Book Review of
The Long Range Desert Group
In Action 1940-1943
Rare Photos From Wartime Archives
Author: Brendan O’Carroll
Pen & Sword Military Books
ISBN: 9781526777416
By Ray Mehlberger
MSRP: $28.95
ISBN: 9781526777416
By Ray Mehlberger
MSRP: $28.95
HISTORY:
The Long Range Desert Group has a strong claim to the first Special Forces unit in the British Army. It was formed in July 1940 as the Long Range Patrol in North Africa, tasked with intelligence gathering, mapping and reconnaissance deep behind enemy lines.
Manned initially by New Zealanders, in December 1940 the unit became the LRDG with members drawn from British Guards and Yeomanry regiments and the Rhodesian Army.
So successful were the LRDG patrols that, when the Special Air Service were formed, they often relied on their navigational and tactical skills to achieve their missions. After victory in North Africa, the LRDG relocated to Lebanon before being sent on the ill-fated mission to the Dodecanese Islands in the Aegean. Serving independently, when the Germans overwhelmed and captured the British garrisons, many LRDG personnel escaped using their well-honed skills.
THE BOOK:
Pen & Sword Books is located in the UK.
This book is soft-cover of 123 pages in 7 ¼” x 9 ¾” page format.
The cover art shows a large black and white photo at the top of a line of LRDG vehicles moving down a dirt road. The lead vehicle is a Jeep, followed by 3 Chevrolet WB 4X2 30cwt R trucks.
Below it, reading left to right, the first black and white photo is of a Chevy truck moving down a steep grade.
The second black and white photo is of a LRDG crewman manning a machine gun mounted on his vehicle.
The third black and white photo is a head-on photo of 2 Chevy’s.
The last black and white photo on the right shows a side view of chevy truck.
On the back cover there are 3 three more black and white photos.
The one on the left shows Y Patrol members testing a Spa AS 37 truck down a dune.
The one in the middle shows Lance Corporal A. Pressick, British signalman of the Royal Corps of Signals, attached to T Patrol, on February 1941, seated in a Chevy WB truck.
The one on the far right shows an R Patrol truck, with the crew viewing petrified trees in the desert.
The book contains 294 black and white photos.
There are 3 photos of navigational tools, a photo of a grave, 5 maps, 2 photos of LRDG badges, the cover of LRDG Magazine June 1941, a dead cheetah, Mussolini’s Aero Philainorum marble arch, buildings in Lebanon, newspaper headlines, 121 photos of LRDG crewmen, 55 photos of the Chevy truck WB 4X2 30cwt R truck, 2 photos of Abbassia, Cairo, a photo of LRDG officers, 10 photos of a Ford V8 truck.
18 photos of desert landscapes, 2 photos of a Marmon-Harrington HS truck, 2 photos of a White truck, a photo of a canvas covered shelter camp, 2 photos of tractors pulling trailers, a Chevy truck with a Bofors 37mm anti-tank gun mounted, a captured Italian Lancia truck, 8 photos of LRDG machine gunners, a captured Italian 634N truck, 3 photos of a captured Italian Spa truck, a gazelle’s head mounted on the hood of a Chevy truck.
4 photos of a Jeep, a enemy fuel tank truck, a burned-out Italian Fiat 626 supply truck, an abandoned Italian SPA TL37 truck, a captured German Marder III tank, a burned-out German Sd.Kfz. 7 half-track towing a 88mm gun, a LRDG camouflage emplacement, an Italian L3/35 tankette, 3 photos of a wrecked Italian Caproni truck, photo of Kastellongo Town, LRDG troops on a pier and in a boat, Italian marines loading a 152 mm Naval Coastal Defence Gun.Two photo of LRDG men with binoculars on a tripod, group of LRDG men swimming.
FOR AIRCRAFT PICTURES:
A crashed Bf-109, a crashed Ju-88, a crashed Italian SM-81, a crashed Heinkel He-111, 2 photos of a Vickers Valenta, a French Lysander, a Blenheim, 5 photos of a Waco model YKC, a photo of a Waco ZGC.
There are no color photos in the book.
It is a great picture album of the LRDG vehicles and some enemy ones too.
