In-the-tank Books

This book is well written and interesting. It is from the eyes of a young tank crewman (the author) during World War 2 in a Serman M4 medium tank. He tells of the daily life in non-stop combat in Germany near the end of the war. Recommended for readers interested in tank warfare.
The biggest problems with the book is that it is too short.

The author writes an interesting, informative and detailed account of what it was like to be a tank gunner in the second world war. It was filled with personal accounts and not bogged down with "big picture " strategic large unit history. It was what it should be, which was a personal memoir of an individual American soldier.

This is a small book. Given this, it's good that the author doesn't waste time and he starts off his account promptly with joining up with his unit, Company `I', 33rd Armd Regt, 3rd Armd Div. This is a `tankers' view of war and it seems to have a different feel to it. I'm not quite sure why this is, maybe it's because the author's experiences are restricted by the limited numbers in his tank crew or the vision of his gunner's sight.

The author does go into detail but not to the extent that I would've liked. This said, he writes about fighting Tiger 2's, JagdTigers and the panzerfaust troopers lying in wait for him. He is the gunner and he scores a good number of `hits', though he doesn't give a face to those he fought and this has made his account seem less vivid. He is more forthcoming giving voice to his own fears and those he shares his tank with though. Again, interesting but without giving me the feel of being in that smelly tank with him. The other thing I suppose, is that his time in the ETO is in the few months before VE Day, there is no Bulge for instance. His experiences do include liberating the V weapon slave camp at Nordhausen and fighting those Tigers near the training facility at Paderborn. He also found himself to be the lucky recipient of one of the first Pershings. There's also some interesting street fighting, in support of infantry.

Overall, a solid read, with some different perspectives and experiences to those of the infantry. However compared to most of those, I feel it lacks depth, probably due to being a bit on the short side.

I read this great little book over a week during my lunch hour. It was written from memory and doesn't look like it had a lot of fact-checking. The remarks about it being written by a high-school drop-out are absurd: the man has a Ph.D. in Philosophy! That is what adds luster to Irwin's account- he sees the small details of the short, violent, and often horribly sad existence of soldiers (Allied and German) and German civilians at the very end of the battle for Germany proper.
One note is the fact that John Irwin was a crew member of a very rare type of American tank at that time- the M-26 Pershing (a Super Pershing in his case). As a history major, I found that informative. I have never read anything by someone who actually fought in any of the few Pershings in Europe during the Second World War. So Irwin gives a very positive evaluation of the future of American tank design; almost all American tank designs up until the M-1 Abrams are essentially variations of the Pershing. It was certainly a different Army than the one we know today- in some ways it was better; less mercenary. We would do well to heed that.

I'm giving this book 4 stars instead of 5 because it isn't long enough to fully develop the story. Nevertheless, I recommend it because it feels authentic. The soldiers Irwin writes about feel real. You will learn details here about the Sherman tank that you won't find elsewhere. For instance, Irwin describes tank warfare against the German Tiger and explains how they beat that tank in combat. I had been under the impression that the Tiger was almost impossible to beat.

In places, the book is humorous. I laughed where Irwin describes how he is temporarily captured before even entering combat.

One time Irwin is reprimanded for killed a German squad that had just surrendered. When you read the book you will find out why his action was justified.

It would be hard to add to the reviews already written here about this wonderful book. What I really liked about this book was that it puts the development and battle history of the Sherman tank into the proper context and perspective. Too many tank histories are so narrowly focused that you could almost believe that the tanks were developed and used in some kind of void or vacuum. To the contrary there are a myriad of issues that impact on weapons design. There are the questions of raw materials, available technology, size and capability of the industrial base, and the time available to field the new weapon just to name a few. When you add to these challenges the egos and ideas of engineers, industrialists, politicians, and generals all trying to come up with the right answer you begin to understand the complexity of the challenge. Like no one has done before, Mr. Zaloga ties all these elements together in a clear and understandable way in his history of the Sherman. For this reason alone the book is worth reading. The book itself is made of high quality materials, and the pictures are great. You can't go wrong with this book!

Armored Thunderbolt is a very well written account of the Sherman Tank and how it came to be the legend it is. It is essentially a chronological volume showing the development of the Sherman, the legend, the myths, and end results, of one of the most popular or unpopular tanks (if you wish) of the 20th century.

While it is not what you would consider a technical free for all type of book, it gives you the basic statistics and types of the venerable Sherman. The book describes the various types of the Sherman, while not getting too technical on the multitude of changes to production runs of the same series of tank. This means it is not going to tell you when a certain style of turret made its' appearance in the development, but it does give you a breakdown of the M4 series and the major advances or improvements made with the development of the Sherman over the span of the Second World War and on into the cold war.
Armored Thunderbolt in intended as a more general and understandable history of the Sherman without all the overwealming tech information. In depth technical Information is better retrieved from the R.P. Hunnicutt volume entitled the Sherman, well known as the bible for all Sherman enthusiasts.

There are many chapters in the book covering the use of the Sherman in the various theatres of war and how it was employed. It is quite interesting to see the differences in how the tank was used by the different branches of the services especially in how the crews stowed the tank with both personal and military equipment. While a tank in North West Europe may have been found to be covered in the crews baggage and war booty, tanks in the Pacific theatre of war had very little stowed outside them. This was due to the profound use of the tank in close combat with infantry where the stowage could easily be set alight by the enemy causing great difficulties for the crew.

A short section in the book also covers the use of the Sherman in the experimental role and its role as an armored engineer vehicle. This information is well received as it shows how the Sherman was adaptable to various uses throughout its' life. Armored Thunderbolt also gives you a good look into the changes made to the next generation of tank, The Pershing and how lessons learned with the Sherman affected its' development.

Armored Thunderbolt is a book well worth being in any military vehicle enthusiasts' collection with its excellent selection of photographs and informative text. Quite frankly, I had never seen many of the photos that appear in the book and I was truly impressed with the authors' exhaustive attempts not to reuse many photos that can be seen in other books on the Sherman. The reader must be aware though that this is a book on the American use of the Sherman and not one covering all the Allied armies use of it. While there are some photos of the Sherman in Lend Lease use but it generally sticks to American usage in all the theatres of war.

