If you are looking for a great book about all the armed forces that battled during World War II this is it! The author includes in this great book uniforms, insignia, equipment (not a lot here but it is good enough) and organizations of the armies, navies and air forces that fought in World War Two. He also mentions the changes that took place in the gear depending on the fronts or date of the action. One of the best things I like is the tables at the end on the book that compare the graduation between the different armies and they give the graduation in the actual language (for example Colonel=Oberst for German army) Take a look at it, it is quite good.

This is the DEFINITIVE reference book on the uniforms of WWII. Mollo carefully explains his terms and illustrates them in this handy, well-organized work. Individual illustrations of patches, epaulets and weapons are complemented by contemporary, hand-colored photographs of a wide variety of uniforms. Excellent!

Andrew Mollo is a British military historian and televisionproducer. He has produced a number of valuable reference works on military uniforms, but although he goes into great detail here to show the development of details of the uniforms and regalia of Hitler's notorious bodyguard organization he is hampered by a strictly black and white format. A largely unnecessary color plate shows red and black regalia; other colors referred to in the text are un-illustrated. Most useful for showing details of tiny changes in uniforms and patches.

The multi-volume work of Andrew Mollo on the uniforms of the SS remains the single best treatment of the subject in the English language, not the least because of the extensive use of footnotes to acquaint the reader with his sources. While the books are as much as thirty years old, no more recent work can match the breadth and depth of this series. Subsequent works may boast more photographs in color and more detailed illustrations of certain pieces of militaria, but they have not reached or surpassed the level of historical scrutiny achieved by Mollo and his artist collaborators. These later works are more attractive to the eye, but they fail to inform the reader about the nature of the material in the manner necessary for the task. The sole exception to this generalization is the work of the mid-1980s of John Angolia on cloth SS insignia and the recent work on camouflaged uniforms of the W-SS. However, neither of these includes all facets of the subject, as do these seven volumes.

Andrew Mollo gives the student of uniforms a most valuable reference tool in examing the Allgemeine (General) SS. Included in the book are several plates depicting cuff titles, collar tabs, shoulder boards, equipment, etc. that decorated and were used by SS men. The information presented in this single volume is the best I have seen. It is invaluable for those collecting Third Reich Memrobila or those fascinated by the fanfare and pagentry that was characteristic of Third Reich uniforms.

I ordered this book in hopes that it would be the same 200 page photo reference book that my friend had, but it was not. This book is only about 60 pages and does not cover all of the uniforms that I had wanted to see. I sent the book back and I am now in search of the correct one. Do not order this book if you are looking for the longer version.

"Red Army Uniforms of WWII..." is a usefull book on the subject, but if you only want to buy one book on Red Army uniforms of WWII, I wouldn't recomend this one.
The choice of uniforms is very appealing, but the photographs don't show the colors of the uniforms very well. Partialy this is due to all of the models being photographed against a bright red background ( probably as some kind of association with the chosen subject), partialy this is due to the lighting leaving something to be desired. This is a real shame, because otherwise the book would have been first rate!
The book does offer some uniforms I have never seen anywhere else before, such as the late war camouflage uniform.
If you would, for example combine this book with the book from Osprey Publishing on the same subject, you would have a good combination to start with.

Well, this is a book far above average. A good source for all military artists, modellers etc.
The only small detail missing on ALL photographs is - a piece of white cloth ALWAYS sewn to the inner side of collar. This white inner-collar was worn on all Soviet uniforms, as by Generals as well as by the rank and file!
As a former conscript of the Soviet Army in the late 70's I still remember how much attention our Company NCO's payed to this lousy piece of cloth, that has to be changed every day in order to look clean, fresh and "cultivated". For unclean "inner-collar" you could be punished.
Otherwise this book deserves place on every military history addict's bookshelf.

Excellent illustrations, and the descriptions are OK. Mollo is a good reference, but not the be-all and end-all, esp. since the book is now dated. The individual descriptions are not as thorough as Osprey books, but this is a nice book to read, view and keep.

Typical Mollo book. Detailed illustrations capture the different uniforms worn during the seven years war. Even the kolonial troops which fought in this global conflict are depicted. As well as some major battles. Mollo describes the state of the armies of the major states involved, and comments the individual illustrations. A great resource for modellers.

This is a neat little reference book on WWII uniforms, illustrated with hand-tinted contemporary photographs. Unfortunately many of the pictures are not representative of standard issue uniforms!

