Download or read book British Battle Tanks written by David Fletcher and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2017-08-24 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Plagued by unreliable vehicles and poorly thought-out doctrine, the early years of World War II were years of struggle for Britain's tank corps. Relying on tanks built in the late 1930s, and those designed and built with limited resources in the opening years of the war, they battled valiantly against an opponent well versed in the arts of armoured warfare. This book is the second of a multi-volume history of British tanks by renowned British armour expert David Fletcher MBE. It covers the development and use of the Matilda, Crusader, and Valentine tanks that pushed back the Axis in North Africa, the much-improved Churchill that fought with distinction from North Africa to Normandy, and the excellent Cromwell tank of 1944–45. It also looks at Britain's super-heavy tank projects, the TOG1 and TOG2, and the Tortoise heavy assault tank, designed to smash through the toughest of battlefield conditions, but never put into production.
Download or read book British Battle Tanks written by David Fletcher and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2016-08-25 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A highly illustrated history of the development and operation of the first British tanks, published to coincide with the 100th anniversary of their introduction in World War I. When British soldiers charged across the Somme in September 1916 they were accompanied by a new and astonishing weapon – the tank. After a stuttering start armoured behemoths such as the Mark IV, Mark V and Whippet played a crucial role in bringing World War I to an end. Marking the centenary of their battlefield debut, this comprehensive volume traces the design and development of the famous British invention during World War I and the increasingly tense years of the 1920s and 30s, from the first crude but revolutionary prototype to the ever-more sophisticated designs of later years. Bolstered by historic photographs and stunning illustrations, author David Fletcher brings us the thrilling history behind the early British battle tanks.
Download or read book British Battle Tanks written by David Fletcher and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2018-08-23 with total page 625 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The idea of British soldiers using American tanks was not viewed with a great deal of enthusiasm by the British Army. They perceived American tanks as being crudely made, mechanically unsophisticated and impossible to fight in. However, once British crews got used to them and learned to cope with some of their difficulties, such as limited fuel capacity and unfamiliar fighting techniques, they started to see them in a far more positive light, in particular their innate reliability and simplicity of maintenance. This book, the last in a three-part series on British Battle Tanks by armour expert David Fletcher, concentrates on World War II and studies American tanks in British service, some of which were modified in ways peculiar to the British. It shows how the number of these tanks increased to the point that they virtually dominated, as well describing some types, such as the T14 and M26 Pershing, which were supplied but never used in British service.
Download or read book British Tanks The Second World War written by Pat Ware and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2011-12-13 with total page 251 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Perhaps the British did not produce the most successful tanks of the Second World War, but they certainly designed an extraordinary range of light, medium and heavy tanks along with many that were adapted for special purposes. This fascinating variety of military machinery is recorded in Pat Wares photographic history. Using a selection of wartime photographs—supported by some modern photographs of preserved vehicles the book describes the origins of the tank in Britain during the First World War, looks at British tank development during the inter-war period and contrasts this with advances made elsewhere—in Germany, France, the USA and the Soviet Union. All of the British tanks that saw service during the Second World War are described, among them the cruisers (Crusader, Cromwell, Comet), the infantry tanks (Matilda, Valentine, Churchill) and the US imports (Stuart, Lee/Grant, Sherman). Finally, an extensive section is devoted to the so-called funnies'—the tanks developed for crucial tasks like bridge-laying, mine-clearing, flame-throwing and amphibious operation. Pat Wares photographic survey of these tanks at war is an expert introduction to a key period in the history of British fighting vehicles.
Download or read book British Infantry Tanks in World War II written by Dick Taylor and published by Photosniper. This book was released on 2017-03-19 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Before the start of the Second World War, British armored doctrine was in a terrible muddle. Opinion had been divided between the proponents of the tank who saw it as the weapon of break-in, using it as an infantry support weapon, and those who saw it as the weapon of breakout, using it to restore mobility and to destroy the enemy's forces behind the frontline. In many ways it was a division between those who saw the tank solely through the prism of the experience of the First World War, and those who saw it a decisive weapon for the future. Britain was also conscious of the continuing requirements for imperial policing, in which small tanks and armored cars had already proved their worth. As a consequence, it was decided that Britain needed three different classes of tanks: Light tanks for the policing role that could also be used for reconnaissance duties in a general war, fast and lightly armored Cruiser tanks for breakout and exploitation, and heavily armored but slow Infantry tanks for the break-in.
