Customer Reviews

Russian Tanks of World War II

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Finally, a decent well-rounded book on the Soviet tanks of WW2. This book covers the history of the development, use in battle, and future impact of the major tank designs. Assault gun and tank destroyer variants of these tanks are also covered, which is a real bonus. There are many good pictures which I hadn't already seen myself. Captured and lend-lease tanks are also covered. In my opinion, this is the best book, to-date, on this subject. It is not an encyclopedia, like one of the books on German tanks that I have (which this book stands proudly alongside), but one must remember that the Soviets focussed on fewer designs and variants, thus avoiding many of the production, attririon, and maintenance problems that the Germans encountered with so much diversity.

A few minor nitpicks: While the main data is included, I would have liked to see more tables detailing armour thicknesses, slope, etc. Also, a lot of information is provided on the major tanks and variants, but some of the lesser known tanks are either briefly, or not, covered.

In summary, I heartily recommend this book to eastern front armour enthusiasts.

Overall a good introduction for those interested in the tanks that the Soviet Union produced as well as their design histories. A few problems persist in the fact that some errors are quite clear, for example when describing an Order of Battle instead of an artillery battalion an 'artillery division' is listed, the problem here is that artillery 'divizion' in Russian means battalion, whereas a 'divizia' is a division and at least one picture has apparently been mislabeled (as mentioned by a previous reviewer, on page 26).

Aside from these errors there are many interesting facts and the histories behind each design is quite interesting and eye opening. Many of the first tank units that were formed by the Red Army in the 1920's contained only foreign tanks. When Soviet tank production began it was helped along and mainly based on foriegn tanks that were sold to the Soviet Union through various companies from England and the US. The Germans and the Soviets signed a treaty which helped the Germans develop their tanks on the territory of the Soviet Union and that s well proved helpful to future designs. But many of the better tanks were less so influenced from 'outside' the Soviet Union, like the T-34 and KV-1 which went on to be a huge shock to German troops during the first few years after Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union.

Again, a good reference for beginners, not an expensive book and gives a good account of where the various tanks excelled and in what ways they proved inferior in in the midst of battle.

Though the author as shown on the amazon page is different than the one I have (Tim Bean and Will Fowler), this book was a find for me. It covers the history of Soviet tanks from British, French, and American tank designs in the beginning to designs on their own by the end of WWII. The descriptions of how the tanks were designed were essential to my understanding of the Soviet tank warfare with its strengths and limitations.

A side note, on The History Channel it was noted that the steel process by which the T-34 was made came from American technology, maybe something the Soviets did not want to acknowledge. There is no mention of that in the book. The Christie suspesnion system also was of American origin for the T-34 as well as other Soviet tanks, which was in the book.

I noticed that there were no reference notes or bibliography by which facts and data could be verified and other sources acknowledged. I would have liked to see other sources for further information. There is a disclaimer regarding this on the copyright page, "The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge". Which is the only possible weakness in the book.

I use the book whenever I run across a photo in a text where I do not recognize the Soviet tank. It is very useful for this.

This volume recounts all sizes and types of the Soviet tank programs. I recommend it for its diagrams and text.

This book provides a good overview of the development of Soviet tanks from the early 1920s to the end of World War II and beyond. It also provides a good explanation of the Soviet's strategic military aims after the Revolution and Civil War and the tactics that these aims would entail. The tank was central to these tactics and Soviet armor design has to be seen in that light. In other words this book is not just a list of the tanks and their statistics.

The book also provides a detailed background to the design, manufacture and use of each major tank type. The T-34 and KV-1 are given the most coverage, as is only proper. The book also includes, but does not overemphasize, some of the odd prototypes and experimental vehicles that the Soviets developed. The book concludes with a discussion of the legacy of WWII Soviet armor and tactics down to the present day.

The book is attractively laid out and there are many good pictures and line drawings. There are also a number of interesting tables in the back of the book.

Unfortunately this is a very good book that is marred by numerous instances of lack of proof reading in the text and one badly mislabeled picture (an ISU 122 self propelled gun is labeled as a IS-2 tank on pg 26). I was able ignore these problems the first couple of times but it kept happening and became a bit annoying.

Errors and all, I read the book all the way to the end and enjoyed it. The authors obviously know the subject and I learned some things I didn't know. Even with the errors I give it 4 stars. If the publisher would clean up the editorial mistakes in the next printing this would be 5 star book.