Military Model Scene

Title:  Tanks, The History of Armoured Warfare

Author: Robin Cross & David Willey

Publisher:  Andre Deutsch

ISBN:  978-0-23300-534-8

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Due for release in September (2018), a new book with a direct involvement from the Tank Museum and their curator, co-author David Willey. I have been reading books on tanks and military vehicles for many years and have to say that I genuinely think this is one of the best I have seen if you are looking for a single book to give you the basics of the story of the tank since it first went into action 100 years ago.

The book contains 192 pages using 32 chapters to tell the 100 year story of armoured vehicles at war.  Many of the chapters are just 3 or 4 pages and the others a few more.  All have well written and what I describe as 'readable' text and they are backed up with a simply excellent mix of supporting imagery that I am confident will please any armour enthusiast.  As well as some photos of tanks in the collection of the Tank Museum, there are plenty more with photos from the museums extensive archives, and pictures of artefact and documents that they also hold in their collections and which are not generally on display.  Things like a British Anti-Tank chart, a manual for Tiger Crews, the German document on the Panzerfaust, poster, letters, crew headgear and much more.

The various chapters cover an equal variety of topics.  Some deal with specific AFVs, such as the Tiger, the T-34, British and Soviet Cold War tanks while others cover individuals who played a significant part in the history of armoured warfare, such as Guderian, Rommel and Patton.  Then there are the various stories of armoured warfare over the 100 year history, such as the Battle of Passschendaele; the first tank vs tank battle; the inter-war years; the Spanish Civil War; Blitzkrieg; Barbarossa; Normandy; the War in the Pacific; tanks in the Middle East; the Cold War; and Gulf War and more.  Major tank types are featured including the modern Challenger, US Abrams, the Russian T-72 and the Israeli Merkava. It is rounded off with a look at the future development of tanks, which includes the new Russian T-14, their latest generation of MBT.  When you add all these element together you get a first class reference for anyone interested in the history of armoured warfare, from WW1 through to the present day.  Definitely recommended.

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Distributed by the Carlton Publishing Group, who kindly provided my review copy.

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Robin