Customer Reviews

T-54 and T-55 Main Battle Tanks 1944-2004 (New Vanguard)

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Steven Zaloga is one of my favorite authors on tanks and AFVs. This volume does not disappoint. The T54/55 tank is one of the most numerous and successful Soviet tanks ever developed. Over 40,000 of these tanks are used all over the world. Zaloga does a great job of describing the development of the T54 and T55 tanks and the variant models. He also includes various sections which explain the upgrade versions of the T55, the Chinese copies of the T54 (called the T-59 and T-69), and the combat performance of the T54/55. What I always appreciate about Zaloga is that he inserts helpful information such as the armor penetration of the 100mm D-10T guns (e.g. compare the HVAP round which penetrates 200mm with the latest UBM6 APSDS round which can penetrate up to 290 mm at 2km against a vertical target)and the armor upgrades of the T55. As always in this series, the colored plates and illustrations are excellent. Zaloga packs in so much information in 47 pages! Highly recommended!!

The book is a very succinct overview of the most important variants of the T-54/55 tank series. The best part of the book are details regarding Russian and Chinese development of the different versions of the tank. However, the work is by no means an exhaustive treatment of the topic - the book is simply way too short to cover the full spectrum of variants, visual images and technical details regarding the most widely used tank of post-World War II era. If you want a short introduction and basic facts, this is a work for you, but for information and images of a particular version of the tank one might have to look for other sources.

Author Steve Zaloga is probably the best expert on Soviet equipment. This book is an update to the earlier Vanguard Soviet Modern tanks published back in 1984. Ironic that the older book has more photos (two) of the interior than this book (one). If you've studied modern armor or warfare, then you know of the T-55. It traces its lineage from the T-34 of WW2 fame, continuing the Russian concept of small, easily built tanks that are highly mobile and simple to use. The down side is that they are lighter, less protected and not comfortable for their crews.

This is an excellent primer on the T-55, perhaps the best of what is available right now. The photos tend to be small, but crisp B&W. There are six pages of color plates to show the paint schemes and two pages for a vehicle cut away. The one comment I have on these New Vanguard series - not enough coverage on the interior. I think each crew position should be shown, hence only four stars. Balancing that out is very good narrative and overview of the tanks's history and use in combat. Recommended for all armor buffs & modelers.

The T-54/55 tank is not as big, expensive, safe or powerful as any of the MBT's fielded by many nations today. In its standard form, it stands no chance at all against a Challenger, Abrams or Leopard 2. With the many modifications and upgrades available, however, ranging from minor changes to almost complete overhauls, the T-54/55 has remained relevant in armored warfare for over fifty years. Steven Zaloga, as always, really did his research and, as always, produced a truly magnificent book. 48 pages long and first published in 2004, it is a superb reference book on the T-54/55 for anyone and everyone, be you the casual reader, avid historian, or researcher.
It covers the development, service history, upgrades, and more recent years of the T-54/55. This is the most mass-produced tank ever, with between 86,000 and 100,000 having been made. The philosophy behind the T-54/55 is exemplary of what all Soviet weapons designs were based on- durability, simplicity, and ease of manufacture and use. It is not about the quality of the individual tank, but of the mass quantities overwhelming a target, its small size presenting a much lower profile than tanks like the M1. This book tells you all you'd want to know about the mainline T-54/55 tank and its Chinese twin, the Type 59. It is the AK-47 of tanks- inexpensive and everybody's got one, even the United States. While the standard T-54/55 is now hopelessly outdated, and the overall tank itself is as well even with upgrades, it is not to be ignored. And, much like the AK-47, as long as ammunition and parts exist, this tank will be used. It may not be the newest, shiniest, or meanest tank on the block anymore- if it ever was- but for all its flaws, somebody will always be using one. As the book itself says, the story of this, one of the greatest tanks of all time, is far from finished.