Customer Reviews

Tank Killing: Anti-tank Warfare By Men And Machines

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

 

 

Hogg's "Tank Killing" is an enjoyable book that attempts to cover all aspects of anti-tank warfare - one man anti-tank weapons, tank destroyers, tanks, anti-tank guns, aircraft weapons, and smart weapons. This is a tall order for any book and 265 small (8.5" x 5.5") pages just didn't provide Hogg with enough space to accomplish his mission. What he does do is provide a good subject overview, emphasizing selected topics at key points in their development. Thus, the development of tank gunnery during WWII is covered in detail while tank armament in the 50's and beyond is only lightly addressed. In a similar manner, the anti-tank missile chapter focuses on the 40's - 60's rather than the more recent years.

It's difficult to rate a book that doesn't quite live up to expectations but still is highly enjoyable and informative. Mr. Hogg has a dry wit and calls things as he sees them with respect to British, American, and Soviet military doctrine and development. In the areas he covers in detail, he leaves only minor stones unturned. When I looked at his coverage of Soviet WWII weapons, the types of items that he didn't cover were the SU-57 and the 45mm PTP 42 (he covered the earlier model). I didn't consider these significant oversights. But, if you want to know any details of the 20 pounder on the Centurian, you are out of luck. And if you are Italian (or French or Japanese or almost any country except England, the USSR, or America), you might be more upset about some of the necessary tradeoffs made in the interest of space. For technical content, this book deserves 2.5 stars. I gave it a 3 because of Hogg's presentation style. I wish the book were about twice the size and covered all countries and weapons but one can't always get what one wishes for.

I read this good book, here in Brazil. This book was writen by Ian Hogg(1911-2003). This good book has eight chapters and an index.
The first chapter (Tanks - and how to kill them) is an introduction and an overview about the book's subject. The second chapter (One-man anti-tank weapons) is about anti-tank rockets, anti-tank rifles and recoil-less guns. Chapter six (The smart weapons) is about anti-tank missiles. Chapter seven (Out of the sky) is about anti-tank aircrafts and helicopters. I didn't wanted to found text about tank against tank comabts, but this book has enough and with great quality.
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This is the table of contents of this good book:
1 Tanks - and how to kill them 1
2 One-man anti-tank weapons 33
3 The anti-tank gun 65
4 Tank destroyers 104
5 Tanks against tanks 131
6 The smart weapons 170
7 Out of the sky 203
8 Mines, traps and bare hands 230
Index 263
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Even so, I have to give four stars, not five, because:
1-Anti-tank rifle grenades don't have almost any space, in this book. Please, anti-tank rifle grenades aren't used by British Army since about fifty years ago, but many third-world countries remains using anti-tank rifle grenades as an important anti-tank weapon.
2-On page 30, this book claims that ERA(Explosive reactive armour) was invented by Israelis. In fact, it was invented by Manfred Held. I think that Manfred Held is a German. Beyond doubt, Manfred Held isn't an Israeli.
3- There's good text about anti-tank rifles, until World War II, but modern anti-tank rifles don't have any place in this book. There's nothing about Barrett anti-rifles. Not a single word about the Barrett M82 anti-tank rifle, in use since 1980 decade, even by American Army.

Highly readable and full of interesting information