A new, comprehensive book on the Hungarian Army, (1919-1945)

Gentlemen,

I have a good news and a bad news – as the saying goes.

The good news is that, finally, after being in the works for about ten years, the book on the Hungarian army I co-authored with Charles Kliment is finally out. The bad news (for most of us) is that the book is in the Czech language…

A couple of weeks ago, the book, titled ‘Mad’arská Armáda (‘The Hungarian Army’), 1919-1945’, has been published in Prague, as a joint effort of Naše Vojsko and Ares publishing houses (ISBN: 978-80-86158-50-1).



The large size, hardcover book, comprising of 575 numbered pages, features over 800 black/white and colour illustrations. It covers the detailed history of the Honvédség (Hungarian Army), from the end of the 1st World War until the end of the 2nd World War, as well as details on the complete equipment employed during those years.

Contents:

FOREWORD
CHAPTER 1: The History of Hungary up to the End of the Second World War
CHAPTER 2: Organization of the Royal Hungarian Army before and during the Second World War
CHAPTER 3: Hungarian Arms Manufacturers (1919-1944)
CHAPTER 4: Hungarian Army Armored Formations and their Equipment
CHAPTER 5: Royal Hungarian Air Force (MHKL) – Development and operations (1930-1945)
CHAPTER 6: Royal Hungarian River Flotilla
CHAPTER 7: Operational History of the Royal Hungarian Army (1939-1945)
CHAPTER 8: Infantry Arms and Artillery
CHAPTER 9: Armored and Soft-skin Vehicles
CHAPTER 10: Aircraft
CHAPTER 11: Uniforms and Insignia
MAPS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
HUNGARIAN PRONUNCIATION GUIDE
LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ABOUT THE AUTHORS

As the Contents denote, we have attempted to cover practically everything related to the Honvédség.
About 1/3rd of the book is allocated to datasheets covering every weapon, vehicle, ship and aircraft used in numbers by the Hungarian military. This task alone was a herculean one, and by its nature is incomplete (it could not be otherwise). Specialists in a particular field will undoubtedly find occasional errors and omissions. Nevertheless, the authors believe it’s the most comprehensive source of information on the Royal Hungarian Army to be found between two covers.

To those who are interested in purchasing a copy despite the language barrier, I recommend checking out various (on-line) booksellers in the Czech Republic or Slovakia, as I’ve seen discounted prices up to 20%. The Publisher offers the book priced at 440 Kč (about 16,53 Euros):
http://nasevojsko.atlasobchod.cz/atlasobch...sp?itemId=401&l evel=87

I am looking forward to reading the comments of those who will have a chance to take a closer look at the book. Any corrections and observations are most welcome.

Yours:
__________________
Gen. Dénes

The price seems very reasonable (e.g. not much more expensive than an Osprey Campaign series here in the UK), given the nature of the book, and even if you cannot read Czech, as it will still be possible to look at the photos and the weapons data charts.

I wonder if I will be able to understand how to order a copy from the publisher...

(Does such a book exist is Hungarian yet?)

If you cannot order the book directly from the publisher and you're patient enough, I might order a batch, as others have asked for a copy of the book, too.

There are no plans to publish the book in Hungarian, as I generally write for the English-language readers (that's one of the reasons why I don't publish in Rumania either).

Gen. Dénes

Congratulations for the book, Denes!

Any plan to publish it in english also?

Thank you for the offer. I had a thought the other day that I might be able to use some online translation service to translate the relevant parts of the publishers order form. I don't know how well this will work, but I will try. If not, could you add me to the list for the batch?

It seems quite intriguing to me that this book has been published in Czech, is there a lot of interest in the Hungarian Army in Czech Republic and Slovakia? Perhaps the book will be interesting to Polish and Russian readers too.

If this book was published in English, it would probably become a significant source. I am guessing it provides more detail, and in a better form, than the titles published by Axis Europa, which are quite good, but sometimes not that interesting to sit and read, and don't have many pictures in them. In it's current Czech edition this book is also cheaper than buying both the Axis Europa titles.

mr Denes,

can we order this book about the Hungarian army from Western Europe(for instance Belgium)?

kind regards