The author has been writing books on military matters for many years. Steve Zaloga is a well known historian as well as a military advisor having a wealth of in depth knowledge and superior access to various archives and collections throughout the world. He has given us a true definitive work on the history of the Sherman worth much more than the asking price of the book.

My but the Sherman tank's reputation has certainly changed over the years. Initially hailed as a 'war winner,' recent books labelled it a 'death trap.' Given the dominant role the Sherman played in WWII, an objective evaluation has been long overdue. Thankfully, that volume is now in hand with ARMORED THUNDERBOLT by noted tank authority Steven Zaloga. Zaloga has penned many fine books on tanke and armored warfare over the years and ARMORED THUNDERBOLT is his best yet!

Reading ARMORED THUNDERBOLT, one immediately realizes the author has a masterful knowledge of the subject. The reasons the M4 developed as it did over the years are many and varied. What is so impressive about Zaloga's book is his ability to illuminate all the various strands that led to the original M4 design - and its subsequent development - and interweave all those elements into a lucid, entertaining narrative. Make no mistake about it: ARMORED THUNDERBOLT is a valuable, instructive examination of American WWII tank development but it is also a great read.

There have been other Sherman books published but few have shown the clarity, the readability of ARMORED THUNDERBOLT. In my opinion, too many of those books buried the reader under nuts-and-bolts and stats. While Zaloga doesn't shy away from such material, he uses them judiciously to make his points. Consequently, this is a book to savor. While you can certainly read it from cover to cover, it might be more instructive to read a chapter at a time, mulling over the various points and observations Zaloga has raised.

Rather than belabor the point, pick up a copy and enjoy the work of a masterful, knowledgeable author at the top of his form. It is hard to imagine a better written 'report card' on the M4 Sherman. Likewise it is hard to imagine Zaloga topping ARMORED THUNDERBOLT...but I hope he tries! Highly recommended.

This book is an excellent counter to Death Traps: The Survival of an American Armored Division in World War II. Lt. Cooper was charged with finding and tagging destroyed tanks. He has very little good to say about the Sherman. Mr. Zaloga is a militarian historian who explains in detail the Sherman's problems and its strengths.

The Sherman had a bad rap as a "Tommy cooker". This tendency to burn after being hit was blamed on its use of gas rather than diesel as a fuel. Mr. Zaloga demostrates that the real cause was ammo storage. Once this problem was fixed the burn rate after being hit fell from 60-80% to 10-15%.

The Sherman's other main problem was that the Allies were winning. This meant that they were advancing. The most important factor in tank-vs-tank fighting is NOT technical superority. It is who engages first. Here the defenders obviously have the advantage. The Army found that when the defenders fired first, the attackers suffered 4.3 times more casulties than the defenders. So the Sherman tended to get the short end of the stick.

This explains why rear-area Lt. Cooper Death Traps: The Survival of an American Armored Division in World War II thought Shermans were death traps while Col Loza Commanding the Red Army's Sherman Tanks: The World War II Memoirs of Hero of the Soviet Union Dmitriy Loza thought they were much better than the German tanks.

It would be hard to overpraise this book. It is a masterpiece.

I met Steve at a military symposium in New York City in 1991 when I came down as an instructor from West Point to give a presentation on German World War II armaments production. Steve was in the audience and we shared ideas on the walk back to the train station.

I have read most of Steve's historical works and his understanding of the technology and issues surrounding World War II armored development is unmatched by few in the military history field. This book represents the first time someone has pulled together the entire story of the M4 Sherman tank's technology and production developments, doctrine, fielding,and combat experience in a single volume. It is a complex story that addresses the many personalities, opposing concepts, bitter debate, innovation and expedients surrounding the Sherman tank's compressed World War II service.

Steve handles that story masterfully, particularly the debate between LTG McNair's "battle need" (today what we call requirements-based procurement), MG Bruce's high-speed tank destroyer concept, and LTG Dever's more perceptive view that the "best enemy of the tank is another tank." Steve also explains the difficulty faced by the U.S. Army in meeting the demand for tanks to fight in environments around the world, be reliable, be simple to operate, and that could be produced in large numbers for the U.S. Army and all of its allies. The entire requirement was compressed into a three-year time span where technical intelligence of German Army developments lagged American production by months.

Steve, building on his previously published research, assembles supporting technical documentation of Sherman tank production, fielding, and deployed strength for the first time in one book. Steve is one of the few authors to accurately compare Allied and German tank losses in Normandy. Too many authors stand in awe of the Wehrmacht's Panzerwaffe and criticize Allied armored operations in Normandy and northern France, completely missing how devastating the campaign was to the German Army's tank strength. Allied tank losses were actually less than the Germans between June and September 1944. The reasons for the disparity are clearly spelled out in Steve's book.

The book is not without a few minor errors. These revolve around the American 90mm gun's capability compared to the German 88's and the British 17 lber. The chart that compares the M3 90mm versus the German KwK 36 and KwK 43 is invalid. The 90mm's standard M82 APCBC shell is compared to the 88mm tungsten-cored AP40 shot which has a higher velocity and was produced in extremely limited numbers (800 rounds in 1942 and 8,900 rounds in 1943. Of these only 5,570 were actually consumed by the end of 1943 and 1,600 rounds were returned for use in machine tools). Likewise the performance figures for the KwK 43's Pzgr 39/43 is for the higher performance tungsten-cored AP40 shot, only 5,750 were produced and fewer still were fired. (see Fritz Hahn's Waffen und Geheimwaffen des Deutschen Heeres 1933-1945) The correct comparison should have been the standard German Pzgr 39 APCBC shell, which for the KwK 36 gun penetrates 111mm at 500 meters while the KwK 43 gun penetrates 185mm.