Download or read book British Tanks 1945 to the Present Day written by Pat Ware and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2012-07-19 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this companion volume to British Tanks: The Second World War, Pat Ware provides an expert introduction to the design, production and operation of British tanks since 1945. Fewer types of tank were built than during the wartime period, but the complexity of design and manufacture increased, and a level of technical sophistication in the key areas of armor, firepower and mobility was beyond the imaginings of the tank pioneers of the First World War.Using a selection of contemporary photographs supported by some modern photographs of preserved vehicles Pat Ware sets the modern tank in a historical context. He describes its origins in Britain and its development and deployment in the Second World War and in the post-war period. All the British tanks that have seen service since the war are depicted, among them the Conqueror, Chieftain, Centurion and Challenger. The engineers tanks the flails, recovery vehicles, bridge-layers are featured, as are the less-well-known British tanks made for export.This highly illustrated survey gives a fascinating insight into the recent evolution of the British tank and its role in the postwar world.Pat Ware is a leading expert on the history of military vehicles and a prolific writer of books and articles on every aspect of the subject. His most recent publications include a study of the military Jeep and encyclopaedias of military vehicles and motorcycles. He was the founding editor of Classic Military Vehicle magazine in 2001 and continues to contribute to the magazine as well as writing a military column for Land Rover World.
Download or read book British Battle Tanks written by Simon Dunstan and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2020-01-23 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book, the last in a four-part series on British Battle Tanks covering the whole history of British armoured warfare, concentrates on those vehicles that have served following the end of World War II up to the present day. Starting with the Centurion, the title explores those types that equipped the armoured divisions lined up on the German plains to resist any potential Soviet offensive, as well as in Korea and Suez, including the Chieftain and Conqueror, and modern tanks such as the Challenger 2 which are still in service today. Covering the many variants of these and other tanks in British service as well as their deployments around the world, including in Afghanistan and Iraq, this illustrated volume is a comprehensive guide to the development of British tanks since the Second World War.
Download or read book The Second World War Tank Crisis written by Dick Taylor and published by Pen and Sword Military. This book was released on 2021-06-30 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: British Second World War tanks performed so badly that it is difficult to bring to mind any other British weapon of the period that provokes such a strong sense of failure. Unfortunately, many of the accusations appear to be true – British tanks were in many ways a disgrace. But why was Britain, the country that invented them, consistently unable to field tanks of the required quality or quantity throughout the conflict? This perceived failure has taken on the status of a myth, but, like all myths, it should not be accepted at face value – it should be questioned and analyzed. And that is what Dick Taylor does in this closely researched and absorbing study. He looks at the flaws in British financial policy, tank doctrine, design, production and development before and throughout the war years which often had fatal consequences for the crews who were sent to fight and to be ‘murdered’ in ‘mechanical abortions’. Their direct experience of the shortcomings of these machines is an important element of the story. He also considers how British tanks compared to those of the opposition and contrasts tank production for the army with the production of aircraft for the RAF during the same period. His clear-sighted account goes on to explain how, later in the conflict, British tank design improved to the point where their tanks were in many ways superior to those of the Americans and Germans and how they then produced the Centurion which was one of the best main battle tanks of the post-war era.
Download or read book Military Innovation in the Interwar Period written by Williamson R. Murray and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1998-08-13 with total page 452 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A study of major military innovations in the 1920s and 1930s.
Download or read book The German A7V Tank and the Captured British Mark IV Tanks of World War I written by Maxwell Hundleby and published by Haynes Publications. This book was released on 1990-01-01 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book British Battle Tanks written by Simon Dunstan and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2020-01-23 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book, the last in a four-part series on British Battle Tanks covering the whole history of British armoured warfare, concentrates on those vehicles that have served following the end of World War II up to the present day. Starting with the Centurion, the title explores those types that equipped the armoured divisions lined up on the German plains to resist any potential Soviet offensive, as well as in Korea and Suez, including the Chieftain and Conqueror, and modern tanks such as the Challenger 2 which are still in service today. Covering the many variants of these and other tanks in British service as well as their deployments around the world, including in Afghanistan and Iraq, this illustrated volume is a comprehensive guide to the development of British tanks since the Second World War.