Book will be of interest to modelers and military historians alike.
Highly recommended.
I sincerely wish to thank Casemate Publishers, who sent me this review sample.
All Casemate book titles can be viewed on their website at:
The Long Range Desert Group has a strong claim to the first Special Forces unit in the British Army. It was formed in July 1940 as the Long Range Patrol in North Africa, tasked with intelligence gathering, mapping and reconnaissance deep behind enemy lines.
Manned initially by New Zealanders, in December 1940 the unit became the LRDG with members drawn from British Guards and Yeomanry regiments and the Rhodesian Army.
So successful were the LRDG patrols that, when the Special Air Service were formed, they often relied on their navigational and tactical skills to achieve their missions. After victory in North Africa, the LRDG relocated to Lebanon before being sent on the ill-fated mission to the Dodecanese Islands in the Aegean. Serving independently, when the Germans overwhelmed and captured the British garrisons, many LRDG personnel escaped using their well-honed skills.
THE BOOK:
Pen & Sword Books is located in the UK.
This book is soft-cover of 123 pages in 7 ¼” x 9 ¾” page format.
The cover art shows a large black and white photo at the top of a line of LRDG vehicles moving down a dirt road. The lead vehicle is a Jeep, followed by 3 Chevrolet WB 4X2 30cwt R trucks.
Below it, reading left to right, the first black and white photo is of a Chevy truck moving down a steep grade.
The second black and white photo is of a LRDG crewman manning a machine gun mounted on his vehicle.
The third black and white photo is a head-on photo of 2 Chevy’s.
The last black and white photo on the right shows a side view of chevy truck.
On the back cover there are 3 three more black and white photos.
The one on the left shows Y Patrol members testing a Spa AS 37 truck down a dune.
The one in the middle shows Lance Corporal A. Pressick, British signalman of the Royal Corps of Signals, attached to T Patrol, on February 1941, seated in a Chevy WB truck.
The one on the far right shows an R Patrol truck, with the crew viewing petrified trees in the desert.
The book contains 294 black and white photos.
There are 3 photos of navigational tools, a photo of a grave, 5 maps, 2 photos of LRDG badges, the cover of LRDG Magazine June 1941, a dead cheetah, Mussolini’s Aero Philainorum marble arch, buildings in Lebanon, newspaper headlines, 121 photos of LRDG crewmen, 55 photos of the Chevy truck WB 4X2 30cwt R truck, 2 photos of Abbassia, Cairo, a photo of LRDG officers, 10 photos of a Ford V8 truck.
18 photos of desert landscapes, 2 photos of a Marmon-Harrington HS truck, 2 photos of a White truck, a photo of a canvas covered shelter camp, 2 photos of tractors pulling trailers, a Chevy truck with a Bofors 37mm anti-tank gun mounted, a captured Italian Lancia truck, 8 photos of LRDG machine gunners, a captured Italian 634N truck, 3 photos of a captured Italian Spa truck, a gazelle’s head mounted on the hood of a Chevy truck.
4 photos of a Jeep, a enemy fuel tank truck, a burned-out Italian Fiat 626 supply truck, an abandoned Italian SPA TL37 truck, a captured German Marder III tank, a burned-out German Sd.Kfz. 7 half-track towing a 88mm gun, a LRDG camouflage emplacement, an Italian L3/35 tankette, 3 photos of a wrecked Italian Caproni truck, photo of Kastellongo Town, LRDG troops on a pier and in a boat, Italian marines loading a 152 mm Naval Coastal Defence Gun.Two photo of LRDG men with binoculars on a tripod, group of LRDG men swimming.
FOR AIRCRAFT PICTURES:
A crashed Bf-109, a crashed Ju-88, a crashed Italian SM-81, a crashed Heinkel He-111, 2 photos of a Vickers Valenta, a French Lysander, a Blenheim, 5 photos of a Waco model YKC, a photo of a Waco ZGC.
There are no color photos in the book.
It is a great picture album of the LRDG vehicles and some enemy ones too.
Book will be of interest to modelers and military historians alike.
Highly recommended.
I sincerely wish to thank Casemate Publishers, who sent me this review sample.
All Casemate book titles can be viewed on their website at: