Nederlandse Troepen

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Nederlandse Troepen - Vehicles of the Royal Netherlands Army in Germany 1963-2006
Publisher: Tankograd Publishing
Author: Peter Blume
Series: Tankograd: Missions & Manoevres
Ref.# 7007
Price: 14.95 Euros

Introduction

Excerpt: '...When the Royal Netherlands Army received the NATO order to deploy own forces to the northern part of West Germany to counter the ever present Warsaw Pact threat, it turned out to be logistically troublesome at best. Over the years, however, the Royal Netherlands Troops became a backbone of NATO strategy.' Taken from p.66 of the this publication.

This publication tells the story behind the units involved during 1963 and up to the period of 2006. In the late 50’s NATO wanted Dutch Troops stationed on German soil because of what NATO called a ‘Forward Defence’ doctrine. The line of defence had now been pushed forward to the river Weser from its former position, at the Rhine & Ijssel Rivers. NATO also had plans to extend their line of defence further towards the river Elbe. These actions would provide the Dutch with unexpected challenges for both troops and their military deployment strategies.

Reviewed

This publication contains the usual theme and simplicity of Tankograd Publication. The vehicle military pool of the Dutch forces in Germany, between 1963 and 2006 is what this book is all about. For those of you that love the little odd military vehicles of the Dutch NATO alliance will be thrilled to see some very usual and seldom seen vehicles during this time period. Many pictures were taken during the early years of the Dutch Royal Netherlands Army in Germany. Some very interesting vehicles I must to say the least. Here is a list of a couple of them:

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Trucks, Jeeps and tanks are all here. A variation is the spice rack of a military vehicle pool. One Scandinavia region which also has similar variations would be Denmark. Some that is odd looking and some with simple dressed camo outfits that seems harmless to the naked eye until they unleash their payload. It was good to see some TOW mounted on a AYPR 765 PRAT. I’m used to seeing this TOW on a M113 but again, variation that makes military interesting. The M113 APC seems to be a popular model with the Dutch and with most of the world’s defence vehicles.

There are many to keep the enthusiast satisfied. The pictures show some wonderful arrangements of vehicles that are not so common with their Western counterparts. As usual, each photograph combines a descriptive explanation which makes understanding the scenes better.

Conclusion

The only thing I can say is if you are interested in Dutch military NATO forces within this time period, then this is the publication for you. As I mentioned before, the variations in this book are many and will offer you with ‘show-and-model’ type information that will help you with your modelling. If not modelling, then maybe your enthusiasm for absorbing military information for the pure pleasure as a hobby.

Contents

For full information on all Tankograd titles, please see their website: Tankograd