Introduction

This introduction is as supplied by Tankograd:
On 31 March 1994, the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) was disbanded. This did not, however, automatically mean that units of the British Army were no longer based on German soil. In fact, completion of the redeployment of Germany-based British troops to the United Kingdom would take another quarter of a century. During the period of 1995 to today British units formed British Forces Germany (BFG).
This publication looks at this time in which the image of British forces based in Germany massively changed by the introduction of new combat vehicles.

Review

The British Armed Forces have had a sizeable presence in Germany since the end of World War 2. With the end of the Cold War armed forces in the West have been drastically reduced in number and the British Army is no exception to that. We are at the stage where the British Army in Germany is all but coming to an end and this has resulted in large scale building of accommodation and storage in the UK, in particular around Bulford and Larkhill in Wiltshire. The authors of this particular title are Daniel Nowak and Tim Matzold. This is a soft backed book having a robust card cover and containing 64 pages. This offering from Tankograd is one of their duel language offerings having German text on the left and English text on the right side of each page and that aspect also includes the captions that accompany each photograph.

The contents of this title are broken down in the following format:
We are initially presented with a very well written section covering the Armed Forces that remained in Germany at the end of World War 2 and the reduction in British Armed Forces following the end of the Cold War (which seems to be warming up again). The forces and their dependants make a sizeable number of people still in Germany.

After the written section the book moves onto the vehicles in use by British Forces now and in the recent past as they returned home. The first pictorial section looks at the Light Wheeled Vehicles such as the quad and motorcycles in use plus of course the large family of Land Rover vehicles in use with the British Army. This covers everything from the bulk standard transport to ambulance and the lightly armoured fighting variants that were used extensively in Afghanistan.

The trucks are next to get a mention and are very well covered from the basic transport/logistics vehicle to the tank transporters. I am very pleased to see the Bedford name amongst these trucks as they gave a long and reliable service to the British Army. Tankograd has however done a thorough job with the trucks and names such as Foden, MAN, IVECO, VOLVO and of course Scammel making a good showing here amongst many other manufacturers vehicles in use.

The Logistics and Engineer wheeled vehicles are next to be covered and this has also been done well. Tankograd has covered the large trucks that transport bridge sections and the like, but perhaps more importantly they have done an excellent job with the JCB's and forklifts that are currently used. Perhaps the most interesting inclusion here is the little seen M3 amphibious bridging vehicles that I cannot recall having seen in the UK.

The wheeled armoured vehicles are next to be looked at and these are small in number. The Sexton of the past makes a showing alongside the Cougar and Mastiff that are currently fielded. An interesting inclusion here is the Fuchs as I was unaware we fielded these vehicles but they are used by the 1st Armoured Division it would appear.

The tracked armour of the British Army follows this and we get to see the CVR family make up a big part of this section with the likes of the Scimitar, Samaritan and striker to name a few of them. The tracked Rapier is shown here and I believe is no longer in use. The FV432 is well covered in a number of its guises here as well. A couple of tracked vehicles get their own areas such as the CET/CEV and Warrior. The short section on tracked artillery I am bolting on the end of this as it covers the AS90, MLRS and even the 105mm light gun gets a mention here.

The Army Air Corps has not been forgotten and gets its own area in this offering. The Lynx and Gazelle were of course the most common beast to see the army flying and have proved long lived and reliable helicopters. Also depicted here are the Puma and Chinook which I believe are only flown by the RAF.

The Royal Engineers are next on the scene with the Trojan, Titan and CRAAV being on show in a few images which I enjoyed seeing as these vehicles rarely get the attention they deserve.

The title comes to an end with the Main Battle Tanks showing their face, both the Challenger 1 and 2 are shown here with both vehicles having proven their ability in warfare. The images have been well chosen to show the MBT's to good effect and make for a very pleasing end to the title.

Conclusion

This book offering from Tankograd can be considered as a one stop look at the vehicles of the British Army from the last 20 years or so. Most of the vehicles are covered in a single good quality photograph, but there are others that get far more attention. I would suggest picking up this title if you are looking to build a piece of British Armour but cannot decide what to build. It really is a great look at the vehicles fielded right up to the present day.