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Landships II -> Landships WW1 Forum -> References -> American Military Vehicles of World War I by Albert Mroz
Post Info TOPIC: American Military Vehicles of World War I by Albert Mroz
James H


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American Military Vehicles of World War I by Albert Mroz
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This can be read online to a great extent here

I can't speak for the veracity of the stuff about American vehicles in general, but there is a nice pic of a Holt 5 ton Artillery Tractor. After that it's rather downhill.

Chapter VI is where we get into Tanks and so on. I would advise extreme caution when reading this. Page 269 is something of an eye-opener. I didn't realise that the Tank was developed in 1915 with the help of the U.S. military and the Caterpillar Tractor Company. The USA put a lot of work into Little Wille. Albert Stern, it seems, covered up this fact in his autobiography and actually alleges that the USA didn't get involved until 1917. What a cad. Oh, and US officers were present at all the trials. The well-known pic of an Austrian Holt in Brussels is "a British tractor captured by the Germans."

Feel free to point out any other howlers. There is no shortage. As a school project this would get about 4/10. As a serious work, I think it is unlikely to trouble the scorers.

BTW, the RRP is $55, £38.50

-- Edited by James H on Friday 21st of January 2011 09:47:19 PM

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Great War Truck


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I could point out some mistakes but feel it would be a little unkind. There are a few nice pictures (especially of the Militor) but that does not make up for the books shortfalls. A glowing review on Amazon i see!

If anybody is interested I do have a new and unread copy of this book for sale if someone would like to make me an offer.

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James H


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A glimmer of hope, Mr. Truck.

I complained in the bitterest terms imaginable to Mr. Mroz's publisher and received no response for quite some time. Now, to my surprise and pleasure, they have contacted me and offered me a refund!

Since I've only read the book online and can't produce a bogus receipt, I have had to be content with asking that my complaint be passed on to Mr. Mroz and his credentials as an author reconsidered.

If you fancy having a go: NForeman@mcfarlandpub.com

Good luck.

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James H


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The book can be downloaded free here

The U.S. stuff might well be perfectly OK.

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CharlieC


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If you want to write a review of this book I'll put it on the Landships II website.

The discounting of the book price might suggest poor sales. Something of the flavour of
a book title by an Australian author a few years ago "The book of my enemy has been remaindered"

Regards,

Charlie


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CharlieC wrote:

..."The book of my enemy has been remaindered"...

laughing.gif Incredibly brave title, but as Clive immodestly comments "It ran through five printings in hardback and is still going in paperback, both in Britain and Australia." Pity, the vandal in you begs for such a title to fail if only to reassert the sense of cosmic symmetry.

"Where do bus vandals get their diamond pens
That fill each upstairs window with a cloud
Of shuffled etchings?" He asks. I used to wonder, myself, but of course they merely use shards of broken CDs, a probable mercy.

But I digress.

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James H


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Trouble is, Charlie, I don't know enough about the majority of the material to review it. A lot of "reviews" are actually just synopses that tell you what the book contains rather than examine how authoritative it is. A case in point is Band of Brigands, which got great "reviews" because it's superficially very impressive, but it doesn't stand up very well to scrutiny.

All the info on American vehicles could be absolutely flawless, but I'm not qualified to judge. The only part I can "peer review" (if I might be so presumptuous) is Chapter 6, and I suspect most of the regulars on the forum could do the same. I've just read it through again, and I'm cringing at some of the misapprehensions. I've just noticed he refers to "Colonel Maurice Swankey".

Unless you blackmail me ruthlessly, I'd suggest that anyone who wishes to can download the book, have a read, and draw their own conclusions. There might be someone who does know enough to run the rule over the American sections, in which case I'd be happy to add my bit on Chapter 6.

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Great War Truck


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The question arises is it not selling very well because it is not very good, or is it because it is a subject on which there is not much interest? If someone wrote a review on here saying that it was an excellent book on WW1 US MT, would it influence anybody here to go out and buy it?

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Ironsides


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II. The Hunt for Pancho Villa pg 55-56

"Hiram Stevens Maxim, an American, had invented the machine gun in 1889 and patented it in England after losing a lawsuit to Henry Ford in the United States"

Cheersconfuse

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PDA


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An interesting fellow was Sir Hiram Maxim. Although he is widely believed to be American, he was in fact British: he changed nationality. Thomas Paine, one of America's "Founding Fathers", and therefore presumably as American as apple pie, did the same thing the other way around (he became American) but you don't hear people calling him British. Also, one cannot be a Knight of the Realm if one is not British; look at the trouble Lord Conrad Black got himself into.

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Ironsides


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Hi PDA Maxims nationality is less of a problem then the rest of the statement, since I have numerous patents from maxim some before 1898 and all from the USA...
Also the alleged lawsuit I think there is some confusion there with an event that occured in 1916 which had nothing to do with the invention of machine guns but involved a man by the name of Hudson Maxim...

Cheerswink

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James H


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Revisited this post in the light of recent events. Ivor is correct. Hudson Maxim was Hiram's brother, and a successful inventor and producer of explosives and other munitions. Henry Ford was against US involvement in the War, and sent a peace mission to Europe, whereas Hudson publicly advocated strengthening US defences, especially the navy. When Ford's mission failed, he accused Maxim and the Vitagraph Company of profiteering. To cut a long story short, Ford was sued for $1,000,000 for defamation. The story is here:

http://sempreinpenombra.com/2012/09/19/vitagraph-company-sues-henry-ford-for-1000000/

However, all the above is clearly a very long way from the garbled account Mr. Mroz gives. Dear oh dear. How was he allowed to get away with this sloppy, ill-informed nonsense?

Hudson Ford made a couple of decent records, though.



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