Centurion vs T-55: Yom Kippur War 1973 (Duel) [Paperback]

Simon Dunstan (Author), Griff Wason (Illustrator)

Book Description

Series: Duel | Publication Date: November 17, 2009

Conceived at the height of World War II, the British Centurion and the Soviet T-55 were initially expected to counter the formidable Panther and Tiger tanks of Germany. But as the Cold War unfolded, these machines prepared instead for the coming struggle between NATO and the Warsaw Pact. Though they never fought in Europe, these two tanks became the mainstay of the Cold War's proxy forces around the world. From Korea to the Middle East and on to Angola, these two armored combatants clashed repeatedly, reaching their crescendo on the Golan Heights during the Yom Kippur War where 177 Centurions of the IDF took on a vastly superior Arab force. This book compares the design, development and deployment of these classic tanks, and analyses their battlefield performance. Presented with highly detailed digital artwork, this is a tightly focused study of two of the Cold War's first main battle tanks.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"It is not often that one reads a book like this that is so superbly written that it just draws you in. I've had the pleasure of reading several in the past week, and both of them authored by Simon Dunstan. The man just knows how to write and you are really missing out if you don't pick up this particular edition. It is that good. As with others in this series, it has a nice selection of period illustrations in addition to excellent artwork and diagrams done specifically for this book. It is a first rate read and one that I most highly recommend." -Scott Van Aken, Modeling Madness/modelingmadness.com (December 2009)

"This new title in the 'Duel' series of books from Osprey is written by Simon Dunstan, an author who has a number of excellent books to his credit already.  This one is equally good, and covers the 2 AFVs of the title in a well balanced book... Overall an interesting book which is very readable, and a good insight into tank vs tank combat in the Middle East in 1973." -Robin Buckland, Military Modelling/militarymodelling.com (December 2009)

About the Author

Simon Dunstan is a well-established author, film-maker and photographer in the field of military history, with several titles already published with Osprey. He specializes in armored warfare, and has written on this subject for two decades. His books have covered topics such as helicopter and armored warfare in Vietnam, the Challenger main battle tank, the British Guards and armored warfare in Korea. Simon lives and works in London. The author lives in London, England.

Product Details

• Paperback: 80 pages
• Publisher: Osprey Publishing; First Edition edition (November 17, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1846033691
• ISBN-13: 978-1846033698
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 0.2 x 9.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #544,905 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

A well-established author, filmmaker and photographer, Simon Dunstan has written more than 50 books on military history, particularly on World War II and Vietnam. He has also written and directed numerous military history documentaries for the History Channel.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Suffers from Three Critical Flaws, January 1, 2010

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R. A Forczyk (MD, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Centurion vs T-55: Yom Kippur War 1973 (Duel) (Paperback)

At first glance, Centurion vs. T-55: Yom Kippur War 1973 by Simon Dunstan, is an intriguing title. There are relatively few books available on the tank battles of the 1973 Yom Kippur War (aka War of Ramadan) and Osprey's Duel series offers a compact and affordable analysis of how rival weapons systems performed against each other in combat. Unfortunately, this volume is seriously undermined by three flaws: (1) the author writes entirely from the Israeli point of view, (2) the level of technical detail is insufficient to conduct a true analysis of these two weapon systems and (3) the author's failure to adhere to the series format makes his narrative disorganized and difficult to follow. Readers may also be misled by the title, since this book focuses solely on the Golan Heights. Overall, this volume is not up to the standards of previous volumes in the series and offers at best a one-sided and somewhat derivative account of these tank battles.

There have been a number of Israeli accounts of the tank battles on the Golan Heights, particularly Avigdor Kahalani's The Heights of Courage (1992), upon which this volume draws heavily. However, the author appears to have made no effort to incorporate any Arab viewpoints and no Arab sources are listed in the bibliography. Indeed, not a single Syrian tanker is mentioned by name - they are just ciphers - and the author omits the usual sidebars on opposing combatants in the Duel series and simply provides a profile of Kahalani (wow, that was hard - it could virtually be taken from his book's fly leaf). Although it is clear that the Israeli's won the tank battles in Golan, history is not well served by an account that totally excludes the Syrian combatants. The English-reading world has already been exposed to the Israeli account of the Golan fighting - to which this volume adds very little - and deserve a more well-rounded account than has heretofore been presented.

The level of technical detail is surprisingly low in this volume. While the standard 3-way profile for both tanks is included, the data plates presented on pages 26-27 are rather vague, particularly for the Centurion. It's not clear what model of Centurion the author is referring to and the data appears to be a mix of more than one model. The Israeli modified Centurions he describes in the volume have the 105-mm gun and diesel engine, but the data plate lists the older 20-pounder gun and petrol engine. The T-55 data plate says it had a 100-mm 20-pounder gun (huh?) with 65 rounds of ammunition, which is incorrect; the T-55 carried 43 rounds of 100-mm. The armor data lists thickness but not angle of sloping, which is an important omission. Looks like very poor editing. Crucially, there is no information provided on types of ammunition each tank carried and individual performance (penetration, muzzle velocity) and very little on fire control systems used in 1973. Without this data, it is difficult to compare tank gunnery. Although the author provides enough data to suggest general strengths/weaknesses of each tank - it is clear that that T-55 was superior in mobility and armored protection but the Centurion appears better in firepower - there are simply too many loose ends. This is particularly frustrating when the author claims that Israeli tanks routinely engaged enemy tanks at 2,500-3,000m; this might be possible when firing at a company-size mass of tanks, but engaging individual tanks at that range without a laser range-finder would be very wasteful of ammunition. As a former tanker myself, claims that anyone could routinely hit targets out at 3 km or beyond with the 105-mm (they would be only tiny blobs in the daylight sight) are misleading. Towards the end, the author reverses himself and admits that 70 percent of all engagements occurred at ranges under 2,000 meters.

