Military Model Scene

Title: Wagner Group, Private Military Company Vol 1
Author: Janos Besenyo, Andras Istvan Turke and Endre Szenasi
Publisher: Helion & Co
ISBN: 978-1-804516-09-6

Establishment, Purpose, Profile and Historic Relevance 2013-2023, the first volume in this sub-set of their Europe @ War series, of which this is number 42. A 54-page soft-cover book.
The story starts with some historical background to the operation of mercenary forces, going as far back as ancient Greece and bringing it through to modern times. Then we get to the formation of the Wagner Group itself, a Private Military Company (PMC). There is apparently a minor disagreement over the date the group was formed, either 2013 or 2014, under the leadership of Yevgeny Prigozhin, and with an office block in St Petersburg. Early jobs for the PMC was to provide security for ships at sea, guarding them against pirates. Then from 2015 the group was used in Syria, just a small number of men at first, to provide training, but those numbers were expanded as they made up operational units as well, complete with heavy equipment. It enabled Russia to minimise any losses as not 'Russian troops' and the mercenaries got paid with oil and mineral rights in Syria. There are colour photos illustrating the text throughout the book, and in the middle, 10 pages of their fine artwork, with uniforms as well as both vehicle and aircraft profiles that modellers will like, before the last part of the book which looks at their operations in the rest of Africa, where they were often referred to as 'Musicians'. Sub-sections in this part include mixed fortunes in Libya, Sudan, Madagascar, Mozambique, the Central African Republic, Mali and Burkina Faso, all before moving further west, to Venezuela. That brings this first volume to a close.
Clearly there is much more to this story, which we can expect in further volumes, covering Ukraine as well as the failed revolt inside Russia itself. There is a lot more detail in here that I have learnt about this Russian PMC, and their connection/support from the Russian government, giving them to publicly deny their involvement on the world stage, even though we all know the truth. An interesting modern day story I think.
Thanks to Helion & Co for the review copy.

Robin