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bookSd.Kfz.7 mittlerer Zugkraftwagen 8t
History File No. 004
By Daniele Guglielmi
Published by Auriga Publishing International SRL, Genova, Italy
ISBN 88-88711-32-4
A4 landscape 66 pages

Review by Terry Ashley


This latest release from Auriga Publishing in their History File series is quite timely given all the Sd.Kfz.7 8ton kits hitting the street at present from both DML and Trumpeter.

The soft cover book is in the style of Squadron Signal in action books with the text in both Italian and English as are the photo captions. It has about 120 photos all in black and white with the majority being wartime in action shots of the three main versions of Sd.Kfz.7, 7/1, 7/2 as well as few shots of the 8ton modified with armoured rear compartment and used with the V2 rocket program. There is also 14 pages dealing with the Breda 61 which was basically the Sd.Kfz.7 built under licence in Italy but with a number of difference to the German produced vehicle.

The book starts with a brief technical description followed by three pages with shots of the early KMm10 with the shorter running gear having just the five road wheel stations per side including the idler as well as other differences before moving on to the production KMm11 Sd.Kfz.7.

The next 26 pages has wartime action photos of the 8ton in all theatres including North Africa, Sicily, Italy and NW Europe after D-Day but none from the Russian campaign.

The photos show the vehicles in a variety of situations but mostly towing the 15cm sFH18 and 8.8cm Flak36/37 being its primary functions. The shots show fairly good overall detail but no real close-ups and also offer some excellent diorama possibilities such as the rather comical shot with a live mule in the back of a vehicle along with three of the crew.

There are also a few shots of destroyed vehicles which is sort of obligatory in any reference book on German vehicles with the photos also giving some good views of the different crew uniforms in the different theatres and time lines.

The middle fold out has 6 colour profiles of Sd.Kfz.7, 7/1, 7/2 vehicles again similar to those seen in the Squadron Signal books.

The next 12 pages cover the Sd.Kfz.7/1, 7/2 Flak vehicles with general action shots of the 3 types with the 2cm Flakvieling38, the 3.7cm Flak 36 and Flak 42 armed 7/2s that include both unarmoured and armoured cab versions. Many of these shots have been seen in other publications as there is only so many shots of the Sd.Kfz.7/1, 7/2s to go around.

There is one side on photo of the 5cm Flak 41 prototype on the Sd.Kfz.7 plus the shots of the Feuerleitpanzerfahrzeug fur V-2 Rakaten auf Zugkraftwagen 8t used with the V2 rocket program and again these have been in other 8ton publications.

The final 13 pages cover the Breda 61 and this makes this book especially useful as there is not a lot of detailed information about on the particular variant of the 8ton series. There is a little more text in this section giving details of the Breda 61 program as well the photo captions adding to the info provided.

There are some excellent semi close-up exterior walk around shots showing well the different details compared to the standard German 8ton including one very good shot of the rear chassis without the body attached showing the chassis frame, winch and large fuel tank all of which differ in various ways from the German items.

Also included are close-up shots of the drive sprocket, road wheels and track as well as the cab interior with right hand drive setup that will be very useful to anyone wanting to model this variant.

Conclusion:

This is an good general reference on the Sd.Kfz.7, 7/1, 7/2 with a series of wartime action photos that provide good in situ detail although the lack of detailed close-ups may be drawback to some. The shots of the 7/1 and 7/2 are again general wartime shots but offer some good details.

The most useful section in the book is that on the Breda 61 with a combination of wartime, semi close-up and close-up detail shots of the vehicle and may be enough incentive to buy the book just for this section alone.

Highly recommended.

Sample pages
Book

Thanks to Auriga Publishing International for the review book.




Page created September 7, 2009