Armor book question .

[folke]

Hi I am thinking of buying:

The Encyclopedia of Tanks and Armored Fighting Vehicles

by Christopher Foss.

Is it any good?

Or are there some other books that you can recommend

that concentrates more on ww2 scope?

[John Kettler]

folke,

I glanced through a copy at Borders and was mightily impressed by the content, but depressed by the sixty buck price. Fortunately, I have a brother who lives near a HalfPrice.com store (Dallas, Texas area) and I belatedly discovered an uncashed birthday check. As soon as it get here, I'll be glad to let you know my detailed impressions.

Regards,

John Kettler

[folke]

Originally posted by John Kettler:

folke,

I glanced through a copy at Borders and was mightily impressed by the content, but depressed by the sixty buck price. Fortunately, I have a brother who lives near a HalfPrice.com store (Dallas, Texas area) and I belatedly discovered an uncashed birthday check. As soon as it get here, I'll be glad to let you know my detailed impressions.

Regards,

John Kettler

That sounds great.

And while am at it mabye I pick up

Panzer Truppen: The Complete Guide to the Creation & Combat Employment ..

By Thomas L. Jentz

from Amazon also.

Anyone knows anything about that?

[Redwolf]

Jentz' hamstertruppen is not so much conerned about the vehicles as with the organization of the Panzer forces and how the force developed. However, it does offer very few insight why things were changed. There is the other side of information in that book which is lots of AAR bits that allow conclusions, but you are still up to make your own conclusions.

[FM Paul Heinrik]

This is the best book on German tanks.

"Encyclopedia Of German Tanks Of World War Two: The Complete Illustrated Dictionary of German Battle Tanks,Armoured Cars, Self-Propelled Guns and Semi-Track..."

by Peter Chamberlain, Hilary Doyle

Amazon.com has it for $20.

There is another one for British and US armor but it is not as good. I don't know of a complete Soviet tanks book like these two. There are just different books on soviet T-34, KV-1, ect.

[Redwolf]

What Paul said, on both books.

For the Soviet tanks it is best to order the Vanguard series on each of the basic models, there are not too many. You need the T-34/76, T-34/85, KV and JS books and it covers the assault guns based on them, too. They are written by Steve Zaloga, which is one of my favorite authors.

[FM Paul Heinrik]

edited to say I don't why a double post appeared here so I deleted it.

[ September 15, 2004, 07:10 AM: Message edited by: FM Paul Heinrik ]

[folke]

I'm going to Bovington next week.

When I looked at their website I saw that they

had books for sale.

So I guess that I pick someone up when I'm there.

What should be really good is a book that covers

small unit tactics and maybe AAR's.

I shall see what I can find "over there".

[John Kettler]

folke,

I just spoke to my sister in law, who informed me that she'd found the book so wonderful, she hoped I'd have a brain interrupt and forget about it. Had no idea she was a treadhead! After entreaties and pointing out that it was in fact a much delayed birthday present from my father, she relented and agreed to mail it to me today. She liked it so much, though, so she's determined to go back to the store where my brother bought mine and get another one for themselves. I therefore regret it'll be a few days more until I can provide a personal review.

Regards,

John Kettler

[ September 18, 2004, 09:07 PM: Message edited by: John Kettler ]

[Brent Pollock]

...and you didn't feel any tugs on either leg whilst she was telling you how much she enjoyed the book

[Mad Russian]

Originally posted by Redwolf:

What Paul said, on both books.

For the Soviet tanks it is best to order the Vanguard series on each of the basic models, there are not too many. You need the T-34/76, T-34/85, KV and JS books and it covers the assault guns based on them, too. They are written by Steve Zaloga, which is one of my favorite authors.

There is a single volume book on Soviet tanks. And it was written by one of your favorite authors. Steven Zaloga and James Grandsen wrote Soviet Tanks and Combat Vehicles of World War Two. The book has a copyright of 1984. I have done author searches for Steven Zaloga before and not had this book come up. Apparently it is as scarce as hen's teeth.

I know I'm not parting with my copy until death do us part. Once my demise has been made public my wife will open the bidding...

[jim crowley]

You could try "Russian tanks of World War 11" by Tim Bean & Will Fowler, published by Ian Allan Publishing in 2002.176 pages, lots of photos and some useful appendices. Cost in UK was £18.99

Not as much technical data as in the Zaloga/Grandsen book (which is excellent)but perhaps a little more accessible, especially for those with not too much knowledge on the subject.

A cheaper alternative to buying lots of Osprey books - although they are very good as well.

Cheers

Jim

[John Kettler]

folke,

I thought as a stopgap I'd post a link to reviews of the book on Amazon.com, but was stunned to discover that no one had written one.

