Armoured vehicles (since 1945): books - history

Modern Tanks and Armoured Fighting Vehicles (Vital Guide)

The world's heavy mobile fighting vehicles are described and illustrated in this Vital Guide. Tanks and armoured fighting vehicles (AFVs) play a crucial role in most military operations and their most important features are listed here.
You will find specifications of crew, armament, ammunition, dimensions, weight, power-plant, performance and armour for every one of the many weapons systems featured. Details of operational function and combat service help to explain the merits and military potential of each type.

Light Tanks and Heavily Armed Combat Vehicles - Recognition Handbook

This book regroups, for the first time, all light tanks and heavy weapons vehicles, with chains or wheels, from the world over and their many modernisations and modifications along with the technical characterictics of each and every model.
Enriched with more than 350 photos, it reveals the history of each vehicle along with precise dates and a time-table showing when they were put into service.
This handbook allows the precise identication of a vehicle from an image even partial. A serie of four tests allow you to evaluate your current level and improve your knowledge on the matter.

Kampfpanzer - Internationale Entwicklungen ab 1970 (Typenkompass)

Ce livre de référence présente les chars de combat introduits depuis 1970.

Chaque type est présenté à l'aide d'une photo, d'une description historique et d'une fiche technique.

International Tank Development from 1970 (Fact File)

Chronological overview of the most important battle tanks, which have been put into service since 1970.

Per type this book features a photo, a description and technical data.

English edition of the German Typenkompass book "Kampfpanzer - Internationale Entwicklungen ab 1970".

Chars d'assaut

Le char d'assaut est l'appareil militaire par excellence parmi les actions militaires terrestres de type offensif. Ce livre présente la situation actuelle de ces forces blindées caractérisées par leur capacité de déplacement à grande vitesse sur différents types de terrain et leur tir de grande précision en marche contre des objectifs également mobiles.

Les récents conflits ont permis de démontrer leur validité ainsi que leur capacité. Ces forces peuvent déplacer entre cinquante et soixante tonnes et ont un coût situé entre trois et six millions d'euros, prix qui, ces derniers temps, a eu une incidence sur la réduction de la production et du nombre de modèles. En effet, la plupart des nations disposent de chars d'assaut mais leur quantité et leur qualité varient énormément.
Certaines ont en service une trentaine ou une quarantaine d'exemplaires, alors que d'autres les possèdent par milliers, ceci en fonction de la disponibilité économique et des nécessités défensives ou offensives de chaque pays. Sont donc présentés dans cet ouvrage, parmi d'autres, le modèle américain M1 "Abrams" et israélien "Merkava", ainsi que ceux d'origine soviétique, de la série "T".

Véhicules de combat

Les soldats doivent progresser en compagnie des chars d'assaut et le font habituellement sur des véhicules à chenilles d'excellentes prestations. Il leur est donc impératif d'avoir une grande autonomie ainsi qu'une vitesse importante, et de posséder de puissants canons et missiles afin d'affronter les engins ennemis. Ces derniers temps, notamment lors du conflit en Irak, la bonne aptitude de la propulsion à chenille s'est confirmée malgré son coût élevé et son maintien difficile.

L'évolution future des VCI's s'oriente vers ce type de solutions lors de programmes tels que celui du "Pizarro" espagnol. Face à ce type de véhicule, sont également présentés dans cet ouvrage, d'autres modèles à chenilles moins évolués mais tout aussi importants.

Armoured Warfare in the Korean War - Rare photographs from Wartime Archives (Images of War)

After the Second World War military analysts thought that the only place significant armoured forces were ever likely to confront each other again was in central Europe where the Nato alliance would fend off the Soviet Red Army. But then during the Korean War of 1950-53 large numbers of armoured fighting vehicles were deployed by both sides, and this neglected aspect of the conflict is the subject of Anthony Tucker-Jones's photographic history.

Korea, with its rugged mountains, narrow passes, steep valleys and waterlogged fields. was not ideal tank country so the armour mainly supported the infantry and rarely engaged in battles of manoeuvre. Yet the wide variety of armour supporting UN and North Korean forces played a vital if unorthodox role in the swiftly moving campaigns.

For this fascinating book over 180 contemporary photographs have been selected to show Soviet-built T-34/85s and Su-76s, American M4 Shermans, M26 Pershings and M46 Pattons, and British Cromwells and Centurions in action in one of the defining conflicts of the Cold War.

Armoured Warfare in the Vietnam War - Rare photographs from Wartime Archives (Images of War)

Historian and collector Michael Green shows in this fascinating and graphically illustrated book that the two wars that engulfed Indochina and North and South Vietnam over 30 years were far more armoured in nature than typically thought of. By skilful use of imagery and descriptive text he describes the many variants deployed and their contribution.

The ill-fated French Expeditionary Force was largely US equipped with WW2 M3 and M5 Stuart, M4 Sherman and M24 light tanks as well as armoured cars and half-tracks. Most of these eventually went to the Army of the Republic of Vietnam but were outdated and ineffective due to lack of logistics and training.

The US Army and Marine Corps build-up in the 1960s saw vast quantities of M48 Pattons, M113 APCs and many specialist variants and improvised armoured vehicles arrive in theatre. The Australians brought their British Centurion tanks.

But it was the Russians, Chinese and North Vietnamese who won the day and their T-38-85 tanks, ZSU anti-aircraft platforms and BTR-40 and -50 swept the Communists to victory.

This fine book brings details and images of all these diverse weaponry to the reader in one volume.

Riot Control Vehicles 1945-Present (Osprey)

Fully illustrated with a mixture of dramatic archive photos and manufacturers' images, this volume covers the little-known history of riot control vehicles. It explores the world of these vehicles from 1945 through to the present day - from adapted military armoured cars such as the Humber Pig (UK) and BRDM (Soviet Union) to the fully computerized systems of the Russian Lavina-Uragan and Canadian INKAS Armored Riot Control Vehicle - showing how their development and deployment has blurred the lines between civilian actions and military operations.
It charts how the vehicles have evolved in terms of technology and layout, and also details how the associated weapon systems have been refined over time, from water cannon and tear gas launchers to subsonic sound waves and microwave energy. The operational history of the vehicles is explained in the dramatic context of major incidents across the world, from the streets of Northern Ireland and Eastern Europe to the favelas of Brazil and the battlegrounds of Iraq.

Contents: Introduction - Design and Development - Operational History - Conclusion and Analysis - Index.