American Tanks Afvs Of World War Ii

Stuart, Sherman, Lee, and Grant tanks dominated the US Army and Marine Corps armored warfare effort versus Nazi Germany and Tojo's Japan. This book details the full range of these vehicles, giving technical specifications and development features as well as describing how they were manned and fought in battle. The equipping of the United States military with the weapons it needed to prevail during World War II was an unparalleled example of America's industrial might at the time. Among the many weapons produced by America's workers, tanks rate as an important example with 88,140 built between 1939 and 1945. This was almost twice what Germany and Great Britain built combined during the same period. These tanks not only equipped America's ground forces but saw service with many allied armies. In addition to the 18,620 tank-based variants, such as armored engineering vehicles, self-propelled artillery, armored recovery vehicles, and tank destroyers, American factories went on to design and build thousands of wheeled armored cars for reconnaissance purposes and armored half-tracks to transport the infantry into battle behind the tanks. Like the tanks, American armored half-tracks were modified to serve a wide variety of jobs including self-propelled artillery, tank destroyers and antiaircraft vehicles. So useful were these vehicles that they would remain in service with foreign armies for decades after World War II. To complement its inventory of tanks and armored fighting vehicles the American military industrial complex also designed and built over 18,000 amphibian tractors. Appearing in both unarmored and armored variants they went into combat with a wide variety of armaments. Referred to as the Landing Vehicle Tracked (LVT) they would serve not only with the U.S. Marine Corps who often called them "Amtracs" but the US Army who referred to them as the "Water Buffalo." They would allow the American military to take the fight to the far flung Japanese Empire wherever it had established itself in the vast reaches of the Pacific Area of Operations. These same vehicles would also see service in the ETO with the US Army and allied forces when it came time to cross various water obstacles used by the German military as defensive barriers.

The entry of the US into World War II provided the Allies with the industrial might to finally take the war to German and Japanese forces across the world. Central to this was the focus of the American military industrial complex on the manufacture of tanks and armoured fighting vehicles. Between 1939 and 1945, 88,140 tanks and 18,620 other armored vehicles were built – almost twice the number that Germany and Great Britain combined were able to supply. In this lavishly illustrated volume, armour expert Michael Green examines the dizzying array of machinery fielded by the US Army, from the famed M4 Sherman, M3 Stuart and M3 Lee through to the half-tracks, armored cars, self-propelled artillery, tank destroyers, armored recovery vehicles and tracked landing vehicles that provided the armoured fist that the Allies needed to break Axis resistance in Europe and the Pacific. Publishing in paperback for the first time and packed with historical and contemporary colour photography, this encyclopedic new study details the design, development, and construction of these vehicles, their deployment in battle and the impact that they had on the outcome of the war.

Armor expert Zaloga enters the battle over the best tanks of World War II with this heavy-caliber blast of a book armed with more than forty years of research. • Provocative but fact-based rankings of the tanks that fought the Second World War • Breaks the war into eight periods and declares Tanker's Choice and Commander's Choice for each • Champions include the German Panzer IV and Tiger, Soviet T-34, American Pershing, and a few surprises • Compares tanks' firepower, armor protection, and mobility as well as dependability, affordability, tactics, training, and overall combat performance • Relies on extensive documentation from archives, government studies, and published sources—much of which has never been published in English before • Supported by dozens of charts and diagrams and hundreds of photos

• Hundreds of photos, including many never published before with riveting accounts of armored warfare in World War II • Compares the Sherman to other tanks, including the Panther and Tiger • Author is a world-renowned expert on the Sherman tank and American armor Some tank crews referred to the American M4 Sherman tank as a "death trap." Others, like Gen. George Patton, believed that the Sherman helped win World War II. So which was it: death trap or war winner? Armor expert Steven Zaloga answers that question by recounting the Sherman's combat history. Focusing on Northwest Europe (but also including a chapter on the Pacific), Zaloga follows the Sherman into action on D-Day, among the Normandy hedgerows, during Patton's race across France, in the great tank battle at Arracourt in September 1944, at the Battle of the Bulge, across the Rhine, and in the Ruhr pocket in 1945.

Packed with more than 500 outstanding photographs, drawings, and diagrams, this illustrated history is the best source ever to the development of Allied tanks, gun motor carriages, and special-purpose vehicles in World War II. Not one is missing: more than 2,000 vehicles come with detailed specifications, comparative scale drawings, and appendices dealing with guns, engines, and suspension systems.

"Organized chronologically by type, Russian Tanks of World War II offers a highly illustrated guide to the main armored fighting vehicles used by the Red Army during World War II. The book offers a comprehensive survey of Soviet AFVs, from the prewar T-18 light tank and BT fast tank series to the heavy Joseph Stalin tanks and self-propelled guns of the final months of the war. All the major and many minor tanks are featured, including every significant variation of the T-26 light tank, KV series and T-34 to see action on the Eastern Front. There are also chapters on the many types of self-propelled guns developed by Soviet industry, as well as Allied Lend-Lease AFVs, such as the British Churchill and Valentine tanks and American Sherman and Stuart tanks. Each featured profile includes authentic markings and color schemes, while every separate model is accompanied by exhaustive specifications. Packed with 120 newly commissioned, full-color artworks with exhaustive specifications, Russian Tanks of World War II is a key reference guide for military modelers and World War II enthusiasts."--Publisher's description.

Tank destroyers were the US Army's response to blitzkrieg, and were based around the concept of mounting a large anti-tank gun on a light, fast moving vehicle. They served in the Mediterranean, Pacific, and North-West Europe theatres, and were also supplied to other Allied armies. These vehicles form an attractive modelling subject; their open turrets provide plenty of opportunity for detail work, as demonstrated here by the author in clear step-by-step instructions. Packed with tips and techniques from a leading modeller and Allied armour expert, this title covers the M10, M18, M36, and M39, and features modelling projects in 1/35th and 1/72nd scale.

Be pulled into this dynamically illustrated history of the Sherman tank, on its seventy-fifth anniversary. Be amazed by the entire scope of this iconic machine, from design to service.