Red Army Weapons

Of the Second World War

by

Michael Green

 

 This is a description of problems with a tank from the book:

"The five-speed transmission proved to be as unreliable as the four-speed transmission in the early production models. The old-fashioned transmission combined with an understrength clutch and braking steering system caused endless breakdowns of the tank. The tank therefore soon acquired a reputation as mechanically unreliable. Unfortunately, before the German invasion the Red Army failed to organize an adequate repair and support service infrastructure. As a result, the Red Army's repair and support services were not up to the task of recovering the KV-1."

 I tried to make it so you would think you were reading about the German Panther or Tiger tanks, which are always described as being 'mechanically unreliable". According to the author the KV-1 had just as much trouble as the German tanks did in the beginning, but in the KV-1's case the troubles were never fixed.

 This is a book that is a delight for modelers, history buffs, and people who are just interested in weaponry. It comes with over 200 black and white photos of pretty much every weapon that the Red Army used during World War II. It is absolutely filled with information that I have not seen elsewhere. For example, the PPSH-41 submachine gun (which was valued by both armies) was so poorly made that it was not easy to find a magazine that matched up with the actual gun. Tidbits like this abound in the book. The pictures of the Soviet tanks, both inside and out, are amazing in detail. You will understand exactly why some of the tanks were accused of having cramped quarters. According to the book, 300,000 out of 400,000 tankers ended up as casualties. Looking at some of the inside pictures I am bit amazed that anyone was able to make it out.

 The author has gone out of his way to show how each weapon had its own good and bad points. He also does not walk away from calling some of the weapons showed as complete failures. I do wish the author had gone into more depth on 'Stalin's Organs'. However, I totally understand that some weapons could not be as fully written about as others. 

 The book is roughly 250 pages long. In those pages I guarantee that every reader will find some new bit of information that they have never seen, or more than likely plenty of these bits. Thank you, Casemate Publishers, for allowing me to review this excellent book, which is almost a small encyclopedia of the Red Army's weaponry.

Robert

Book: Red Army Weapons of the Second World War

Author: Michael Green

Publisher: Pen & Sword

Distributor: Casemate Publishers  

Images Of War: Allied Tanks Of The Second World War

 by

Michael Green

  Light, medium, and heavy tanks, and everything in between. The book is setup this way:

Light Tanks

Early-War Medium Tanks

Late-war Medium Tanks

Heavy Tanks

 The chapters start up with a write up on the different Allied nations tanks of that class. The rest of each chapter is full of pictures of almost every make and model allied tank. A lot of the pictures were taken of surviving examples of these tanks at museums. The bad thing is that at least two of these museums have closed down. There are also plenty of actual wartime photographs.

 The photos show the progression of science and technology from the prewar to the late-war tanks. Included are pictures of some of the armament of the tanks along with ammunition. There are a few photos of the inside crew positions of the tanks.

 The T-34 and Sherman and their variant photos and write-ups take up a lot of the book. Being the most produced tanks of World war II, this stands to reason.

 Once again this is a great book for tank modelers. It is also a good 'starter book' for someone who doesn't know much about the Allied armor in World war II, but wants to learn.

Robert

Book: Images of War: Allied Tanks Of The Second World War

Author: Michael Green

Publisher: Pen and Sword

Distributor: Casemate publishers