Likewise the the comparison of the American 90mm with the British 17 lber understates the superiority of the American 90mm gun. First the American 90mm was a good all-purpose tank gun with an excellent high explosive round, a round used more frequently than armor piercing in combat. With post-war developments it was also used extensively in Korea and Viet Nam. Second, the 90mm M77 AP shot was capable of penetrating the Panther's front glacis out to 600 yards, the gun mantlet out to 1000 yards, and the front turret out to 1500 yards. This was demonstrated in the test shoot at Balleroy, France in July 1944 and Isigny in August 1944. The 17 lber could not penetrate the Panther's glacis with standard APCBC ammunition even at point-blank range of 200 yards. With tank versus tank engagement ranges in Western Europe averaging 800 meters the 90mm was gun was more than adequate. This was demonstrated in battles along the Roer in the Ardennes, and in Alsace wherever,the M-36 TD's were on hand.

Despite these minor discrepancies this is an outstanding book and one which should be on the shelf of those interested in understanding World War II armored combat developments.

Keith Wooster

I recently finshed reading this book, and thoroughly enjoyed it. It provides a gripping, first hand account of just what it was like to be a member of a tank crew, during the early, confusing, and often deadly battles of the war in North Africa. This book provides the human view that is so often missing from the more conventional histories of armies or battles. Hightly recomended!

This little book, "Brazen Chariots" is the best first-hand account by any tank commander in North Africa in the British 8th Army. The author, South African cricket star Robert Crisp, was the top tank "ace" of 8th Army's successful Operation Crusader offensive of late 1941 (credited with at least 8 German tanks).

It gives a clear and precise account of what being inside a tank was like and the technical problems involved in tank fighting of that era. It also provides valuable insight into the command of armored formations, in particular why the British "left hook" attempt to outflank Rommel at the end of Crusader failed: the "left hook" commander, Brigadier Alec Gatehouse of 4th/22nd Armored Brigade, was afraid to confront the Panzerarmee and was willing to give away his position in Rommel's rear, alerting Rommel to retreat.

It should be noted that it was Crisp's driver who gave the M3 US-built Stuart tank its alternative name, the Honey, by exclaiming something like: "Lord love us, what a honey !".

Contrary to the impression many readers have, the Stuart, while dubbed a "light" tank by the US Army,was vastly superior to the then German and British light tanks (Panzer I, II) both in armor thickness and gunpower. The 37mm gun of the Stuart had a vastly more powerful armor penetrating ability not only of the puny 20mm guns of these earlier light tanks, but was also considerably more powerful than the German 37mm gun (a lower velocity gun on early versions of Panzer III)and roughly equal to the British 40mm (2-pounder) gun or the German short 50mm gun (on some versions of Panzer III).

In Crusader, the US 37mm gun gun was only inferior to the German long 50mm gun (just then appearing) or the German short 75mm gun (on Panzer IV). Checking tables of armor penetration and armor thickness, it was equal to or slightly superior to most German (and all Italian) tanks in Crusader. However, it was Crisp's keen observation and skill in picking off stray German tanks that enabled him to destroy so many.

This book is infused with action. It is a very personal account of tank combat against superior machines and odds. The author is likable and sometimes humorous. I enjoyed his British figures of speech.

My only complaint is that the book is too short. That is a reader's highest compliment.

Going over my list Introduction to Tank Warfare list, I'm surprised I left this one off. This is one of the books I read as a kid that is partially responsible for me becoming a tanker myself.

Crisp gives a great first person account of being a tank commander during Operation Crusader in 1941. This book is great for the vivid descriptions of battles where he survived, though under-gunned and under-armored compared to his Panzer opponents, by using terrain and mobility to advantage. However it is also an accurate account of the mundane activities between battles without becoming boring in the process. All this is accomplished with Crisp's characteristically British flair where he continually relays how important was the need for British troopers to brew their regular pot of tea.

This is a short volume that gives an almost day by day account of the campaign in a very readable fashion. While detailed enough to keep any expert turning the pages, it is also basic enough for the casual reader who just wants a good 1st person account of the War in North Africa.

The limited scope is, of course, not the authors fault; he fought where he was assigned. If you just want some idea of what tank warfare was like in early WWII North Africa from someone who took part in no major armor engagements during the few weeks he was there, then get this book. However, if you want a book that tells about the battles and fighting vehicles used in the entire campaign or even a chunk of it, then Brazen Chariots is not for you. Major Crisp only commanded American made M3 Stuart light tanks with puny 37mm guns that couldn't stand up on equal terms against anything bigger than a Panzer Two, although Crisp's M3 was typically matched against a Panzer Three or Four. Of course, this wasn't his fault either, but I couldn't help wishing he would have at least served in a Crusader or Valentine at least from a British standpoint. In combat, he was luckiest when he could use his tank to sneak up on an anti-tank gun from behind. I also thought the writing to be a bit amateurish. This book also had the weirdest ending of any I have ever read. It leaves you not only wondering what ultimately happened to Major Crisp, but if some of the last pages of the book are missing. Seriously! I actually went to a book store to look at another copy, but it was just like mine. I grade a "C" on the book; and an "A" for the world's worst ending. My advice is: Only read this book if you have a lot of time on your hands or are desperate for something to read on this particular subject.

This is a really well researched book about a small tank-infantry unit's advance with Patton's Army up Southern France.

I don't have much to add to the general praise for this book. I did want to comment on the story and the various reviews that others have written for this book - the story is much more complex than others have described, and I got a distinctly different take on the tale than several reviewers did.

The Germans were in the midst of what can best be described as a fighting retreat at the time the author's grandfather entered the town of Allan. Leaving one Panther tank and one Marder assault gun behind in town as a rear guard could hardly do much more than slow down the U.S. Army's advance. The engagement was not some sort of major German assault against a U.S. Army small unit, which is what the Amazon blurb about this book would seem to indicate.

The key story point of this book for me was that the author makes it clear that his grandfather, Lt. Danby, fresh from his job as a tank crew training instructor, and eager to get into combat, simply did not have the real-life tank experience to not get himself and his crew killed in his first ever major combat engagement. Lt. Danby was advised by the other tank commander with him not to drive straight into town, but as this guy was a non-com and junior in rank, Danby brusquely chose to ignore this advice.

