Armoured Warfare in the British Army 1939–1945

Armoured Warfare in the British Army 1939–1945 PDF Author: Dick Taylor
Publisher: Pen and Sword Military
ISBN: 1399081063
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 370

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Book Description
The second volume in Dick Taylor’s three-volume illustrated history of the evolution of armored maneuver warfare in the British army covers the period of the Second World War, in which the tank came of age and developed into the principal land weapon of decision. He describes how, during the first half of the war, the British army came close to disaster from the armored warfare perspective and how the bitter lessons of failure were learned in time to deliver success in 1944 and 1945. As well as providing a fascinating overview of the tactical use of armor during the main campaigns, he considers such much-neglected aspects as the role of training and organization, officer selection and recruitment, and the mechanization of other arms. His wide-ranging book also features extensive, well-laid-out tables giving key information about British armor during this period. This expert account quotes heavily from the vivid recollections of soldiers who served in armor, and is not afraid to criticize as well as praise.

Armoured Warfare in the British Army 1939–1945

Armoured Warfare in the British Army 1939–1945 PDF Author: Dick Taylor
Publisher: Pen and Sword Military
ISBN: 1399081063
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 370

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Book Description
The second volume in Dick Taylor’s three-volume illustrated history of the evolution of armored maneuver warfare in the British army covers the period of the Second World War, in which the tank came of age and developed into the principal land weapon of decision. He describes how, during the first half of the war, the British army came close to disaster from the armored warfare perspective and how the bitter lessons of failure were learned in time to deliver success in 1944 and 1945. As well as providing a fascinating overview of the tactical use of armor during the main campaigns, he considers such much-neglected aspects as the role of training and organization, officer selection and recruitment, and the mechanization of other arms. His wide-ranging book also features extensive, well-laid-out tables giving key information about British armor during this period. This expert account quotes heavily from the vivid recollections of soldiers who served in armor, and is not afraid to criticize as well as praise.

British Armoured Divisions and Their Commanders, 1939–1945

British Armoured Divisions and Their Commanders, 1939–1945 PDF Author: Richard Doherty
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1473826748
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 358

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Book Description
A total of eleven British armoured divisions were formed during the 1939-1945 war but, as this highly informative book reveals, just eight saw action.In 1940 only 1st Armoured Division faced the German blitzkrieg and it was in the North African desert that armoured divisions came into their own. The terrain was ideal and six such divisions of Eighth Army fought Rommel's Panzers into submission. Three were disbanded prior to the invasion of Sicily and Italy. The campaign from D-Day onwards saw the Guards Armoured, 7th Armoured (the Desert Rats), 11th and Percy Hobart's 79th Armoured Division in the thick of the action.Of particular interest are the men who commanded these elite formations and the way their characters contributed to the outcome of operations. While some, such as Dick McCreery, went onto greater heights, others did not make the grade; the stakes were high. A number, such as 'Pip' Roberts, were just perfectly suited in the role.Written by a leading military historian, this book describes many fascinating aspects of armoured warfare from its uncertain beginnings, through the development of tactics and the evolving tank design. Due to British deficiencies, reliance had to be placed on US Grants and Shermans, with the Comet coming late and the Centurion too late.The combination of gripping historical narrative and well researched fact make this an invaluable and highly readable work on the contribution of British Armoured Divisions to victory in the Second World War.

Armoured Warfare in the British Army, 1914–1939

Armoured Warfare in the British Army, 1914–1939 PDF Author: Richard Taylor
Publisher: Pen and Sword Military
ISBN: 1399001191
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 275

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Book Description
This is the first volume in a three-volume illustrated history of the evolution of armored manoeuvre warfare in the British army, covering the period from 1914 until 1939. Author Dick Taylor’s tour de force covers the evolution of the tank and armored cars in response to the specific conditions created by trench warfare, the history of the use of tanks during the war, as well as the critical period between the wars in which the tank was both refined and neglected. He also looks in detail at the amalgamations and mechanization of the horsed cavalry which led to the formation of the Royal armored Corps in 1939. His detailed and absorbing narrative covers the social and human aspects of the story as well as the technology, and explains how the nation that invented and first fielded the tank in 1916 struggled to maintain the lead after the Armistice.

