Tanks (since 1945) - France: books - history, types and construction

French Armour in Vietnam 1945-1954

French experience with armour in Indo-China dated back to 1919, when it sent FT-17s to the colony, followed by a variety of armoured cars.
After World War II, French troops were equipped with a motley collection of American and cast-off British equipment until the outbreak of war in Korea saw an increase in military aid. This included large numbers of the M24 Chaffee light tank, along with amphibious vehicles such as the M29C Weasel and LVT4 Buffalo, to conduct operations in coastal and inland areas that the Viet Minh had previously thought immune to attack.

France's armour was a key part of the battle against the Viet Minh right up until the last stand at Dien Bien Phu.

The AMX 13 Light Tank : A Complete History

The AMX 13 was originally designed in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War. It represents French ambitions for national resurgence and withdrawal from wartime dependence on American military technology.
Being a light tank it was an ambitious and far sighted departure from conventional tank design and it found a ready export market as well as being a critical part in the French Army arsenal.

Its basic hull design lent itself to the development of a vast list of variants. French designers progressively modernised, and indeed reinvented, the AMX13 and enabled it to claim to be one of the most successful armoured vehicle programmes of the post-war period. It proved its worth in numerous small wars worldwide in the service of many countries.

This, the first commercially published work on the AMX13 in English, examines in detail the technical industrial and tactical story of this remarkably successful armoured fighting vehicle. The authoritative text is backed by an impressive selection of images.