There was no "rampaging Panther" in this engagement as described in the Amazon review. All that happened was that Lt. Danby drove his tank straight into an ambush, pure and simple. In hindsight, it was pretty obvious that the Germans might have the approaches to the town covered with anti-tank weapons. And so it was the stupidest thing any tank commander could have done to drive in without scouting these approaches first, and doing so got him and two other crew members killed.

The author also states that nobody even clearly saw which of the two German AFV's in town fired the fatal shot, that about half the witnesses thought it was the Marder, and half thought it was the Panther. In his reconstruction of the story, most of the witnesses could not even clearly identify the German tank as a Panther, only that it was a "big German tank", with most thinking it was a Tiger tank (the author figured out that it was a Panther from other military records). In any case, neither German AFV had enough infantry or other support to be viable for long against the much larger U.S. force, and both were knocked out shortly.

In combat, size matters, getting the first shot matters, and good judgement matters. Throughout this engagement, small groups of soldiers from both sides would run into larger or better armed units and get wiped out or captured. That was the nature of the sort of chaotic small-unit engagements that characterized much of the battle for France.

As far as combat tactics with an M4 Sherman goes, you can learn a lot about the quirks of the M4 by reading Dmitriy Loza's "Commanding the Red Army's Sherman Tanks". Loza knew well enough never to drive his tank around a corner or into any new place without first scouting ahead, sometimes getting out on foot himself to do so if he didn't have infantry with him. German anti-tank weapons by 1944 had developed to the point that they could knock out almost any tank, and the M4's thin armor provided little protection against an ambush.

All in all, a superbly written book, and a terrific read. I just seem to have read a somewhat different book than some of the other reviewers.

The Second World War was filled with big battles, all of which have received some sort of literary and/or celluloid treatment. However, there were thousands of little battles as well, many of which are mere footnotes to what went on in a larger campaign. The author was trying to find out how his grandfather died in the war, and in the course of his research he came across a story which he felt compelled to tell. It's the story of a few small units and the combat they faced during the invasion of Southern France in 1944.

This invasion has never gotten the literary coverage of the Normandy invasion, but it was important in the grand Allied scheme of winning the war. While the book doesn't present a complete "big picture" view of the invasion, it does provide a nice little snapshot of what a few small units went through. The narrative flows really well and is filled with various recollections of some of the men involved. If small unit actions are what you like, this will be a book you'll enjoy

As the Webmaster of the Society of the 3rd Infantry Division website ([...]) I have met George Burks and Richard Guimond and wondered about their experiences in WWII. These men like many of their generation didn't talk about their time in battle even at the Society Reunions unless you really pressed the point. My own Dad was a war photographer with the 3rd Signal Company of the 3rd Division in WWII and I had seen photos ([...])of the carnage and fighting but never heard the about terror that was involved. This book by Jeff Danby is a fantastic story of one of the battles in Southern France that the 3rd Division was involved. History and World War II buffs will find "Day of the Panzer" extremely satisfying.

I just finished reading 'Day of the Panzer' (not a title I would have had) but what a story, about an armored infantry outfit of the invasion of southern France in August of 1944. Powerful personal stories of danger, daily misery and the true horrors of combat. The author was researching information on the death of his grandfather who was killed in his Sherman tank in that bloody summer of 1944. Some and seemingly endless close quarters combat with the Germans strained the US infantry and armor troops. A tough fight through dozens of small French hamlets and over stone bridges coupled with superb fighting skills from the Germans. Losses were much lighter than those taken by allied forces going across northern France, but still brutal in the slow advance north.
Well written, splendid research and a very nice background profile of the major personalities. I felt as if I had served and known many of these brave men.
Highly recommend this book.

This is an interesting book built around a rather unknown campaign from World War II, and an interesting incident during that campaign. After D-Day, the U.S. and their Allies invaded southern France in August 1944. The ensuing campaign has been derided as the "Champagne Campaign" by historians and observers. While the campaign didn't see the grinding attrition battles that took place in Normandy--the invasion itself was virtually unopposed, and the Germans were essentially withdrawing because of the breakout in Normandy--there was some serious fighting, and the author focuses on one such action, in which his grandfather, a tank platoon commander, was killed.

The battle took place during the pursuit north from the beachheads towards the southern portion of the French border with Germany. German troops were retreating along a main supply route north, and part of the 3rd Infantry Division, with attached armored units, tried to capture a village near the line of march with the intention of setting up a base of fire onto the main road. However, the Americans inadvertently chose a village occupied by a German Corps HQ, and those Germans defended the position rather stoutly to avoid capture. The resulting battle killed a number of Americans, including the tank platoon commander (author Danby's grandfather) and cut off some others, resulting in their capture. Eventually, the Americans drove the Germans out of the village, and continued with their pursuit of them north towards their homeland.

I enjoyed this book pretty well. I thought at times it was a bit over-written, the prose getting a bit purple in places, and it occasionally has an amateurish quality to it, as when there's an anecdote about a guy who served with the unit but doesn't appear in the narrative who was killed after the war, driving home from his discharge. The book also has a lot of build-up to its one chapter that deals with the actual battle, which is only about 20 pages in length. Definitely recommended for World War II buffs.

Truly a fascinating look into a lesser known aspect of the Vietnam War. This book gets the job done! Well written and easy to read. If you have any interest in personal narratives dealing with military history, this book will not disappoint. The book will give you new ways to think of things that you might've thought you knew, or that you might not have known much about. Read it & you'll see what I mean. Much thanks to the author both for his service, and for his story. Semper Fi!

As a Marine Corps 1811 (Tanker) veteran I know that only a Marine Corps Vietnam era tanker could write a book such as this. It actualy brings you into the turret of an M-48-A-3 tank during battles and day to day duty during the Vietnam War. The book begins with the 1968 deployment of elements of the US Marine Corps 5th Division (B Co. 5th Tank. Bn, 27th Marines etc.). The deployment was an unplanned response to the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong's Tet offensive. Much good can be said about the book but, what I have been told summarizes it all. I have been told by those who I have loaned the book to that it provided them with a feeling and understanding of what it was like to have been a Marine Corps Tanker serving in the Nam. The book is a must read for anyone interested in military armor, or anyone serving as a tank crewman in the US Armed forces (especialy the Marine Corps). This book should be included on any list of books to be read by Marine Corps officers, especially if serving in tanks. To Peabody I say, well done Marine. Semper Fi.

