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Military History Magazines


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Hi all,

 

Just back from our house in France which is our home now, we just work in Scotland. :D

 

France publishes many good military history magazines but there are few in Britain. I am interested in WW2 and can always get interesting material in 2GM (WW2), Gazettes des Uniformes, 1939/45, Batailles and of course Militaria.

Armour is catered for with Batailles et Blindes and TNT (Trucks and Tracks).

Military Modelling is catered for by two or three mags. eg Steel Masters.

WW1 and the middle ages have heir own publications.

 

There are also specials that come out 2 or 3 times a year for most titles.

 

Why can't we have the quality of these in UK?

 

Dave :huh:

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I know what you mean!

 

I do not want to sound vain, but I have a degree in Military Studies and reading the usual 'yeah we have tanks and can crush people' and 'For death or Glory' type magazines just annoy me to no end. Granted I am not ready to yet go back to the REALLY dry stuff of actual Military Studies where a bunch of PhDs write back and forth articles on how many bullets it would take in how many minutes to do so much damage in a certain area.

 

In general I prefer the middle road information, items that are still informed, well written and NOT sourced from Wikipedia but also not the high scholarly works I used when studying.

 

Armourer is one I took on to get to know the UK collecting scene but have become annoyed with as every armchair general write in absolute bullocks about things and sources wikipedia. There was a recent article about the Schlieffen plan that firstly spelt Hew Strachan's name wrong (THE authority on WWI at the moment and also a former advisor of mine) and secondly it was outdated as (believe this or not) modern military history research suggests the Schlieffen Plan never existed. This is well documented, argued and agreed upon in many the the leading military journals currently. In short Armourer is for people who like to dress up as Waffen SS and have a good time.

 

I've recently found Classic Arms & Armour. This deals in older stuff Pre-20th Century mostly but it is well researched and written with actual authority figures, proper citations and excellent articles. I do suggest it to anyone interested.

 

What else do people suggest?

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There used to be an excellent magazine called "Militaria" great articles and pictures of your basic WW2 uniforms and equipment.French publication but they printed it over here for a while ,think it went bust unfortunately.I think you can still get it in France ,well worth picking up if see any old issues. :)

 

sorry Dave I missed you had already mentioned "Militaria" but just to remind people it was available here too in English for a couple of years.

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:lol:

 

The French magazines have great coverage, the prose is not too heavy but informative. (I'm lucky I can read French.)

 

The pictures really make the publications, lots of unseen footage. Big pictures on good quality paper. The French seemingly have great photo archeives which being French they don't let anyone else use them. :huh:

 

My copy of "Batailles" was centred on France 1940 and had about 5-6 pages of great BEF photos, only one of which I'd seen before.

 

Really good for modellers and military buffs.

 

Dave ;)

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:o

 

I remember the Militaria magazine in English. It lasted about a year in the early 90's. Good articles, it's a pity it closed. Is there really that little interest for a military history magazine?

 

I haven't bought Militaria a lot in France as the opposition is so good and I can't afford to buy everything. Militaria tends to have quite a lot of isoteric items like WW1 US and Canadian Women's Naval units (Babes in uniform?). I supose you might find an article on your subject if it is minority interest. B)

 

I find the Armourer magazine the same. I did buy a couple of copies as there was a good two issue article on German munition colours providing colour photos of shells in their original paints. It was spot on for modelling projects. :)

 

Dave ;)

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:o

 

Should perhaps have said several of the French magazines (and specials) are available from the big Military booksellers who have websites.

 

The magazines themselves can be purchased directly from the publishers on the web. Postage can be pricy though, especially for one magazine. :huh:

 

Dave :)

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