Tank War-Central Front (Elite Series No. 26)

I bought this book because I served in M-1 tanks in Germany 83-86. Back then, we knew we were going to fight outnumbered. We expected to win. We knew we had better training, a better tank (better gun, the M-1 can fire accurately on the move, has better firepower and protection). Oh, and better tactics, command and control.I agree the fictional war scenario in the beginning is silly. That is only a few pages, and was popular writing style back then (this was first published in 1989 before Gulf 1).The author Steven Zaloga is an armor expert, especially on Soviet equipment. We know now that everything the Soviets put out in the field is junk. The T-72 is vastly inferior to the NATO tanks. Hit it and watch the turret fly 50 feet in the air. It does not have good night vision and cannot fire accurately on the move. US tankers are better trained and can fire more rounds per minute. The book captures these facts, outlines numbers of each country that would have fought.The book addresses all of the critical factors in a "what if" war with NATO and Warsaw pact. Numbers of tanks, tranining, equipment. The US Army has professional soldiers, officer and NCO corps. That leads to a better army. We trained more in the field than any other army.The NTC? Every tanker who visits there will tell you the same thing. The "OPFOR" (bad guys) are the best trained tankers in the world, have "home field" advantage. They know the terrain. And, no one, not even the Soviets, uses reconaissance as well as the OPFOR. US and Isreali tankers who have been to the National Training Center all say it is tougher than war. It's supposed to be. Better to learn in peace than the hard way. Ask the Iraqi's. Or anyone the Isreali's fought against.There are many excellent color diagrams showing the camoflague schemes of the tanks and uniforms of the soldiers as well.This is an overview of the facts, but at 64 pages, that's all it's supposed to be. I enjoyed this book, especially looking back at the opinions that were being written 20 years ago. Recommended for those just getting into armor history or collecters who want to add something different to the libray.

A 1989 classic text by a premier subject matter expert is diminished by the low quality text definition, apparently caused by now being a print on demand book (according to the entry on the copyright page). Legibility of text and black and white photographs is at a low level, appearing faded. The writing and subject content remain excellent, especially for modern era wargamers and those interested in the Cold War and military history. Prospective buyers should consider finding a copy that can be viewed in place before considering a copy of this quality, if my copy is representative of what is available through Amazon. For Amazon, I would recommend getting the supplier to check the print quality of the reproductions being issued.

I picked this up as a reference to assist in a wargaming project, and was a little disappointed after going through it.The information was all there, but was not presented in a very interesting way, and lacked any special graphic appeal.Color plates were limited and the photos were uninspiring.This seemed like a effort to get this period/genera checked off the list than a honest effort to get the feel of the subject matter.Again a good, but not great effort.

Arrived in great shape

Excellent book.Great color plates of the Tanks.Good book for understanding the Armored combat possible during the latter part of the cold war.

Another Osprey classic must have

ok,overall this is a good book with detail breakdown of figur and number of total number of tanks and AFV for both side. couple things to watch out through:1.the author have not read (or had access) to all the tech the soviet had. book repeat point out that reactive amor do not work vs APFSDS round, which is not true as US latter find out after could war. (To be effective against kinetic energy projectiles, ERA must use much thicker and heavier plates and a correspondingly thicker explosive layer. Such "heavy ERA," such as the Soviet-developed Kontakt-5, can break apart a penetrating rod that is longer than the ERA is deep, again significantly reducing penetration capability.)Introduced on the T-80U tank in 1985 the Kontakt-5 are one of such armor.The effectiveness of Kontakt-5 ERA was confirmed by tests run by the German Bundeswehr and the US Army.The Germans tested the K-5, mounted on older T-72 tanks, and in the US, Jane's IDR's Pentagon correspondent Leland Ness confirmed that "when fitted to T-72 tanks, the 'heavy' ERA made them immune to the depleted uranium penetrators of M829 APFSDS, fired by the 120 mm guns of the US M1 Abrams tanks, which were among the most formidable tank gun projectiles at the time." the the book point that use of reative amor as a sign of soviet tank loss it's effective is at best questionable.So the Fictional battle is highly unlikely to play out before like the book wrote, as in 1990-2000 fictional time line the soviet will most likely have kontakt-5 ERAon not just all it's T-72 tank (t-72BM it's now call t-90) even newer ERA would have been build into the T-80 Tank (As a response to the M829A3, the Russian army have designed Relikt, the most modern Russian ERA, which is claimed to be twice as effective as Kontakt-5 It detonates on command before the round hits based on information from radar.) so just to be note on this when read the book.

Where are the M551A1 Sheridans? The index lists M60's, Abrams and the like, no M551s. These vehicles at one pointin time were the backbone of the 2nd ACR and the 11th ACR. The 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment along with the 2ndspent an exorbitant amount of time on the border between East and West Germany. Beside the 2nd and 11th ACR therewere elements with the 1st, 3rd and the 8th Infantry Divisions had a large supply of these vehicles at what was the Mannheim Army Depot.

Good and comprehensive coverage of the head to head Situation at the time. Thankfully it never occurred

A good overview of the potential conflict in the mid to late 80's with fairly accurate division level order of battle for Warsaw Pact and NATO

good

Ich verstehe das Geunke aber sehr gut.Viel zu viel Geld für ein winziges Büchlein mit ein paar Ilustrationen, was allgemeine Wahrheiten verkauft aber keineswegs in irgendeiner Art in die Tiefe der Panzertaktik des Kalten Krieges einsteigt.Ich hatte mir beim Kauf irgendwelche großartigen Erkenntnisse erhofft, v.a. WIE BW, US und UK PzBrigaden gegen sowjetische Panzerkräfte kämpfen. Meiner Meinung nach alles ziemlich armselig aufgemacht, ein paar Panzeruniformen aber säntliche Fragen über die geplante Panzerschlacht i.d. Norddt. Tiefebene bleiben komplett unbeantwortet.Als kleines Pamphlet vielleicht ganz nett aber auf gar keinen Fall für diesen Preis! Meiner Meinung nach rausgeschmissenes Geld!

Ich verstehe das ganze Geunke nicht. Aus der damaligen Perspektive und mit dem damaligen Infos geschrieben, kann Steven das möglichen Wenn ganz gut darstellen.Es ist ein fiktives Szenario und dafür sehr gut ausgearbeitet.