Customer Reviews

Soviet/Russian Armor and Artillery Design Practices: 1945 to Present

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

 

 

Simply put, this book is a must-have resource for anyone interested in the subject of Soviet/Russian armor and artillery. It is the most up-to-date and comprehensive reference book of its type published to-date; definately required reading.

This book is must to have for anyone deeply interested from Soviet tank design and development after ww2. It is very comprehensive study and carefully researched, average reader can't point any mistake in the text.
Book includes all major russian tank projects in well-written text which includes many technical factors without being boring.
There are many photos showing the rare tank designs which never accomplished to go to production and line pictures which are quite clear. Also book includes very up-to-date innovations in russian tanks design, with active anti-atgm devices etc. There are many tables which show exact information of tanks and their guns, penetrations and ammunitions. There are very good appendixes representing soviet "obiekt"-codes for each tank/design bureau and also evolution chart of russian tanks and descriptions from all the major tank development factorys and research institutes.
Even if there is five star rating ( book this good can not be given much lower rating than 5 stars) i found that there are some things that i didn't like. First, this book is printed to paper which is not so good ( it reminds of home inkjet paper) and the pictures are not very clearly reproduced. This is book which is expensive anyway, so it could have been made all-colour or at least printed for better paper.
Some parts of the text are identically same from Zalogas earlier "Soviet Tanks and Combat Vehicles: 1946 To the Present"-book from 80's. Also Zalogas Osprey booklets include much the same text from word to word than these two books. Altough Zaloga is very highly dignified author it is quite a dissapointing to see same text passages in many different book, like copy-pasted.

Well these couple of things are easily forgotten since book is written so well. This is definitely must-to-have book for any interested from good and well-researched, authoritative book of recent and modern tank developments of Soviet Union and Russia.
Very recommendable!

The book gives a detailed history and specifications of ALL soviet armor types. You can really appreciate this reference, as I have not seen one this detailed when compared to other books. It does have some shortcomings. There is almost no color photographs in the entire book. I am not sure why the publisher chose this route, as color photos of most of these tanks are in abundance and easily obtainable. Black and white photos (even some drawings) do not convey the scale or manufacturing quality (or lack of) of these machines. The other problem I have is there is almost no history of the tank in combat. There are a few passing references, but I am disappointed that more information was not given on how these machines performed in battle.

Profusely illustrated (albeit in B&W) and quite detailed without being overwhelming. Though it could use another editing pass, overall it's indispensable for anyone with an interest in modern tank design and development. Some of the variants in this book haven't been heard of in the West, even by the well-informed.