Finally, the author just didn't avail himself of the Duel series format, so the sections are just jumbled together. The initial section on design and development briefly covers how the British and Soviet tank design philosophies evolved between 1939 and 1946, but this section was supposed to deal with the genesis of each tank in the Duel. The 15-page section on technical specifications actually covers what should have been covered in the design section but spends almost all its entirety discussing the British models of the Centurion, with only a brief nod to the Israeli modified Centurions. Why spend three sentences discussing how British Centurions had a device to boil tea, when this was irrelevant to the duel between Israeli Centurions and Syrian T-55s. Note most of the photos of T-55s in this volume are models in Soviet service, not the ones used by the Syrians. The section on combatants is just horrible and irrelevant, choosing to focus on the Centurion in Korea and Vietnam at the expense of discussing Israeli/Syrian crew training (one paragraph on the Syrians). The strategic situation chapter is equally poor, wasting space on the 1956 War and the 1966 Water War. By this point, it is clear that the author has difficulty deciding what is germane to the Duel analysis and what is not. The final 34-page section on combat is the best part of the volume and gripping at parts, but not too original. While there is an overall map of dispositions in the Golan, this volume should have had a tactical map of the fighting in the Valley of Tears. Overall, this volume is at best an adjunct to earlier books like Kalahani's and at worst, a poorly researched and Israeli-biased account that merely re-packages existing material.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating and informative, mainly from the Israeli point of view, December 12, 2009

By 

Jonathan Lupton (Little Rock , AR USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Centurion vs T-55: Yom Kippur War 1973 (Duel) (Paperback)

If it were possible, I would have given this title four and one-half stars. This book is readable, insightful, and nicely illustrated. However, unlike other titles in the "duel" series, it's a bit one-sided, giving Israeli experience with its modified Centurions (called "Shot Cal" in IDF jargon), with little background on the Syrians' experience with T-55s.

The first several chapters tell how each tank developed from its WWII predecessors. Then the book gives a wealth of background on the role of tanks in the Arab-Israeli wars of 1948, 1956, and 1967 that led up to the October War of 1973. There is plenty of information on the two sides' competing armored doctrines. Syrian doctrine was heavily based on Soviet ideas and weapon systems, albeit somewhat handicapped by Syria's 60 percent literacy rate. Israeli doctrine was more nuanced, built on western weapon systems, but with plenty of home-grown technical and tactical innovations. An interesting tidbit: the Israelis put Centurion/Shot Cal on the Golan front because it was better-adapted to rough terrain. Their U.S.-built M-48 and M-60 tanks went to Sinai because they were less well suited to the rocky Golan, but faster on open terrain.

The actual story of armored combat on the Golan Heights is well-told and dramatic. But at this point the Syrian point of view disappears. About all the reader can see or hear about them is the dust clouds and shellfire thrown up by hordes of T-55's as Syrians advanced with 1,400 tanks against just 177 Israeli Shot Cals. The author gives the Syrians their due for courage and tenacity despite appalling losses. He comments on the failure of Syrian commanders to exploit their breakthrough on the southern end of the front. Aside from this, the story is told completely from the Israeli side, with plentiful Israeli personal accounts and not one account from the Syrian side.

What factors made the Israeli Shot Cals so far superior to their enemies, on a tank-for-tank basis? By failing to give Syrian perspectives, the author misses an opportunity. He alludes to Israeli advantages - their costly but effective tactic of having tank commanders fight out in the open, their use of tank ramps on the Golan, the superior effective range of their 105-mm guns, their crews' ability to accurately fire ten rounds per minute, and other factors. But the author never directly evaluates the strengths and (especially) weaknesses of the T-55 against the Centurion. Sure, the T-55 had a cramped turret, and the T-55's gun sights were inferior at long range. But there is more to the story than that.

That said, the Israeli side of the story is well-told. The fighting on the Golan Heights October 6-10th 1973 belongs alongside the greatest epic battles in the history of armored warfare, like Kursk, Gazala,and El Alamein. This detailed and informative title will take a prominent place in any collection on armored weapons and tactics.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Talks A LOT more about the war than the tanks., February 21, 2010

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Pen Name and That A - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Centurion vs T-55: Yom Kippur War 1973 (Duel) (Paperback)

The book should have had the title and the subtitles reversed; it would have got three or four stars if this was the case. There was very little information here about tanks. There are books about the war that are A LOT better written, if that is what you are interested in.