REFORGER 1969 - 1978

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REFORGER 1969 - 1978
Author: Walter Bohm
Softcover - 64 pages
Publisher: Tankograd
Price: £11.99
Number: 3006

Introduction

This is the first of a three part series from Tankograd that looks at the REFORGER exercises that were held in Germany between 1969 and 1993.

The book

This first book looks exclusively at the early years of 1969 to 1978. The REFORGER exercises, were all about the REturn of FORces to GERmany. These exercises came about to test how quickly the US Army could re-enforce its troops based in Germany with troops that were stationed in the USA.

The book looks in detail at the whole idea behind the REFOGER exercises. This introduction takes place over seven pages and gives an overview of all of the REFOGERs 1969-1993 and not just the years covered in detail within the book. Within the introduction we see images spanning many years worth of REFORGER exercises. These images tend to show the scale of the operations.

Past the detailed introduction the author takes the reader exercise by exercise from 1969-1978. Each REFORGER exercise is looked at individually. It starts with a table detailing the troops involved within that particular exercise. This is then followed by approximately a page of text that details the actual REFORGER operation and the subsequent field training exercise (FTX).

These sections contain pictures taken during that actual REFOGER exercise. This is a nice touch and means that the reader doesn't have to look at generic photographs that they could have seen many times before. Many of the images here, according to the publishers, have never been seen before. And that is what makes this book so good.

Within the book we can see how the US Army evolves. What must stay at the back of the mind is that this book details the US Army at a time when the Vietnam Conflict was still raging, through to the 1970's when the US Army was recovering from everything that had happened during Vietnam. This is a fact that is not lost on the author, whom describes how specific units took what they learnt in Vietnam and applied it during the FTX phase of REFORGERs.

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One of the more interesting things that this book shows is the different camouflage schemes used as the years go on. Initially we see standard Olive Drab on the vehicles. Then there are some Unit specific field applied schemes using mud and paint. Then during REFORGER 75 we see the introduction of the MASSTER (Modern Army Sensor Systems Test, Evaluation and Review) camouflage. This was a system similar to that used by the German Forces during the war, in which the troops were given paint and told to apply it their own vehicles. This seems to have produced some weird and interesting variations on a theme.

Also shown is the more common MERDEC (Mobility Equipment research & Development Command) camouflage scheme. Again though this camouflage has some interesting variations within it. In some photos there is a mix of the MASSTER, MERDEC and Olive Drab schemes. Which would make for an interesting diorama.

Conclusion

Overall this is a really interesting book. It has about the right mix of historical fact and reference photographs. Most of the photographs are in colour which makes it ideal for modellers. And each photograph contains just enough of a caption to allow the reader to continue research on that particular unit/vehicle. This is an ideal book for anyone interested in the Cold War. And it is defiantly useful for anyone interested in the US Army from that period.

Thanks to Justin at Bookworld for the review sample. To see other titles from Tankograd, as well as those from other publishers, please see their website: BOOKWORLD