Customer Reviews

TANK VERSUS TANK: The Illustrated Story of Armoured Battlefield Conflict in the Twentieth Century

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

 

 

This is a superb book for the Armor soldier, war gamer or civilian enthusiast. It explains how modern tanks work with just enough detail and lots of great illustrations. It gives excellent tables that show which tank could defeat other tanks and at what ranges, ie; Sherman vs Panther, T34/85 vs Tiger etc. The book also show how key items of armor technology functioned. Did you ever try and explain to some the difference between a Christie suspension, a dead track and an unsuspended live track? This shows great pictures. I bought my copy 15 years ago and have read and referenced it countless times. I have used to teach my subordinates, to win bets with peers and other 19K (armor MOS) soldiers(including master gunners) and to explain things to my Dad and other non-tankers. I came on line to order a new copy of Macksey's "Tank Vs Tank" and saw that they had no reviews. This was my favorite tank book and it has been borowed dozens of times as I move around the Army. I have often had to go looking for it and this time its gone for good.

An excellent general reference on armor, the only drawbacks I can see is (1.) It needs the light and loving touch of a good editor - Mr. Macksey writes exactly like I do! VERY complex sentence structure! But VERY informative. (2.) I'd like to see an update. Since 2002, there has been tremendous advances in armor and Wheeled armored combat vehicles. The Main Battle Tank (MBT) is actually at a liability in lots of situations. EVERYBODY on the battlefield can manage to breach the heaviest armor possible to put on a moving vehicle. The strategy is to see and shoot first. The success of the 120MM Abrams /Tiger DU gun is not mentioned. Neither is the A-10 "Warthog" in the anti-armor section. (3.) Some small technical errors - actually the M48 rangefinder was pretty good......but slow. (4.) I'd like to see more actual cut-aways and prints of the tanks. Lots of WWII photographs are just coming to light, including some intelligence analysis of captured armor. (5.) Mr. Macksey doesn't say much about how outclassed American Shermans (75MM gun) were in the months following Normandy. My Dad (Age 92 Still with us and very sharp) was a Sherman driver during then. He said they were completely vulnerable at any range, and the A4E8 (76MM) was no real improvement. He reports they hit Tigers as close as 400 meters and they wouldn't even slow down. He was on his 3rd Sherman (2 were A4E8s) and second crew (he was the only one out twice.) when he was badly wounded. The mention of the field repair units were noteworthy. He said they were lifesavers as they did modifications as they were apparent they were needed. They were DEATHTRAPS. The Israelis finally upped the gun so they could stand off far enough to minimize damage. )

This is an excellent book for someone learning about tanks, their history, development and what choices a designer has to make when creating a tank. But there is enough new material, and the presentation is very good, making this also a good addtion for more experienced readers.

The first 50 pages are so trace the history of the tank from WW I to 1939. There are cut away drawings to show the inside of some of the tanks, descritions of different types of ammunition used and most interesting - tables that show gun vs. armor. At what range can a certain tank knock out its enemy and at what range is this tank vulnerable to the enemy tank. The Germans, with better cannon and ammunition, can almost always out duel Soviet, British and American tanks.

There are black & white photos, some maps and color diaoramas to show battle scenes and illustrate the point the author is making. This is an excellent primer and a very good overview of tank warfare. Not every tank or battle is mentioned, but you really learn a lot about tanks from WW1 thru WW2. There are some chapters about more modern warfare, the book was publised in 1991 so it just got in 7 paragraphs about the Desert Storm. The section on future armor is cliched, but that is a small flaw. I recommend this book to all armor fans, students, those who want to gain insight as to what makes a good tank and why some tanks are rated as they are.

Tank Versus Tank gives a concise, easy-to-read and detailed overview of the history of the tank. Starting with WWI it details how the tank was developed, the technological advances that have gone into tanks, and the doctrines developed to deploy tanks in combat. It gives interesting details about the tank in its history. For example, in WWII tank vs. tank combat was relatively rare and it was much more common for tanks to face anti-tank guns in battle.

Most of the book details the history of tank warfare during WWII but it also details developments in tank warfare in the period between WWI and WWII and during the Cold War. The book was originally written just before the Soviet Union collapsed and it is interesting to see how its projections about future tank warfare have turned out. The author's guess that a new tank-destroyer design would be developed have proven to be wrong.

The book includes many different technical drawing and graphs showing how different tanks stacked up against each other in areas like armor and firepower. It also details many of the most famous tank battles in history. Overall this book is definitely recommended for anyone who has an interest in tanks or modern warfare.

Kenneth Macksey served as a tanker and became one of Britain's experts on tank warfare along with other military history. Sadly there will be no more books like this from him, he passed away recently and will be sorely missed as a writer and historian. Do people still debate that the German tanks were superior to their allied counterparts? Most German tanks ran out of gas, broke down after 100's of kilometer marches through meter high mud or were destroyed by their crews during encirclements like Cherkassy. They also suffered from quality parts shortages and a failing maintenance program due to overuse. Most allied tanks were destroyed by German tanks! This is fact and this book shows why, a great reference and filled with solid stats as to armour thickness and penetration ability of guns. Yes, a PIII was no match for the T34 but what about the Panthers who blew away 1-2 T34's a day for WEEKS on end? This book shows why. If you are a modeler interested in more info or a war-gamer looking for some solid stats to throw around buy this book. I only wish he had included more variety and comparisons. Along with the story of tank development from world war I till today some great short battle descriptions are also included. Remember tactics are one of the most important part of tank warfare. This book covers later tanks as well so it should be on any armour fans shelf.

This book, maybe based in a good idea, shows a good example of those war history books that base all their references in Western and, specially, nazy bibliography. The WWII, which occupies more than half of the book, shows an ideallistic idea of the panzerdivisionen, only defeated by number by the allies. In the North African and Italian campaigns, Montgomery is showed as a new Nelson, and the American contribution appears as a just industrial one. Names such as Patton doesn't ever appear.
In the Eastern Front, the situation is even worse. It shows the T-34 (really the best medium tank of the war) as a very inferior machine as it really was, and the soviet victory appears severely minimized in numbers and technical and tactical successes. Clearly the author has just readed the nazi version to read this book, and show also a heavy British chauvinism.