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By Steven J. Zaloga.
Osprey Publishing, 2024
Bruce G. Sloan, Reviewer
After a very slow start during World War I, the United States ultimately became the preeminent manufacturer of armored fighting vehicles during World War II. US Battle Tanks 1917-1945 is a comprehensive journey from the Holt Gas-Electric & Steam-Driven monitors, copies of the French Renault FT light tank, and collaboration with the British & French during World War I. This was followed by the near isolationism of the 1920s and '30s to the amazing output during World War II, including the M4 Sherman, the M26 Pershing, and all their derivatives.
Armored units covered in these chapters are light, medium, and heavy infantry tanks, airborne tanks, flamethrower tanks, combat cars, armored recovery vehicles, amphibious tanks, tank destroyers, mine exploders, and bridge-laying tanks. Development from the ideas and prototypes to the final battle-tested tanks is examined, as are reviews of the processes and relevant agencies, the main characters involved, plus the failures and successes experienced.
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| US Model FT-17 Renault Designed Tanks |
This is the first of two volumes exploring the complete history of US Army and Marine Corps battle tanks. The four chapters in this volume are US Tanks of World War I, US Tanks in the Interwar Years, US Tanks in World War II, and US Tanks in the Pacific Theater. The appendix details the number of tanks of different types produced during those 28 years. Whereas tactics and strategy are not discussed, the use of these fighting vehicles in numerous battles throughout the period is addressed
The book is impressively illustrated with many photographs and artwork. The numerous profiles, cutaways and paintings are by excellent Osprey artists. Content for the volume is derived from the author’s previous books published in Osprey’s New Vanguard and Duel series, both of which delve in more detail into tank development and comparisons with adversaries’ armor.
For any of us interested in fighting armor, this is a must read. I look forward to acquiring the second volume.
Bruce G. Sloan
Certainly, this volume is worth adding to the bookshelf.
ReplyDeleteNot to be overly persnickety, but the caption to the photo here is incorrect. The Renault FT was French-designed, French-built, and French-supplied, and therefore not a "US Model." Although the Model 1918 Six-Ton Special Tractor (essentially a copy of the FT with improvements and minor changes, such as the muffler being on the port side), could be described that way, only a handful of mild steel (unarmored) examples reached France before the end of 1918. It would be more accurate to state that the vehicles in the photo were "American-manned French FT tanks." (The suffix -17 was not used in contemporary documentation.)
Incidentally, some sources erroneously assert that 1st/304th Brigade commander George S. Patton, Jr. devised the card suit insignia painted on the turrets seen in the photo. The brigade originally painted the insignia on each platoon's assigned tanks (not the reserve tanks) on the eve of St.-Mihiel, in compliance with parameters included in French tank regulations.