Brent,

I'm sure. This is a woman who's a fairly accomplished wargamer in her own right and is married to my brother Ed, who not only designs

wargames but is an avid RC combat enthusiast as well. She totally supports him in these interests.

Regards,

John Kettler

[John Kettler]

folke,

Got it today! Based on a fast pass through it, I can report that it covers a wealth of AFVs, is loosely organized by region, then countries within a region, then AFVs from a given country in ascending chronological order, with tanks in one part and armored cars and such in another. Those not so covered wind up in a catch all category called "Other Countries" (apologies to Canada!).

It can get confusing when AFVs of different periods get mixed together because of the same name (WW II SP AT guns and Bundeswehr IFVs, both Marders).

The book really shines in terms of large, clear B&W and color photos, artist's renderings and cutaways, has a basic description of each AFV and mods, but is sorely lacking in technical detail. Armor thickness, for example, is given as a single value, nor will you normally find detailed writeups on the gun, ammo loadout, rate of fire or other such grog data. Occasionally, the various versions of an AFV will be listed (SdKfz 251), but generally there'll just be a statement indicating other types existed. If you need to know the Panther or Sherman models in detail, for example, this isn't the book for you.

The book claims to be comprehensive, but isn't. For example, there is no coverage of Belgian armor in WW II, Polish armor coverage is weak and incomplete, there's nothing on Dutch or Romanian WW II AFVs, and Hobart's Funnies receive almost nil coverage. Offsetting this, little known WW II Swedish armor receives considerable coverage, and many rare types are shown, including AFVs completed during WW II which didn't quite get into battle, including the U.S. M6 heavy tank and the Japanese Type 3 (Chi-Nu) medium tank. If you like mods or build models, you'll be in heaven.

The book is far from perfect, but it covers the entire history of AFV development from WW I on, with many prototypes described, puts a tremendous amount of info in one place, and for me at least, has the additional advantage of covering post WW II and modern AFVs from around the world. If you think of it as a survey, rather than being an in-depth treatment, at/near the U.S. $30 + tax it cost me, it is a true treasure. This tome's (544 oversized pages) production is first rate, with heavy enameled paper which does wonders for all the images and the readability of the text. Watch the captions, though, for they don't always match the illustration. A Mk IV/H illo, for example, has a Mk IV/F2 data block. Similarly, a 6 pdr. armed Valentine is simply captioned as a Valentine (normal armament 2 pdr.). Equal care should apply to simply accepting the descriptions as written. The Matilda II, for example, first ran into the 88 in Arras, France in 1940, not during Operation Battleaxe (15-17 June 1941) in North Africa, as stated.

If you have no equivalent reference, buy this book.

Brent,

Called her today to confirm receipt of book and learned that while she's not rabid about AFVs, she finds them interesting, a condition engendered by a tour of the RAC Bovington collection, something I have never seen save in the book on the subject.

Regards,

John Kettler

[Redwolf]

Zaloga also has "The Red Army Handbook 193?-1945".

It is excellent and has most of the info on the T-34 and better tanks and SP guns that you need. Plus infantry, artillery, engineers.

[folke]

Well now I have been at Bovington and looked at their store..

Lots and lots of books, there were so many that I could not choose one

But it was nice to have a look at them..

So I guess that Amazon will be the place to order

And from what John Kettler wrote the I will wait with the The Encyclopedia of Tanks and Armored Fighting Vehicles..

[folke]

Originally posted by FM Paul Heinrik:

This is the best book on German tanks.

"Encyclopedia Of German Tanks Of World War Two: The Complete Illustrated Dictionary of German Battle Tanks,Armoured Cars, Self-Propelled Guns and Semi-Track..."

by Peter Chamberlain, Hilary Doyle

Amazon.com has it for $20.

There is another one for British and US armor but it is not as good. I don't know of a complete Soviet tanks book like these two. There are just different books on soviet T-34, KV-1, ect.

From Amazon.

British and American Tanks of World War Two:

I bought this book because I was impressed by its counterpart on German armor. I was disappointed to notice that it doesn't live up to that standard. Where the 'German' book covered each version with technical data, this book often simply summed up all known versions, with a very brief description, often not even mentioning in service date (year) and production numbers. For example, the 24 pages long M4 Sherman section only contains 2 'technical' specification listings.... Same goes for the British Churchill tank section, only a single technical spec list. On the positive side are the sections on more obscure models and prototypes, almost all with illustration(s).

I've searched for a similar like

"Encyclopedia Of German Tanks...." for the Commonwealth.. ,but found none...

Perhaps this is the best one?

Any suggestions out there?