Military Model Scene

Title: Czechoslovak Armies 1939-45
Author: Nigel Thomas PhD
Publisher: Osprey
ISBN: 978-1-4728-5685-2

Number 554 in the Men-at-Arms series from Osprey Publishing. An 80-page soft-cover book, with artwork by Johnny Shumate.
An introduction sets the scene with some basic history of Czechoslovakia leading up to the beginning of WW2. After WW1 there were some border disputes with some of their neighbours as the assortment of ethnic groups which made up the whole state of Czechoslovakia, in order to secure their territory. This alone didn't solve everything, and in the 1930s the country lost out when Hitler's Germany occupied the Sudetenland. The book goes on to examine the make up of the Czech army in 1938, followed by descriptions of their uniforms and equipment, including colour artwork of their rank insignia. With the occupation of the country by Germany, the territory was turned into a Protectorate, with their own armed forces units, while other elements of the population were split up. Some went to help the French, others went to the UK and yet more looked East, to Communist Russia. Even that was not all, as there were plenty of Czech nationals in the Far East as well. All these stories are covered, including the final stages of the war, when the country was finally freed from German occupation. As ever with this popular series though, apart from other artwork, are the 8 pages of first class uniform artwork, with 3 different uniforms illustrated on each page. At the back of the book is a detailed commentary on each one.
The story of Czechoslovakia in WW2 is often overshadowed by others, and this does a good job of giving a summary of what happened. The key content though is in my mind the excellent uniform illustrations which will not only interest historians of the period, but especially popular with modellers wanting to paint representative miniatures. With over 500 books in this series now, it is clearly a popular and successful format.
Thanks to Osprey for the review copy.

Robin