A great read. Purchased a copy for my dad a vet from vietnam. Outstanding read and would suggest to anyone with or without military experience.

Bob Peavey is not only a great writer, he is my good friend. His historical chronical of his time in what some of us refer as "The Land of Oz" is right up there with some of the classics that have been written about the Vietnam War. The main reason that the book is such a great read is the fact that Bob lived the words. He talks the talk and walks the walk. Reading a book that contains men who fought and bled with me cannot be compared to "just a histroy book." Bob tells it like is was, warts and all.

The book satisfies my criteria for a good read: Its' well written, the topic is interesting, the book hold your attention, and the account is plausible.

The book also includes a fair amount of action and interesting events from the Vietnam War.

I enjoyed reading it.

This book had a lot of variety in the exercises, and I liked it enough to buy it.

This book is excellent! I'm using almost on a daily basis. I would highly recommend it.

This book arrived immediately and was in great shape. (Now it's my turn to get in great shape. haha) Thanks for the wonderful service.

This exercise book is comprehensive. It has a good variety for novice, skilled and master levels. These exercises can be done at home or a gym!

I am so glad I started with the book before moving on to the DVD. I was able to learn all the exercises and keep up with the DVD better than I otherwise would have. After two weeks with this book, I felt more limber and like I was really doing something good for me. After two months people started to notice-- I was toning up. These exercises really work for quick results-- and it's not too big of a time commitment. I'm working out with Minna Lessig 20 to 30 minutes a day, 5 times week. After 10 months, I can definately say I love the improvement it's made.

I agree with the former Speaker, this is a very important history of the Army in the "'tween years" of the 20's and 30's. The Wehrmacht was way ahead in their understanding of the tanks and tactics. The funniest story in the book is where Patton decides to join the Cavalry so that he can play polo after he is censured for his apostasy on tank warfare as independent of the infantry. We were lucky.

When this book first came out in 1998 it addressed arguably the top priority in national defense planning - how can we ensure that this "peace dividend" is used to develop truly innovative military technology and doctrine? With the events of September 11th and the ushering in of the War on Terror the issue of technology innovation - often covered by the umbrella term "Revolution in Military Affairs" - has certainly slipped down the priority scale, but it would be unwise to suggest that it has lost any of its core relevance.

RAND analyst David Johnson hammers home on a few themes in "Fast Tanks and Heavy Bombers." First, he stresses that the primary lesson learned coming out of WWI, at least from the perspective of the top Army brass, was the central importance of mass mobilization of personnel and efficient, large-scale production of supplies and machinery, which to, among other things, the establishment of the Army Industrial College in 1924. Technology was viewed as important, but clearly auxiliary to men and manpower. In the 1920s a deep sense of isolationism and then in the 1930s the economic impact of the Depression kept Army budgets low. The Army chose to allocate its limited resources to maintaining their manpower, which was less than 50% of the limits set by the 1920 National Defense Act. As Army budgets dropped 20%, personnel never slipped more than 5%. Johnson's central argument is that the Army slipped behind in tank technology and doctrine primarily because the Army leadership made a conscious decision to not invest resources in those areas. In the end, it was wrong of them to point a finger at a stingy Congress or an ungrateful American public. They could have invested more in technology and experimentation; they just chose not to.

Second, the tank and the bomber were developed under starkly different organizational and cultural conditions. The tank was developed in parallel in the 1930s by the infantry and cavalry. Each sub-service saw the tank as an instrument to aid in their strategic mission, not as a fundamentally new way to fight. The cavalry likely missed the greatest opportunity with the tank. It is shocking to read to what lengths many went to defend the horse cavalry, first holding up Poland as an example of a great modern cavalry force and then arguing that German armored success in Poland in 1939 and France in 1940 didn't prove anything. Johnson's book is populated with a number of well-meaning senior Army officers that come off as real boobs in hindsight, but none more so than Major General John Herr, the chief of cavalry in the late 1930s and early 1940s. The armor doctrine created in this environment, where radical ideas were shunned if not outright prohibited, thus reflected traditional missions and tactics. As last as 1938, Johnson notes, there were more hours in the Command and General Staff College curriculum dedicated to horseback riding than to either armor warfare or air power.

The bomber, on the other hand, developed under a much more permissive intellectual environment and one that put a premium on technology over manpower. The story of US airpower during the interwar period is one of a small, elite renegade cadre of officers fighting for independence. In many ways, it was the example of the air corps that prevented a separate armor force from emerging in the infantry. The end result was a dedicated and highly professional core of officers with top technology and a coherent strategy and doctrine for their service, albeit not without serious shortcomings.

Third, despite great differences in organization and culture, both the armor and air forces made similarly disastrous assumptions about how their weapons would be engaged in the next war. The US tanks - greatly inferior to the German tanks, which were designed to fight other tanks - were in fact precisely what the US military asked for. One of the crucial differences in US armor doctrine was the view that the Armor Force (only created in July 1940) was to exploit gaps in the enemies line, not create the gaps themselves. In this sense, US tanks were seen as rather akin to the traditional horse cavalry - a lightly armed and highly mobile force used to harass rear areas and reconnoiter the battle space. The US focused on tanks of high speed, relative light-weight (to allow the crossing of temporary pontoon bridges) and great reliability; firepower and armor were readily sacrificed to achieve these design objectives. The result when going head-to-head with the Panzer Corps - an eventuality the US Army did not see as the prime role for armor units - was slaughter. The key message is that the US Army was NOT supplied with inferior machines, but rather they did not appreciate the looming nature of modern armored warfare and thus entered the war with the "wrong weapons" but they were the weapons they asked for. Moreover, the US Army was convinced that the best way to fight an armored attack was with anti-tank guns. Tank-on-tank battles were seen as wasteful and never really wargamed.

