Tanks (WW 1): Books - History, Types and Construction

Rise of the Tank - Armoured Vehicles and Their Use in the First World War

Tells the story of the Tank's development and use during the Great War. Using the resources of the Imperial War Museum, The National Archives and the Tank Museum, this book has lots of information available on the development and use of the early tanks as well as personal reminiscences of those who fought in them.
Highly illustrated with many never before seen photographs and previously unpublished first hand accounts. A must for all First World War and Tank enthusiasts.

Armoured Warfare in the First World War - Rare Photographs from Wartime Archives

A hundred years ago, on 15 September 1916, on the Western Front during the Battle of the Somme, the tank made its debut on the battlefield. The first tanks were crude, unreliable, vulnerable weapons, but they changed the character of land warfare forever, and Anthony Tucker-Jones's photographic history of these pioneering armoured vehicles is the ideal introduction to them.

In a selection of over 150 archive photographs he offers a fascinating insight into the difficult early days of this innovative new weapon, describing its technical history and its performance in combat.
While the Battle of Cambrai in 1917 is often held up as the first large-scale tank battle, tanks had already served at Flers-Courcelette on the Somme, during the Nivelle offensive and the battles of Messines and Passchendaele.

His book shows that the development of the tank was fraught with technical obstacles and battlefield setbacks. It was invented by the British to help break the deadlock of trench warfare, and the French and Americans soon followed their example.
The initial designs were continuously refined during two years of intense warfare. Finding the right balance between power and weight, getting the armament right, and working out the best tactics for tanks on the battlefield was a tricky, often deadly business.

Panzerkampfwagen - Technik, Tanks und Taktik im Ersten Weltkrieg

Ausgeklügelte, mit Stacheldrahtverhauen und von Maschinengewehr- Nestern beschützte Verteidigungsstellungen bereiteten im Ersten Weltkrieg den Infanterien aller Armeen scheinbar unlösbare Probleme. Als die ersten Panzerwagen unter ihrem Tarnnamen "Tank" 1916 von den Briten in der Somme-Schlacht eingesetzt wurden, um den Stellungskrieg zu überwinden, bedeutete dies eine Revolution für die zukünftige Kriegsführung.
Wolfgang Fleischer beschreibt in diesem Band die von viel Skepsis und technischen Problemen begleitete Entwicklung der weltweit ersten Panzerkampfwagen aller Nationen.