Tank Power Vol.

XVII
Not very clear by the title, this book describes
the colors and markings of US armored
vehicles during World War II. The narrative
(complete in both Polish and English) begins
with the colors of US vehicles following World
War I, through to the end of the Second
World War. This section is followed by
sections on Identification Markings,
Registration Numbers & Tactical Markings,
and finishes with Unit Insignia. Several tables
and black & white drawings of markings and
insignia give a visual representation of the
text, as do a few line drawings showing
typical marking placement on a couple of
tanks. The first 26 pages are composed of the
text plus many clear, b&w photos. The
remainder of the book is taken up by 45
pages of color profiles showing the colors and
markings for a wide variety of vehicles,
including jeeps, trucks, half-tracks and fully-
tracked vehicles. I've seen a couple of these
tanks before (Dragon Lady, Davy Jones, etc.)
but most of them are new to me. The final
three pages of the book have five wartime,
color photographs

Tanks in Detail No. 6. This book strikes me as being a summary of Hunnicutt. It

looks as though most of the material included here was taken directly from
Hunnicutt's book, so for those of you who cannot find or afford the larger book, this
one will make an excellent substitute. Mostly a developmental story book, it is
presented chronologically beginning with early versions of the 75mm-armed
Sherman, contrary to what the title leads one to believe. A lot of information is given
for the development of each version, although there are a few problems with some
of the statements that Gander makes. It is well illustrated with many black & white
photos, and a page of color diagrams showing national identification marks and some
unit insignias (though not nearly comprehensive.
 The U.S. Army in the
European Theater 1943-1945
Slightly different coverage than the previous volume, with all new photographs (no
overlap). This time, the book covers a little bit in North Africa and Italy, and then
moves its coverage to Europe from Normandy to the final campaigns in Germany.
The photos cover gun tanks as well as mine-rollers, flails, bulldozers and and even a
tank mounting a Calliope rocket launcher

This book has long been

considered the "bible" for Sherman enthusiasts. Indeed, it is a huge book
overflowing with information on the design and development of the Sherman tank. It
includes decent plan drawings (in 1/48 scale) and hundreds of black & white photos
of the tank in development and in action. Complete production statistics and
technical specifications for all Sherman variants are included as appendices, as are
performance data for the various armaments of the Sherman and its derivatives. It is
an outstanding resource for model builders and historians, but it does lack certain
information. For example, there is no mention of the changes in shape of the M4
turret bustle. Post-war Shermans get short shrift and the flow of the book is
disjointed. It's difficult to find specific information unless you know precisely where
to look. All that aside, this book needs to be in the library of all Sherman
enthusiasts.

Interactive CD-ROM
I had seen this CD-ROM advertised for several years, but for some reason never
gave much thought to buying it until recently. Although I can't give it a superb
review, I am certainly glad that I bought it. The problem with this CD is that it
strikes me as being almost like a shareware program, where you get just a taste of
the application, but not full access to all of its abilities. There seems to be just so
much unrealised potential with this disk, I wish that the creaters would revisit the
project, and double the amount of material it contains. The application is set up like
an interactive webpage, with categories for History, People, Markings, Technical and
Weapons. Each section gives a textual description of the topic, and most are
illustrated with color and/or b&w drawings and photos. But again, it only gives a
small sampling of the material. My favorite part of the program is the ability to print
certain (though not all) drawings to scale (1/72, 1/48, 1/35 or 1/16th), such as the
hulls, wheels, turrets, noses
 The first of two
Osprey New Vanguard volumes on the Sherman gun tank, this one covers the early,
75-mm armed versions of the tank. The typical Osprey format is to follow the
development of the vehicle chronologically, from the earliest prototypes to the final
versions that saw action on all fronts of the war. This book discusses the use of the
Sherman in the US Army and Marines, as well as lend-lease vehicles to the USSR
and Commonwealth countries, and use by other nations such as China and France.
The typical Osprey format is lots of superb text well-illustrated with numerous black
& white photos of prototypes and vehicles in service. There are several very nice line
drawings of the many versions of the early Sherman, though they are small and not
printed to exact scale. Several pages of color artwork fill out the volume.
 Camouflage and Markings - World War II
The title of this one is pretty self-explanatory, though he does in fact, provide a very
brief overview of colors and markings of US tanks in World War I and between the
wars as well. Although the US Army in Europe receives the lion's share of coverage
for obvious reasons, there are also short sections that cover the US Army and the US
Marine Corps in the Pacific. There are only a few short pages of text that describe
vehicle markings, with the majority of the book comprised of black & white photos
with extensive captioning. Despite the title of the book, there really is very little
information included on the camouflage of US armor. The reader is left with very
brief comments on camouflage in the photo captions. Eight pages of very nicely done
color profiles are included showing a wide variety of vehicles and locales illustrating
some nice color schemes, but descriptions of these colors are sparse. This books
strikes me as being incomplete without more information on colors and camouflage

