Rare Wheels

Description

Rare Wheels
This new book presents many of the lesser-known vehicles that served without glamour or fame around the battlefields of World War Two. Rarely did they receive the headlines from war correspondents, nor were they the stars of the propaganda newsreels, as were the famed Tigers, Panthers and Shermans. Fortunately, many of these anonymous workhorses were captured in photos taken by the soldiers serving alongside them, and thereby preserving a piece of history. The book will take the reader on a journey starting with pre-war preparations and then across the early campaigns in France and Poland, through Ukraine, Russia and North Africa. The final section is dedicated to the dramatic unfolding of the German surrender in Czechoslovakia in May 1945. A variety of cars, trucks, buses and other soft-skins are presented, mainly in large-format photos, serving both as a reference and as a source of inspiration for modellers. Manufacturers such as Krupp, Büssing-Nag, Horch, Adler, Mercedes, BMW, Steyr, Opel, Henschel, ZiS, GAZ, Praga, Ford, Citroen and Matford are all represented, to mention a few. Among the rare vehicles, photos of more familiar machines have also been included since they describe the course of dramatic events – often with fatal outcomes – better than words could ever do. Petr Dolezal has collected wartime photos for more than a decade and has contributed to several publications. He runs a blog, is an avid photographer, and frequently visits battlefields and archives in the search for new material. This is his first book as sole author.