The book typically presents 3 soldiers per page in national groups, chronologically from the invasion of Poland in 1939 to the Japanese surrender in 1945. This is followed by illustrations of a selection of weapons and gear.

Irritatingly the descriptions of the illustrations are in a seperate index at the end of the book. The illustrations of gear and weapons are somewhat eclectic. Nevertheless this is a valuable reference, especially for a visual artist.

This is the collected edition of 6 of Andrew Mollo's proposed 8 volume set of the uniforms and regalia of the Nazi bodyguard organization which grew to become a state-within-the-state. Illustrated with B&W period photographs, diagrams, and line illustrations of clothing (including socks and underwear!) and equipment (but NOT firearms or vehicles!). Though still an important resource this book has a number of disappointing shortcomings. The 6 volumes included are:

Volume 1: AllGemeine (general) SS

Volume 2: Germanische (non-German) SS

Volume 3: SS VerfugungsTruppe (mini army)

Volume 4: SS TotenkopfeVerbande (concentration camp)

Volume 5: SicherheitsDienst and SicherheitsPolizei (secret police apparatus)

Volume 6: Waffen (army) SS

There are a total of 3 color plates, two of which basically show the colors red and black! The other is of camouflage patterns. This is a problem as cloth and piping colors described in the text, notably 'toxic green' and 'earth grey', are not inherently visualizable. Also one might hope that a multi-volume combination would have a comprehensive index and table of contents but only the latter is provided, almost as an afterthought, in a corner of the title page verso. Because the pagination of the original volumes (restarting with each volume) is unchanged a second set of page numbers has been added in the upper outside corner of each page! Errors identified in the original edtions are not corrected, instead lists of 'errata' are provided at the end of each volume.

For minutiae of detail on the development of SS uniforms and organization this book is wonderful, but without color illustrations it is seriously handicapped.

This is the 5th volume in Andrew Mollo's proposed 8 volume set of the uniforms and regalia of the infamous organization which grew from a handful of bodyguards for Hitler to become a state-within-the-state. This book deals specifically with the organization and uniforms of the arm of the SS which encompassed the dreaded Gestaats Polizei, better known as the Gestapo.

The book is illustrated with B&W period photographs, diagrams, and line illustrations of uniforms and rank badges. This is a disappointing format because it is hard to envisage certain details in color, particularly the shade of green ('gift grune') used in German Police uniforms and adopted by the SS for its security service.

Andrew Mollo is a British military historian and television producer. He has produced a number of valuable reference works on military uniforms and goes into great detail here to show the development of the uniforms and organization of the Nazi bureau created by Reinhard Heidrich, onetime Nazi Governor of Czechoslovakia. Mollo refers to the complexities of researching an organization which was deliberately self-obfuscating. Still, the book could be better organized and illustrated.

I tried to find this book for years to complete my World War I uniforms source collection. It really wasn't worth the effort. The color illustrations are nice looking. But the supporting text bears almost no relevance to the illustrations. There's no description of the materials or construction of the uniforms, no real reference to the equipment worn, and no description of what uniforms where worn by whom or when. Worse than that, there's huge gaps in the uniforms illustrated. For example, there's not a single illustration of a German infantry private in 1914, or any illustrations at all of Turkish uniforms.

There are almost no books out there providing anything more than cursory information about World War I unifoms. Sadly, this book doesn't really do anything to fill this gap.

This is another of Andrew Mollo's army uniforms reference books, and like other works of his which I have seen it is attractively illustrated with hand-colored photographs of uniforms of the period. As always, however, this approach has the weakness that uniforms depicted are not always standard-issue, and the level of detail is typically not sufficient to get more than a general idea of military insignia. No focused depictions of the insignia alluded to in the text portion of the book is provided. Although a section is devoted to depictions of various nation's military backpacks no specific depictions of weaponry are included.

This is not one of Andrew Mollo's best! Famed as THE resource for military uniforms, Mollo typically uses tinted pictures to illustrate details of historical militaria.

This thin book is a small collection of poorly-reproduced black-and-white photographs of the infamous Nazi zealots who grew from a handful of bodyguards into a vast paramilitary organization. The book presents photos taken from the unit's foundation in 1923 to after its disbandment in 1945. Snapshots of the SS in action, training, special ceremonies, relaxation and imprisonment are provided together with pictures of leading officers. Very little textual information is provided: no details on uniforms, rank, equipment, or organizational specifics are given; there are no timelines or maps.

Not recommended!