An older Concord book by

Steve Zaloga, the title is pretty self-explanatory. The introductory text briefly
mentions the T19 and T30 HMCs, based on the M3 half-track, before diving into the
M7/M7B1 Priest, which gets the most coverage, both in text and in photos. The M8
75mm HMC and the M12 155mm GMC are covered pretty well, especially considering
how few were built, and the narrative finishes with a small description of the
experimental vehicles later accepted as the M40, M43 and M37. The numerous
photos progress through the war chronologically, with the majority of the coverage
going to the M7. Sixteen of Steve's gorgeous color profiles are included in the center
of the book, half of them showing the M7, the others showing the M8 and M12 (none
cover the half-track HMCs). Since the later SPGs saw only post-war use, they are not
covered here with photos
 US
Specialized Armored Vehicles in the ETO in World War II
A very specialized book about very specialized vehicles. What has become known as
"armored funnies" has never really been a topic that much interested me, and I
admit that I bought this book mostly for the sake of completing my reference
collection. But once I started reading through it, I couldn't put it down for a couple of
hours. It's amazing what sorts of tasks that these vehicles could accomplish. This
book covers wading tanks, bulldozers, armored recovery vehicles, rocket launchers,
bridging tanks, mine-clearing tanks, flamethrowers, and even the rare night-fighting
and sonic tanks. My only complaint is that it only covers Europe and not the Pacific.
Perhaps another volume in the future?
 Another
Sqadron in Action title, covering the M7, M7B1, Sexton, M8, M12, M40, M43, M37
and M41. There are just a few paragraphs of brief text for each version, plus a whole
pile of b&w photos, mostly covering the M7 and M12. Scale drawings are included for
several versions, printed to an unknown scale, and there are a few scrap drawings of
a couple of external details. There are only a couple of interior views, with the
majority of the photos living up to the book's title and showing action shots. The
middle two pages give eight beautiful color profiles. This book isn't really suitable as
a stand-alone reference for any single vehicle, but it does provide a good overview of
the US SPG program during WW II.

in North Africa and

Italy 1943-45
Similar to Zaloga's previous Concord volume on D-Day tank warfare, this book
covers both sides of the action, Allied and Axis, though the majority of the attention
is paid to the Allies. As the title states, U.S. tanks get the largest treatment in both
photo coverage and the color profiles. Most of the photos of the Axis armor are of
wrecks. The introductory text covers well the campaigns in North Africa, Sicily and
Italy, though due to space constraints, doesn't go into any great detail. It is an
excellent primer to these lesser-known campaigns. Vehicle coverage is broad, though
the Sherman is the main focus of the Allied portion of the photo coverage. As with all
Concord books, the greatest attention is paid to operational use and not so much on
specific details of the different tank variants.
 I finally got a
new copy of this book to replace the one that I somehow lost several years ago. I'm
suer I'll probably come across it someday as I'm looking through some old boxes or
something.... Anyway, this is one of Steve Zaloga's earlier Concord books on US
armor, and covers all of the US main tank destroyers, including the M6, M3, as well
as the more numerous M10, M36 and M18. Several pages of overview text
introduces the tank destroyer program to the reader, and goes into brief detail on
the development of the tank destroyer force and its vehicles. There is a very brief
overview of the use of the TDs in action is all theaters of the war, and several major
campaigns. It also mentions the post-war use of former US tank destroyers. The
photos and color profiles in the center of the book follow along this same pattern,
with most of the coverage going to the fully-tracked TDs.
 Number 1 in
Tankograd's Technical Manual Series, this book collates many of the most useful
photographs and drawings of the M4 and M4A1 from the US Army's original technical
manuals. For those of you can't find the Hunnicutt book, this would be an excellent
alternative, since it covers almost every aspect of the development of this tank in
great detail. Drawings and photos are included of almost all details, including wheels,
tracks, running gear, interior, transmission, engine, guns, ammunition, etc. It would
be fantastic if Tankograd continues the series with the Tech manuals of later versions
of the Sherman. Bilingual: complete text and photo captions in German and English.

Number 7 in Tankograd's
Technical Manual Series, this book provides everything you need to build a Priest.
The only thing missing is a set of plans printed to scale, though there are original
technical drawings included that show vehicle dimensions. Numerous b&w photos of
trial vehicles and from the Army technical manual are included, as are detail
drawings of almost everything inside and outside of the Priest, including the engine.
Both the M7 and M7B1 are included, along with two pages showing the interior of the
M7B2. I guess if nobody is going to release a kit of this vehicle, I'll have to
scratchbuild one myself. Combine this book with the Squadron in Action title and
Concord's SPG volume, and I should be good to go for reference material for such a
project. Bilingual: complete text and photo captions in German and English.
 Well,
what can I say? You've seen one Walk Around, you've seen them all. I certainly don't
mean that in a negative way. This book has all the photos that one needs to detail
the crap out of our Tank Destroyer kits. It covers the fully tracked tank destroyers:
M10, M36 and M18. All three vehicles are covered by a plethora of photos, both
exterior and interior, which is a necessity when building open-top tanks such as
these. I would guess that about half of the photos are color, half are b&w. Three
pages of color side views are included showing the markings for twelve vehicles.
Four-view line drawings are included for each tank destroyer, printed in perhaps
1/48th scale, though I've not measured to confirm.

American Armored
Fighting Vehicles
George Bradford has been quite well known for a long time now for his high-quality
scale drawings. They were first made available through mail order
(http://www.afvnews.ca/) but he has since assembled four volumes of drawings for
different nations. This volume on American AFVs includes close to 300 drawings
printed mostly in 1/35th and 1/48th scales, though with a couple in 1/72nd. The
coverage is chronological from the M1 Combat Car to the T26E4 Super Pershing and
includes 16 Shermans or its variants. The drawings are done with a CAD program
and incorporate 3-dimensional shading which makes them much easier to interpret.
A handful of black & white photos are also included to further illustrate several of the
vehicles.