For their part, the Air Corps doctrine and strategy rested on several key assumptions that turned out to be false in practice. First, it was believed that the B-17 and B-24 could defend themselves from fighter attacks because of their rich complement of .50 caliber machine guns. At first this proved to be the case. However, the German Luftwaffe quickly developed new standoff weapons, such as a .37mm cannon that could hit bomber formations outside the range of the bombers' .50 calibers, and the effective use of dive-bombing tactics on unescorted bombing formations. By late 1943, the odds of a US air corps bomber crewmember surviving a 25 run tour were about 35%. Second, it was presumed that the bombers would be able to accurately bomb their targets in daylight hours. By and large, that was not the case. Finally, the strategic air power theory posited that massive bomber formations could cripple a country's ability to make war by knocking out key industrial nodes, such as the production of ball bearings. Again, that thesis turned out to be far from accurate.

In the end, Johnson makes a convincing case that the failures of tank and bomber technology and doctrine in the Second World War were not a product of limited resources or support, but rather the unwillingness of the Army to invest scarce resources into those technologies and reluctance to engage in spirited and realistic experimentation. Thus Johnston concludes: "The Army, in short, was responsible for its own unprepared ness."

Words cannot do this book justice. This is one of the finest studies of military bureaucracies rejecting change and protecting the old order that has ever been written. Anyone who wants to know how big Rumsfeld's challenge is in trying to transform the Pentagon must read this book.

Johnson was a career soldier before going to RAND. He has a deep sense of how military cultures operate. His portrait of the cavalry wing rejecting modernity is humorous and tragic simultaneously. It is a case study in how large bureaucracies protect themselves and their caste system from being threatened by new developments.

Equally, if not more fascinating, is his conclusion that the Air Corps was equally one sided in favoring its theory of big bombers. While the cavalry drove out officers who believed the time of the horse was past, the Air Corps drove out officers who believed fighter planes were powerful opponents for bombers. In some ways the Air Corps self-blindness was as dangerous as the cavalry's total identification with an obsolete past. The refusal to recognize the vulnerability of the bomber meant that bomber crews in Europe would have the greatest risk of dying of any elements of the American military.

Johnson also reports on the tankers fixation with lighter, less powerful "fast tanks" rather than the heavier, more powerfully armed versions the Germans settled on. The American fixation was on a fast tank that could break through and run amok behind enemy lines but was incapable of standing up to German tanks in one on one fights. The result was a tank that led to many more American casualties than necessary. Interestingly, all post World War II American tank designs have been based on the German model of heavy armor and heavy guns.

This is a very thoughtful book filled with quotes from sincere, serious professional military men who were dead wrong but determined to protect their views and to use their position in the hierarchy to get the job done.

It is a sobering story for anyone who would modernize a large, complex military bureaucracy.

This book provides a compelling and well researched account of how the U.S. Army interpreted its experiences in WWI and how it attempted to transform itself from an internal security force into a modern army ready for an other world war. The author does so by reviewing how the Army reacted to the new weapons systems that emerged from World War I (WWI) and were to dominate military operations for the rest of in the 20th Century. He wisely concentrates on two specific weapons systems: armored fighting vehicles (tanks and armored cars), and by extension mechanization in general; and military aircraft (bombers, fighters and reconnaissance aircraft). The author discusses how U.S. Army attempted to further develop these systems and integrate them into its force structure and force planning. It quickly becomes clear that the unprepared state of the U.S. Army at the start of World War II was the direct result of misunderstanding the implications of these weapon systems for modern warfare and the faulty tactical doctrines that resulted form this misunderstanding. The author demonstrates that the extreme austerity imposed on the Army between the wars exacerbated this unprepared condition, but it was not the sole cause of it. In the end, lack of well thought out doctrines impeded not only the Army's efforts to prepare for modern war, but the development of the weapon systems with which to fight it.

This reviewer would suggest that anyone interested in this book would be well advised to also read a second book, "Beyond the Trenches" by General William E. Odom (ret). In it Odom traces the development of U.S. Army doctrine between the wars and the factors preventing the emergence of a really sound set of doctrines and plans.

This absorbing history of the U.S. Army between the world wars and on into the Second World War illuminates not only the past but the present and future. As his title indicates, author David Johnson traces two main themes: the Army's responses to the challenges and opportunities presented by the airplane and tank. He shows that these responses, although very different, were both seriously inadequate in ways that proved very costly in the test of war -- and he shows why and how these inadequacies developed. Johnson, a former professional Army officer and National War College instructor, is not dedicated to any theoretical framework. He tells the story very clearly and directly, relying on deep research in primary sources, and draws his lessons from the events as they occurred. He understands the people and the institutions and organizations within which they acted, and he views them sympathetically but dispassionately and objectively.

The story Johnson tells is not one of inevitable historical forces but of human decisions. The decisions were made under the influence of institutions and events, but were not determined by them. They were not catastrophic, but they were well short of optimum. Many Americans died as a result of deficiencies that could well have been avoided.

Because it does not tie the story up in a neat theoretical package, Johnson's book offers no canned recipe for success in responding to present and future challenges and opportunities. Instead, it provides a rich source of inspiration and caution, and a stimulus to thought.

There are a few disappointments, although minor in comparison to the book's strengths: (1) I would have liked to have seen a deeper analysis of the part played by technological factors. While we are too often treated to on-dimensional purely technological approaches to such questions, I feel Johnson goes a bit too far in the other direction. (2) Johnson's citation system for sources, while adequate for a brief article, becomes frustratingly cumbersome at book length. It is too often a real struggle to unearth exactly what his source for a given point is.

Another book that can profitably be read as a complement to this one is William O. Odom's _After the Trenches: The Tranformation of U.S. Army Doctrine, 1918-1939_ (Texas A&M U. Press, 1999).

