Allied Tanks of World War II (The World's Great Weapons)

This book is not a technical manual that goes through the tanks one by one, provides details about them, and so on, but rather it is a wide look at how the various armored fighting vehicles (and many unarmored support vehicles) were used and viewed by their users. It is split into two main sections: volume one the Western Allies (U.S. and the United Kingdom, France, etc.) and volume two the Soviet tank units. Each is then subdivided into 7 or 6 main sub-phases of the war. And then there are ending notes which include basic yearly production numbers and tank weapons for the Western Allies, and production and losses of T34s for the Soviets. Since the subject is prone to so much bad information: The weapons data is not that reliable, such as giving the 77mm and 17pounder almost exactly the same penetration numbers and understating the effectiveness of the 17 pounder and 90mm. (The 77mm was not “slightly less effective” than the 17pounder; it was notably less effective, although still a good weapon. Many readers have accepted the offhand comments of idiots who do not know what they are talking about rather than looking up the actual numbers from reliable sources.)Armored cars, half tracks, tanks, self propelled guns, trucks – it provides brief specifications and descriptions of each, but also numerous color illustrations (and some photographs), including how various combat units were organized at the company level and higher. The included text goes over the basics of many battles – strengths, reported losses, etc. As anyone knows, claims are rarely accurate because records were rarely accurate and likewise there is often confusion (i.e. knocking a vehicle out did not prevent it from being recovered, repaired and reused), but the result is much more statistical detail than many authors put into such a book.The Pacific Theater is pretty much ignored; tanks were very important to the U.S. island hopping campaign, for example. But I understand that.There will of course be errors due to the mass of information presented, but I personally am looking for the same thing for the German side.

Very nice book with a lot of information. Could have used more color photos or illustrations, but otherwise very thorough. I'm looking at this book as a reference for model building.

Christmas gift

Tough to review the actual item since it was damaged when I rec. it. I have it 3 stars since it looked interesting

My son loves this.

Excellent

gift for my Dad

Great for wargamers, not a definitive work with regards to stats though.

Bought as a present

Das Buch war so wie Ich es mir Vorgestellt hatte.Ist für Leute die sich für Militärtechnik interessieren nur zu empfehlen.