Prolific author David Doyle is well known for his very well done pictorial studies of military subjects, and he doesn’t disappoint with this new work on the WWII German Wehrmacht’s workhorse vehicles. As with most of Mr. Doyle’s photographic histories, this volume is quite photo heavy, with just a single page of introduction on these vehicles, and the balance of the text is confined to the photo captions.

Covered in this book are;

• Type 82 Kubelwagen in Service  (Pages 4 - 29,  B/W images of wartime Kubels on all fronts)

• 1940 Type 82 Kubelwagen 

• 1941 Type 82 Kubelwagen

• 1942 Type 82 Kubelwagen

• 1943 Type 82 Kubelwagen

• Kubelwagen Ambulance

• 1944 Type 82 Kublewagen

• Kubelwagen MG mounts

• 1945 Type 82 Kubelwagen

• Schwimmwagen in Service

• 1943 Type 166 Schwimmwagen

• 1944 Type 166 Schwimmwagen

The “In Service” chapters of this volume are filled with great black and white photographs of wartime Kubels and Schwimmers in all sorts of actions and poses, including some fascinating pictures of these vehicles in use by Allied troops. The other chapters focus on specific vehicle models by production date, and are filled with photographs of privately owned or museum examples of the vehicles.

A note on the captions – the author provides very complete, easy to digest, informative captions to accompany the great photos throughout the book. The captions do a very nice job of describing what the photo is showing the reader, including any special feature to the photo that the author wants to highlight. For the photographs in the “In Service” chapters, the author includes all of the needed “who, what, where and when” information ( if known ). The photo captioning in this volume is a great compliment to the wonderful photographs that were selected for the book.

The photographs in this book range in size from quarter-page size to full size, with a great many being the full-page size. Regardless of their size, the photographs are all large enough for the details to be clearly visible. *The photographs are very largely all crisp and bright, well- lit and composed. Just a couple of the “in service” wartime photographs are ever so slightly grainy, but still well worth inclusion in this book.

The majority of the photographs in the book are of the standard “walk-around” type, with virtually every component well illustrated, both interior, and exterior. Not forgotten are engine compartment photos, detailed close-up photos of fittings such as the lights and tool stowage brackets, even the support frame for the convertible tops of the Kubel are shown. In reading the photo captions throughout the book and examining the photographs closely, you’ll gain much more knowledge of how these vehicles evolved throughout the war years.

The photographs in this volume are fascinating; both the wartime photos and the photos of surviving/restored vehicles will be of terrific interest to Kubelwagen / Schwimmwagen aficionados and scale modelers alike. The quality of both the photographs and the accompanying text is of a very high quality, especially for such a modest price point for the book. This volume is one that should be on the book shelf of anyone interested in these iconic little vehicles.

Highly Recommended!