Will O'Neil

This book is made of very high quality paper and hardcover. It is very easy and entertaining to read. It covers the early battle actions from February 1941-June 1941. The book has all the data on the tanks (even to the steel specifications of each armour plate), all the guns penetration and accuracy data tables & gunners aim diagrams for how the Germans should fire at Matilda tanks!) Jentz uses original sources for all his information not others work.
There are many official after action reports included as to the effectiveness of the tanks both in reliability and fighting performance. Also the official recommended tactics for battle are given.
Most battles are covered with tactical movements and a map showing them, also battle reports and at the end a summary of the tactics each side used and what conclusions can be made.
The B/W plates are of very clear reproduction and show many details not normally visible like the extra armour plates added to early Pz4D. The Matilda is definately the "star" of this book but there is still a full appeciation of the Italian tanks and guns.
This book covers next to everything those interested in early North Africa Tank battles & tanks could want to know. Like the other reviewer I am eagerly waiting the next 2? books in this series!!

This is precisely the sort of work which wargamers long for, but never find. It is exhaustively researched and clearly presented, and chock-full of detail on equipment and tactics. If you are interested in Advanced Squad Leader, Advanced Tobruk, Panzer Grenadier Afrika Korps, or similar simulations, you will be delighted with this. It's also filled with clear, excellent photographs, maps, and charts.

This work is an absolute necessity for anyone interested in the North African campaign. It is not a story or an account of battles, rather, it is a technical manual regarding the forces involved in the campaign. Mr. Jentz is meticulous in his research of the primary historical documents and does an excellent job of organizing this mass of material. Of greatest interest to me personally is the tactical treatment of the battles. While I possess numerous works on this campaign, I have never seen such analyses published until now. Additionally, the author conducts an in-depth analysis of the equipment utilized by the Germans, British, and Italians. As a result, he produces an objective account of the effectiveness of the tanks, artillery, and other weapons utilized in North Africa. The author also includes excellent orders-of-battle of the various units.

Of course, no work is ever perfect. If I had to mention some negatives of the book, I would point out that the maps should be colorized. While useful, these would have been improved with color renditions of the various forces, instead of the black-and-white that is used in the book. Trying to discern the dynamics of the battle was made more difficult since all of the arrows were in black ink.

In sum, this book is an excellent addition to any military library. It covers areas previously untouched and makes a valuable contribution to the field. I highly recommend this work and eagerly await the next two promised volumes that will comprise the whole of the North African campaign.

This book is a wonderful study about the battl in North Africa in the first 6 month of 1941. You must have it at home!

As all the Jents books, also this one is dedicated to the Panzertruppen and his day by day analysis of the single fighting is an inestimable fount for the ones really interested in understand the peculiar problems of the tank combat in the desert and, more general, on flat lands.
The author introduce the reader with the complete list of the italian, british and german tanks operating on the theatre and reporting not only the tanks datas but also the ones of the guns and the kills capabilities of all them explaining why the italian army, supported by no more than 100 german tanks was able to keep the entire british army at bay for three years.
Inside this book you'll find tactics notes, use of formation and how not to use the radio in combat, how to plain a tactical operation and how to plain a complete failure overstimating the enemy and completely forgotting the Von Moeltke lessons about the uncertain nature of the battlefield and the strange enemy use to have its own plans...
If you are interested about the tank warfare and the desert one, you must have this book

If you cannot afford Wolfgang Schneider's massive two-volume "Tigers in Combat" series (published by J.J. Fedorowicz in Canada), then this little booklet is a useful alternative. While the other Tiger books usually reprint the same propaganda photos with useless captions, Schneider actually gives a very brief history of each Tiger unit, and offers a handful of photos showing the King Tiger in service with that unit. Thus, you get a better understanding of different camouflage and marking practices in each Panzerabteilung. Combine this title with Thomas Jentz's King Tiger book published by Osprey, and you have an economical but authoritative reference library on the beast.

This is an excellent source on the King Tiger tank; it represents a pictorial guide to the development and operations of the King Tiger. It provides information on the technical development, through some text, but mostly pictures, and drawings (including three cutaway drawings of the interior of the King Tiger's turret, and hull). Most of the book is on the units and operations of the King Tiger tank, almost every unit to receive King Tiger tanks is summarized with a few paragraphs on that units operation from 1944 to 1945, and accompanied by interesting pictures that illustrate the units operations. The pictures are never or rarely published before, the book is worth buying just for the pictures (as many come from private collections or those who served with the King Tiger tank units). The book also has a table listing the complete deliveries of King Tigers to units. This book is worth buying if you are interested in the King Tiger tank.

I bought this short (47 page) booklet as a reference as a hobbyist. There is enough good detail on unit marking and the slight variations of the models of this tank to be of use to the modeller and even history enthusiast. The photos are great, many of which may be first published in this booklet. There are more detailed and lengthly publications on the Tiger tanks, but for the price, this one is very good.

This is an excellent source on the King Tiger tank; it represents a pictorial guide to the development and operations of the King Tiger. It provides information on the technical development, through some text, but mostly pictures, and drawings (including three cutaway drawings of the interior of the King Tiger's turret, and hull). Most of the book is on the units and operations of the King Tiger tank, almost every unit to receive King Tiger tanks is summarized with a few paragraphs on that units operation from 1944 to 1945, and accompanied by interesting pictures that illustrate the units operations. The pictures are never or rarely published before, the book is worth buying just for the pictures (as many come from private collections or those who served with the King Tiger tank units). The book also has a table listing the complete deliveries of King Tigers to units. This book is worth buying if you are interested in the King Tiger tank.

This book is amazing, full of combat records about the US Tanks and crews in the Pacific theater, from Philippines to Okinawa, the amount of little know data (for example the problems with the stuart's 37mm gun in Philippines), and the deep of the research are very welcomed.


"Rolling Thunder against the Sun" it's the perfect companion for the Oscar Gilbert's "Marines armor in the Pacific" and Bryan Perret's "Tanks tracks to Rangoon", now the question is ¿when somebody publish a similar book in size, deep and price :) about the japanese point of view of armor in the WWII?...

