introduction

"BAOR - The Final Years" is written by Peter Blume with an English translation by Jochen Vollert and published in 2007 by Tankograd Publishing. The book has 64 9.5" x 11" pages with all text in both German and English. There are no scale drawings or color profiles. All photos are in color and are usually of the whole vehicle from ground level. There are no interior shots or close-ups. The book covers vehicles of the British Army of the Rhine, the British force based in West Germany from 1980 until the disbandment of the BAOR after the collapse of the Warsaw Pact. An earlier publication (British Special #9003) covered the period 1945-1979.

Contents

The book consistes of 8 chapters covering the following:
"The British Army of the Rhine from the 1980s"
"The End of the Cold War and the Disbandment of the BAOR"
"BAOR Vehicles in Action"
"Royal Armoured Corps"
"The Infantry"
"Royal Artillery"
"The Corp of Royal Engineers"
"Army Air Corps"

The first two chapters are text only and deal with the top-level organization changes over time. The third chapter has photos of many different vehicle types during training exercises while the rest of the chapters have text to cover lower- level organization and equipment changes followed by a photo section of said vehicles.

Here is a count of vehicle photos:
10 Chieftain tanks, 11 Challenger 1 tanks-11
8 FV510 warrior Infantry Fighting Vehicles, 3 Saxon wheeled APC
7 FV432 (in support roles), 2 FV432 FSV (mounting a turret with a 30mm gun)
4 Striker, 2 Sampson, 1 Scimitar, 3 Spartan, 3 Spartan MCT, 1 Sultan, 1 Samaritan
3 CET (Combat Engineer Tractor), 2 Chieftain AVRE, 1 Centurion AVRE (Armoured Vehicles Royal Engineers)
4 Chieftain AVLB (Armoured Vehicle Launcher Bridge), 4 M2 Alligator amphibious bridge/ferry
2 Land Rover 90, 3 Land Rover 110, 4 Land Rover 109, 2 Land Rover 101
7 Bedford MJ, 3 Bedford TM 4-4, 2 Bedford TM 6-6, 1 Foden 6x4, 2 Foden 6x6 trucks
3 Leyland DAF 8x6, 3 Leyland DAF 4x4 trucks
1 Scammel Commander, 1 Scammel Crusader tractor/trailer combinations
1 Ferret 1, 2 Ferret 1/2, 2 Ferret 2/3, 1 Fox armoured cars
1 Light Support Vehicle (looking like the Chenowith SF "dune buggies")
2 Supacat (4-wheel ATV, like a Mechanical Mule)
1 Abbot, 1 AS90, 1 M109, 1 M107 SP Artillery
3 Chieftain ARRV, 1 Challenger CRARRV, 3 FV512 Warrior MRCV, 1 M578 recovery vehicles, 1 M548 support vehicle
1 FH70 155mm towed artillery
1 Lance, 1 Tracked Rapier, 2 MLRS missile launch vehicles
1 Gazelle, 1 Lynx, 1 Chinook helicopters

As you can see, it's heavy on armoured vehicles but doesn't neglect the soft skins. This is a very good book for helping you capture this period of time with models and some photos will spark ideas for dioramas. I could only spot a few errors in captions but I didn't mind as the photos provide the real value here.