Introduction

This is the last of the reviews of the upcoming releases from Tankograd Publishings March 2015 publications. This time we get an advance look at the Munga, which to my eyes is a cross between the US Jeep and the German Kubel Wagon.

The following is the introduction provided by Tankograd Publishing:

In 1954 West Germany began to implement its plans to raise new German armed forces. After technical trials and extensive troop trials, the decision to procure the light all-terrain vehicle offered by Auto Union/DKW was made in the spring of 1956. Series production of this LKW 0,25 t gl (4x4) Auto Union/DKW F 91/4-900 Munga began in October 1956. From 1958 onwards the more powerful F 91/4-1000 Munga and the longer F 91/8-1000 Munga were introduced.

This publication shows the development, technology, variants and active service use of the Munga in great detail.

Additional chapters cover the early Bundeswehr's rare Goliath Jagdwagen, Porsche Jagdwagen and VW 181 Kurierwagen.

Review

This book covering the Munga is in the typical dual language format often offered by Tankograd Publishing. The text is supplied in German on the left side of the page and in English on the right. The book consists of 64 pages with 97 black and white photographs, 30 colour photographs and 5 graphics.

The book begins by setting out the needs of the newly formed German Army and the development of the Munga as it was improved prior to and after going into service with the German Army. The Munga also sold well in America under the title of Bronco and in Brazil as the Candango, although both of these vehicles were for civilian use as opposed to military. This section comes to a close with several photographs of the vehicles under trials.

This then looks at the competitors of the Munga, the Goliath and the Porsche 597. The Porsche 597 was the better vehicle, but at twice the price of the Munga it was not selected and did not do very well when offered as a civilian vehicle. The Goliath had some promising attributes, but due to being under powered and having an unreliable gearbox it was also not selected. The Goliath did manage to get some vehicles into the German Army after they later upgraded the engine, but this was a small number of only 50 vehicles. This section also then finishes with a series of photographs of the contenders.

The next section looks at the various areas of the Munga and covers the following areas:

• Chassis and Body
  
• Engine
  
• Gearbox
  
• Axles
  
• Wheels
  
• Brake System
  
• Steering

Those interested in details will I believe find this area of interest. The combination of text, graphics and photographs make this area a great reference as it delves beneath the skin. The photographs are a combination of privately owned, museum and period pictures which provide some interesting views.

The book then looks at the Munga F91/4 in Bundeswehr service via a good number of photographs with no dedicated text section, although that said, the captions provided with each photograph are more than up to the task of providing the needed written information. Of particular interest are photographs of some of the weapons systems mounted to the Munga, some of which would likely scare the operator as much as the enemy, being mounted on such a small and light vehicle. The next section looks at the Munga F91/8 in Bundeswehr service. This has a much smaller selection of photographs in it, but does still have all of the other strengths of the earlier section

The very last section of this title looks at the VW 181; this vehicle was a stand in for rear units that did not require the cross country ability of the Munga and was brought in at a time as the Munga was leaving service. The VW 181 allowed some older Munga’s to be withdrawn until a proper replacement was procured.

Conclusion

When I first opened this book I was unsure of how I would feel about; however the text is in easily digestible chunks and the photographs are of good quality. The Munga itself has the look of a Jeep crashed into a Kubel Wagen and this gives it a certain appeal, an appeal that surprised me. The book itself is of the usual good quality and at an affordable price. I cannot think of any reason to knock this title as I really enjoyed reading it and so look for it hitting the shelves in March.