The continous headlines on MSN about tank warfare in The Ukraine, aroused my interest in these vehicles that I have puchesed 4 new/er books on said same.
One just released in 2021
Tanks At The Iron Curtain 1946-1969 is fascinating.
The French used Ex-German Panther tanks till 1953, and they variety of Russian tanks was numerous.
Sadl the book has very little on either heavy tank used by the British or U.S. of A.but is is well illustrated.
It does say the main reason WWII infantry supported by tanks as the major form of combat went away was Kruchev liked missiles, and reduced spending on tanks, to build missile equiped tank-destroyers and other anti-infantry conventional missile backed systems.
While from the U.S. side Eisenhower decided reducing Army tanks and soldiers for nuclear backed ground force was the way to go after they first tested the 280 mm nuclear artillery shell.
The "Pentomic" division was created to form
" battle groups able to avoid decimation by nuclear weapons by remaining diverse and mobile"Fortunately this was abandoned in the early sixties.
Tanks with a white triangle surround by a green circle represent the fictional "Trigon Army" in combat exercises simulating a nuclear tactical war.
There is an art picture in the book showing the M48 "Trigon Army Tanks of the 50th Trigon Army Tank Division " and in the back ground is a simulated nuclear explosion (the book tells how simulated nuclear explosions , using gasoline and exposives, were conductied during thise real Army games.)
So , Eisenhower is the reason our defense became dependent on nukes.
Did you end up in any of these war games?
My other books are
Modern Tanks and AFVs, British Battle Tanks 1946-2016 and FIREPOWER: A History of the American Heavy Tank.I am astounded by how much exists, and changed in even the past ten years.
Some the books show interior shots of tanks, but it seems no one has a decent wide angle lens so you can only see one seat, maybe and what looks more like hoarders closet than a tank office.
In four man tanks, where, did the loader sit, none of them ever show a seat for him,and the skeletal drawings showing supposed location of this, that and the other thing, are piss poor at best.
The one book says the Russian IS/T-10 series which scared Western military people, were due to poor design and construction techniques pretty much a : Fix or repair daily affair, literally.
Another says the Nuclear, Biological and Gas items worn in Iraq were a pain in the arse but once the gas masks and rubber gloves were removed, the rest of the uniform worked very well against cold-windy nights in Iraq.
