THE MILITARY MACHINE
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As a youngster growing up during the war in Germanoccupied Holland, Bart Vanderveen was fascinated with military vehicles. He became a voracious collector of pictures, manuals, anything he could lay his hands on. His latest book, A Record of Military Macks in the Services and Beyond, reflects that enthusiasm in its detail and pictorial content.
The book is crammed with photographs of Macks dating back to the years just before the outbreak of the First World War. It seems the first Mack for military use was a one-tonner with a "regular army style" body, built for the US war department in 1911. In 1916 a fleet of 150 Macks was ordered by the British army, where they were known as Bulldogs. After America entered the war in 1917 (better late than never, as we also said in 1941), more than 1,300 Macks saw active service. And during WW2 more than 32,000 vehicles were supplied to the allied forces.
In the fifties and sixties Mack took over other truck builders: Brockway in the US, Bernard in France and Hayes in Canada.
Then, in the seventies, Mack became a division of Renault V6hicules Industriels (RVI). Vanderveen's book is a must for all Mack enthusiasts and an education for everyone else. Published by After the Battle, this hardback costs .224.95 from Wheels & Tracks, Church House, Church Street, London E15 3JA, phone 0181 534 8833.