Armor in Korea: A Pictorial History - Specials series (6038) [Paperback]

Jim Mesko (Author), Don Greer (Illustrator)

Product Details

• Paperback: 80 pages
• Publisher: Squadron/Signal Publications; Bookclub edition. edition (February 1984)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0897471504
• ISBN-13: 978-0897471503
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.4 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,402,254 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My Korean War Tank Bible, February 3, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Armor in Korea: A Pictorial History - Specials series (6038) (Paperback)

I've had this book for several years, and I've turned to it so often that the poor paperback binding finally gave up the ghost and the cover and several pages came off. This book has so much information not only about armored fighting vehicles but about the war itself, that it wasn't until more recently that I realized the text does gloss over a good amount of detail. Jim Mesko's writing is very narrative, with a decidedly pro-American bent; looking past his obvious disgust with North Korean atrocities, he tells an often compelling tale of the major battles during the first year of the war.

The real gems of this book are the photographs, of which this book has no shortage. These photos cover almost every major vehicle and weapon used by the United Nations forces, even British and Australian carriers and softskins; however, every photo of an M26 Pershing tank happens to be Marine! No Army Pershings made the cut, and with the M46 Pattons appearing much later in the book (which is strange as they were there from September 1950 on), the casual reader may get the impression that only Marines had the heavy tanks and the Army used only Shermans and Chaffees until 1951.

Also included in the photos are M19 "Flak Wagons", M16 Quad Fifty halftracks, M39 utility vehicles, self-propelled artillery of all sorts, Jeeps and other trucks, British, Canadian, Australian, Turkish, and South Korean armor, captured North Korean vehicles, mine rollers, telephone line layers, flamethrower and bridgelayer tanks, armored cars, searchlights, even ambulance buses and a donut kitchen truck! The only thing I found missing was the M75 armored infantry carrier used late in the war, and precious little organizational information on the units that deployed and when they upgraded their tanks. Overall, I found this book very useful, with many photos I have not seen in any other source.