Tanks (WW 2) - Great Britain: books - history, types and construction

British Battle Tanks : British-Made Tanks of World War II

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.

British Battle Tanks : US-made Tanks of World War II

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.

British Light Tanks 1927-45 - Marks I-VI

Presents the study of British light tanks of the Second World War. The author draws upon a vast and comprehensive body of archival information and research to explore their technical characteristics and combat performance.
The title focuses largely on the very widely used Mark VI, but also covers all the variants that preceded it. The type was truly ubiquitous, equipping the British Army in France, the Western Desert regions, Norway, Sumatra, Persia and India.

This book chronicles various experiments and improvisations carried out on the design of these tanks. It ends with coverage of the final model, the Mark VIC, and details of the experimental Lloyd airborne light tank of 1942, which has a number of features in common with the better-known Vickers-Armstrongs designs. Augmented by original photographs and technical drawings, this title is essential for anybody interested in the development of British armoured vehicles.

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

The Tank Factory : British Military Vehicle Development and the Chobham Establishment

Despite being the inventor of the tank and responsible for campaign-winning tactics, by the start of the Second World War the United Kingdom had fallen well behind other nations in the design and build of armoured vehicles.

Here, William Suttie uncovers the history of tank design from a government perspective and the decisions and failures that led to that state of affairs, and details the formation of the Fighting Vehicles Research and Development Establishment at Chertsey.
Known as the Tank Factory, the Chertsey establishment sought to ensure that the United Kingdom became world-leading in the field of military vehicle research and design, and that the British Army would never be underprotected or outgunned again.

Drawing on unpublished sources and photographs, this fascinating book reveals the establishment's history, its groundbreaking research and its inventions and designs, including first-hand insights from those who worked there.

Sherman Tank (Vol. 5) - The M4A4 'British' Sherman in World War II

The M4A4, also known at the Sherman V, with its unusual 30-cylinder Multibank engine, was the type of Sherman most widely used by Commonwealth forces during WWII. Additionally, many US tankers were trained using this type of tank.
The tank went on to become the basis for the famed Firefly, Crab, and DD amphibious variants of the Sherman.

This book chronicles the development and use of the vehicle from concept to combat. The book includes more than 200 photos, both from wartime and of preserved examples.

Churchill & Co - Entwicklung, Technik, Einsatz

In Zeiten der deutschen Luftangriffe auf England löste der Sturmpanzer Churchill ab 1941 seinen Vorgänger Matilda II ab. Ihm zugrunde lag allerdings kein modernes Panzerkonzept. Das führte zu ständigen Problemen mit Motor, Getriebe und Laufwerk, was nicht zu einer Erhöhung seiner Beliebtheit bei der Truppe beitrug.
Dank ständiger Nachbesserungen und Umbauten konnte sich der Churchill dennoch behaupten und wurde erst 1952 ausgemustert.

Nigel Montgomery bietet dem Leser in diesem Band alle Informationen zum "Churchill" wie auch den weiteren Panzerkampfwagen in britischen Diensten.

Deutsche Übersetzung des Haynes Buches "Churchill Tank Manual".