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 More Accurate Title Would Be "British Motorcycles of World War II"
This book is not as advertised. It is not a well-rounded survey of the motorcycles used by the major nations involved in World War II. Instead, it is primarily a survey of the development and use of British motorcycles in World War II, with brief chapters on American and German bikes thrown in for good measure. There are no chapters, or even any discussion, much less even a single picture, for example, of motorcyles used by the Japanese or the Soviets.
In addition, not that many of the motorcycles are depicted in actual use in wartime conditions.
For example, there are over a hundred photos of British motorcycles, but the majority of them would not be classified as actual war photos. Most "action" photos are of motorcycles used on the home front or in training exercises.
An exception is the brief chapter on German motorcycles but even then the picture selection is rather tawdry and the captions are often absurd. An obligatory picture of a dead German motorcyclist is provided. A picture of German refugees with horse-drawn carts is even shown. There are a few pictures of the Kettenrad, the half-track motorcycle popularized in "Saving Private Ryan," but they are all of damaged or captured vehicles. The touted pictures taken by German "General Erwin Rommel himself" are not discussed in the book. If there actually are any photos by Rommel in the book, they are not identified as such.
The chapter on American bikes focuses, as it must, on Harley-Davidsons and Indians, the only major U.S. motorcycle manufacturers during World War II. The pictures in this chapter, as in all of the other chapters, are primarily well reproduced and the editing is excellent. Also, all photos in this chapter, as in the other chapters, are taken from the archives of the British Imperial War Museum.
From the perspective of British motorcyles at war, the book deserves a 4+ star rating and provides a good introduction to the history of their use and development. As for the motorcyles of the other nations at war in World War II, the chapters on American and German motorcycles are okay, a 3 star rating, but the book falls far short of the mark as to motorcycles used by other combatant nations and here the book only deserves a 1 star rating.
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