World Army Uniforms, Army Uniforms of World War 2,

This now-dated but still useful guide "World Army Uniforms Since 1939" is actually guides in one. The first half of this volume contains "Army Uniforms of World War 2". This portion covers uniforms of the British, French, German and Russian armies, although some representation for the smaller combatant nations is provided. The uniform section is followed by shorter sections on common small arms and personal equipment. The second half contains "Army Uniforms Since 1945." This portion covers the Cold War flashpoints such as Korea and Vietnam, and the various national wars of liberation in places such as Cypress, Lebanon and Palestine. In each section, the format is the same: a series of color plates, followed by a notes section with narrative description of the plates. An introduction to each half lays out a short historical summary and notes on some particular aspects of uniforms, such as designation of arm of service. At less than 200 pages, this is a compact recognition guide for the student or historian used to seeing photographs of soliders from the Second World War and later conflicts which lack identification of soldier uniforms and equipment. This handy guide is highly recommended to students of the Second World War and the conflicts of the Cold War.

This neat little visual reference to uniforms of the WWII and cold-war eras combines two other Mollo publications: "Uniforms of World War 2" and "Army Uniforms Since 1945". The beautiful illustrations of the former are essentially colorized contemporary photographs and are intended to depict uniforms as worn, rather than standard issue. This is wonderful for the military modeller or figure painter, but it is insufficient for serious uniform research since there are no tables of insignia or specific depictions of patches. It is a general overview of the clothing, equipment, and firearms of a representative selection of soldiers and guerrillas. The WWII section presents 3 numbered figures per page in national groups, chronologically by year from the invasion of Poland in 1939 to the end of the war in 1945. This is followed by illustrations of a selection of weapons and gear. The numbered figures are then indexed to captions. The second section of the book, illustrated by Mike Chappell, begins with uniforms of the Korean war and covers the cold war and "wars of national liberation" up to the late 1970's. The separate illustrations of gear and weapons are limited and somewhat eclectic. The author makes educated guesses when describing the equipment of the figures but isn't always correct (the weapon carried by the Viet Cong is a K-50, not an AK-47!) All in all this is a valuable reference for a visual artist rather than for the serious researcher.

This is a neat little reference book on WWII uniforms, illustrated with hand-tinted contemporary photographs. Unfortunately many of the pictures are not representative of standard issue uniforms! The book typically presents 3 soldiers per page in national groups, chronologically from the invasion of Poland in 1939 to the Japanese surrender in 1945. This is followed by illustrations of a selection of weapons and gear.Irritatingly the descriptions of the illustrations are in a seperate index at the end of the book. The illustrations of gear and weapons are somewhat eclectic. Nevertheless this is a valuable reference, especially for a visual artist.

This is an omnibus collection of two books: Army Uniforms of World War 2 and Army Uniforms Since 1945. The first book is an excellent reference for WW2 enthusiasts, especially modellers and figure painters. It contains complete uniform, equipment and weapons information for most army arms. This is an army uniform book. It does not touch naval or air corps uniforms at all.The uniforms and equipment are shown in colour plates, the weapons in B & W.The second book only covers world army uniforms up to the early eighties (Zimbabwe is still Rhodesia), but it covers cold-war uniforms extremely well.Well worth it if you can find it.