Download or read book A Peripheral Weapon written by David J. Childs and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 1999-09-30 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The tank was arguably the most important technological innovation that developed during World War I; however, without the support of the British Army and the allocation of important wartime resources, it would have remained merely a peripheral weapon. For far too long, the depiction of the British War Office and GHQ, France, as anti-technological and cavalry-oriented has persisted. While some historians have recently challenged this view, much of the traditional versus progressive school of thought, in regard to the production and employment of the tank, still survives. By posing the question: was the tank a peripheral weapon? this work reveals the vital role of the War Office in the production and employment of this stunning new weapon. The War Office was behind the creation of the original Tank Committee, the New or Advisory Tank Committee, the Tank Directorate and the Tank Board. It was these bodies, particularly the Tank Board, established in 1918, that facilitated the crucially important liaison between the users of tanks in France and the producers at the Ministry of Munitions. Without War Office involvement in this way, without its continued orders for more and better tanks, and without the consistently high priority status accorded to tank production by General Haig, it is inconceivable that the tank would have reached the level of technical sophistication, and therefore usefulness, that it had by late 1918.
Download or read book Landships written by David Fletcher and published by Stationery Office Books (TSO). This book was released on 1984 with total page 74 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Every type of tank built for the British Army during WWI is illustrated and described here, along with the battles for which they were used. Many of the photographs used in this book are being seen by the general public for the first time.
Download or read book British Mark IV Tank written by David Fletcher and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2012-05-20 with total page 50 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The formidable Mark IV tank was pitted against the German Army from 1917 until the end of World War I. This book reveals the important role the tank played in the historic battle of Cambrai in 1917 as well as the first ever tank-versus-tank actions against German A7Vs. In awe of British technology, the Germans actively captured, salvaged and repaired Mark IVs for deployment against the Allies. Using rare photographs and detailed artwork, David Fletcher explores the Mark IV's design and development, its variants and accessories, and brings to life its exciting deployment on the battlefields of World War I.
Download or read book Men Ideas and Tanks written by J. P. Harris and published by Manchester University Press. This book was released on 1995 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Men, ideas and tanks reviews the development of British military ideas on armoured forces from 1903 to 1939. Great Britain was the nation which first developed the tank, first used it in action and first gained dramatic results by employment. The British continued to be world leaders in the field of mechanised warfare until the early 1930s. Now available in paperback for the first time, J. P. Harris original work offers new interpretations of the early history of British armoured forces and explains why Great Britain had lost the lead by the outbreak of the Second World War. This work will be of interest to all those concerned with British military history in the first half of the twentieth century, with the history of mechanised warfare and with the history of military thought.
Download or read book Death by Design written by Peter Beale and published by The History Press. This book was released on 2016-07-22 with total page 243 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At the outbreak of war in 1939 British tank crews were ill-equipped, under trained and badly led. As a consequence the lives of hundreds of crewmen were wasted unnecessarily. This was due not only to the poor design and construction of British tanks, but also to the lack of thought and planning on the part of successive pre-war governments and the War Office. Death by Design explores how and why Britain went from leading the world in tank design at the end of the First World War to lagging far behind the design quality of Russian and German tanks in the Second World War. This book is a much-needed warning to governments and military planners: a nation must always be prepared to defend itself and ensure that its soldiers are equipped with the tools to do so.
Download or read book British Tank Production and the War Economy 1934 1945 written by Benjamin Coombs and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2013-09-26 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: British Tank Production and the War Economy, 1934-1945 explores the under-researched experiences of the British tank industry in the context of the pressures of war. Benjamin Coombs explores the various demands placed on British industry during the Second World War, looking at the political, military and strategy pressures involved. By comparing the British tank programme with the Canadian, American, Russian and Australian equivalents, this study offers an international perspective on this aspect of the war economy. Topics covered include the premature contraction of the tank programme and dependence on American armour, the supply of the Valentine tank to the Russian authorities and the ongoing employment of the tank in the postwar peacetime markets.
