changes that have occurred and are occurring in the German military as all sides try to work out just how much of a military is required now that the Cold War is over and the Eastern Block countries become places to take a holiday rather than being seen as a potential enemy.

Conclusion

This magazine has a great selection of pictures from the past through to the present, and if you can read German so much the better. It is a shame that Tankograd Publishing has been forced to reduce this to a German only magazine by factors beyond their control such as postage. Perhaps at some time in the future Tankograd Publishing will consider selling PDF copies of these publications in English and other languages for that matter which will overcome problems such as postage costs.