At the end of the book Mr. Salecker notes that what the public thinks it knows about the Pacific war is usually limited in comparison to the war in the ETO, and what little awareness there is usually involves the Marines. Guilty as charged! Taking absolutely nothing away from the Marines, I was almost totally unaware of the scale and scope of armored operations in the Pacific that are recounted in this book. If you like military history, and especially if you are a "tread head" like me, then you will really enjoy this book. It is a great read, and it passes what I consider to be the real acid test for any book. It made me want to go out and read and learn more on the subject.

I also build WW II model tanks, and this book is an endless source of information, ideas, inspiration, and photos for future armor modeling projects.

Gene Eric Salecker, the author of Fortress Against The Sun: The B-17 Flying Fortress In The Pacific, has now written "Rolling Thunder: Against the Rising Sun: The Combat History of the U.S. Army Tank Battalions in the Pacific in World War II."

Mr. Salecker's book is a crisp, well-paced narrative of battlefield actions. It avoids the voyeurism that books about fighting the Samurai easily fall into. With the bigger picture of the Pacific War rather limited in his book, Mr. Salecker has done a fine job of producing a micro-history of U.S. Army armored operations in the Pacific campaign. The author is a reliable, informed and entertaining navigator -- he tells a lot of good stories, and tells them well.

As his historic survey makes clear, U.S. Army tanks struggled against the environment almost as much as the Japanese. Tanks lost their tracks burrowing along dense, mine infested jungle paths -- sank into deep underwater shell holes in coral reefs -- got hung up on coconut stumps -- flipped over climbing muddy dirt trails.

Early in the war, fighting for Luzon, Bataan, and New Guinea, the M5 Stuart light tank was effective at wiping out machine gun nests and blasting snipers out of palm trees with canister shot. The M5 was fairly vulnerable to all types of the Japanese antitank guns. More of the armor losses, however, involved untimely mechanical breakdowns, blown tracks, getting hopelessly stuck, and roll-overs. If disabled tanks could not be towed away, crews had to destroy them.

The M3 Lee medium tank and the M4 Sherman medium tank proved to be nearly immune to lighter artillery. Japanese infantry resorted to close assault tactics with magnetic mines, grenades, satchel charges, and Molotov cocktails. Tankers had to provide covering fire for each other as Japanese soldiers attempted to scramble aboard.

Land mines continued to disable tanks throughout the entire Pacific campaign. Encounters with Japanese tanks were very few, and they were always quickly dispatched.

On coral atolls, like Makin, Biak and Kwajalein, the Japanese enjoyed wide fields of defensive fire from pillboxes, bunkers, and camouflaged entrenchments. Faced with fanatical resistance, infantry could make little progress against them without armored support. Tank losses were mostly from floundering in coastal waters, getting deeply stuck, and untimely mechanical breakdowns. The value of flame-throwing tanks was soon recognized.

The Japanese became more knowledgeable on how to destroy tanks as the Pacific campaign progressed. To be sure, the author's respect for the Japanese soldier is apparent. On Saipan, Guam, Peleliu, and Okinawa, the Japanese fought from a interlocked system of caves, tunnels, and spider holes. U.S. Army infantry teams could make no headway against this resistance without major assistance from artillery and armor. Here the 37mm M5 Stuart was ineffective -- the greater firepower of the 75mm M4 Sherman, 76mm M10 tank destroyers, 105mm assault guns, and 150mm artillery were necessary to blast the Japanese out.

Needing to reach remote battlefields, tankers relied on bulldozers to cut trails into the rugged back country. The narrow mountain trails were often guarded by Japanese anti-tank guns, heavy artillery, and machine guns installed in caves. Japanese artillery first drove off accompanying infantry teams, then suicide troops hiding nearby in spider holes would attack stalled tanks.

We learn, for example, that once a tank is disabled, the crew was easily killed trying to abandon their tank. And as Mr. Salecker points out, many men died attempting to tow away disabled American tanks.

As the Japanese were pushed back into smaller areas, they would launch frantic hordes of infantry to overwhelm their besiegers. This often resulted in large groups of Japanese being cornered and annihilated in short order by tankers firing canister and machine guns backed up by covering infantry teams.

"The American's answer to the enemy's strong and integrated defenses was the tank-infantry team, including the newly developed armored flamethrower, and supported by artillery," declares Mr. Salecker. The author shows the almost supernatural bond between these tankers and the infantry.

The author writes in one passage, "Guns and howitzers battered Japanese cave openings, dugout, and pillboxes, forcing enemy gunners back into tunnels for protection and decreasing their fields of fire. Taking advantage of the resulting 'dead spaces,' infantry and tanks crept up on the most vulnerable point, the tanks attacked the position point-blank with cannon, machine guns, and flame, while the infantry prevented Japanese 'close-quarters attack troops' carrying explosives from closing in on the tank." There are some fascinating details to be found among these battle action vignettes.

Mr. Salecker curiously refrains from analyzing Japanese weapons and tactics, preferring to focus on those of the U.S. Army. The author successfully shows the step-by-step development of ground tactics that most likely would be needed to conquer the Japanese home islands. "At the time of the Japanese surrender, there were fourteen independent tank battalions in the Pacific theater of operations."

"Rolling Thunder" has 60 excellent photographs and 25 good maps. There is much to recommend this new work. This book provides a good contrast to armored operations in North Africa and Western Europe. The best moments in the book are the fascinating cameos of buttoned up tankers fighting the fanatical Japanese.

Mr. Salecker has done a major service to the history of US Army armor by providing us with a complete history of the Army tank units involved in the Pacific campaigns from 1941 thru victory in 1945. This is an area that has been ignored by other publications that cover the history of American tank units. Here we see the desperate battles by under-trained tank crews in the fall of the Phillipines, the use of tanks in the jungles of New Guinea, the landing of tanks on island invasions, the large use of tanks in the recapture of the Phillipines and the final actions on Okinawa. The author looks at the machines used, but the real focus of the book is on the units and the men who actually fought in the tanks. Many veterans contributed stories about combat in places where heat, insects and disease were as deadly as the determined enemy. Well written and easy reading. This volume belongs on the shelf of anybody interested in the Pacific campaigns or the history of American armored units.