top of page

History of the Turan Medium & Heavy Tanks in WWII

...in Combat 03, from Kagero, via Casemate

Title: Combat 03: History of the Turan Medium & Heavy Tanks of WW2
Author: Peter Mujzer
Publisher: Kagero
ISBN: 978-83-66148-95-6

This is the story of the Hungarian produced tank series, the Turan. An 80-page soft-cover book which tells us not only the development story of the tanks, but also the detail of the units which used them, and how they fared in combat against the Russian army on the Eastern front, where they fought. The text throughout (including captioning) is provided in both English and Polish.
The first 30 pages cover the development story of the Turan in the Medium tank series, as well as the versions classified as a 'heavy' tank, which had extra armour and a heavier main armament, just one example of a long barrelled gun being built. This is illustrated with a number of well detailed photos of the hulls and turrets on the production line, as well as detailed images of the engine. It also includes details of the colours and markings used on the Turan. The rest of the book holds a very useful series of elements. The text tells us a detailed account of the operational use of the Turan, the units which used it, where they were in combat and details of events which did leave to losses, so we hear which AFVs each unit used, and when losses occurred. Add to this some colourised photo, some fine colour profile artwork, maps plus scale drawings and a number of diagrams taken from the original manuals. There are plenty of archive photos throughout the history and I am sure modellers in particular will find these helpful.
I remain a fan of Kagero's various series of books, which I think has detail that is ideal for modellers in particular, and with some fine kits of the Turn available thanks to Bronco Models, this should be popular. To me, it also is another indicator of how much extra information is now available since the collapse of the Warsaw Pact, and how historical detail from Eastern Europe is now more readily available to us all.
Thanks to distributors Casemate for this review copy.

Robin

bottom of page