Allied Armour, 1939–1945

Allied Armour, 1939–1945 PDF Author: Anthony Tucker-Jones
Publisher: Pen and Sword Military
ISBN: 1526777983
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
“An important review of armoured warfare, armoured vehicle design, tactics, and operational issues during World War 2 . . . it comes highly commended.” —Dr Stuart C. Blank, Military Archive Research During the first years of the Second World War, Allied forces endured a series of terrible defeats at the hands of the Germans, Italians and Japanese. Their tanks were outclassed, their armored tactics were flawed. But the advent of new tank designs and variants, especially those from the United States, turned the tables. Although German armor was arguably still superior at the end of the war, the competence of Allied designs and the sheer scale of their production gave them a decisive advantage on the armored battlefield. This is the fascinating story that Anthony Tucker-Jones tells in this book which is part of a three-volume history of armored warfare during the Second World War. Chapters cover each major phase of the conflict, from the early blitzkrieg years when Hitler’s Panzers overran Poland, France and great swathes of the Soviet Union to the Allied fight back in tank battles in North Africa, Italy and northern Europe. He also covers less-well-known aspects of the armored struggle in sections on Allied tanks in Burma, India and during the Pacific campaign. Technical and design armored are a key element in the story, but so are changes in tactics and the role of the tanks in the integrated all-arms forces that overwhelmed the Axis. “The matter of armoured vehicles and their role in the turning of the tide against Germany is covered brilliantly in Anthony Tucker-Jones’s excellent treatise.” —Books Monthly “Very Highly Recommended.” —Firetrench

The British Army and the Theory of Armored Warfare, 1918-1940

The British Army and the Theory of Armored Warfare, 1918-1940 PDF Author: Robert H. Larson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 280

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Book Description


Raising Churchill's Army

Raising Churchill's Army PDF Author: David French
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191608262
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 332

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Book Description
This is the first serious analysis of the combat capability of the British army in the Second World War. It sweeps away the myth that the army suffered from poor morale, and that it only won its battles thorugh the use of 'brute force' and by reverting to the techniques of the First World War. David French analyses the place of the army in British strategy in the interwar period and during the Second World War. He shows that after 1918 the General Staff tried hard to learn the lessons of the First World War, enthusiastically embracing technology as the best way of minimizing future casualties. In the first half of the Second World War the army did suffer from manifold weaknesses, not just in the form of shortages of equipment, but also in the way in which it applied its doctrine. Few soldiers were actively eager to close with the enemy, but the morale of the army never collapsed and its combat capability steadily improved from 1942 onwards. Professor French assesses Montgomery's contributions to the war effort and concludes that most important were his willingness to impose a uniform understanding of doctrine on his subordinates, and to use mechanized firepower in ways quite different from Haig in the First World War.

Armoured Warfare in the British Army 1939–1945

Armoured Warfare in the British Army 1939–1945 PDF Author: Dick Taylor
Publisher: Pen and Sword Military
ISBN: 1399081047
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 419

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Book Description
The second volume in Dick Taylor’s three-volume illustrated history of the evolution of armored maneuver warfare in the British army covers the period of the Second World War, in which the tank came of age and developed into the principal land weapon of decision. He describes how, during the first half of the war, the British army came close to disaster from the armored warfare perspective and how the bitter lessons of failure were learned in time to deliver success in 1944 and 1945. As well as providing a fascinating overview of the tactical use of armor during the main campaigns, he considers such much-neglected aspects as the role of training and organization, officer selection and recruitment, and the mechanization of other arms. His wide-ranging book also features extensive, well-laid-out tables giving key information about British armor during this period. This expert account quotes heavily from the vivid recollections of soldiers who served in armor, and is not afraid to criticize as well as praise.

British Anti-Tank Warfare

British Anti-Tank Warfare PDF Author: John Plant
Publisher: New Generation Publishing
ISBN: 9781785070204
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 268

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Book Description
This book is an attempt to describe the British army's approach to Anti-Tank Warfare from its inception during the Great War until 1945. During the Great War the army found little reason to study anti-tank warfare and after the war what little anti-tank awareness there was slowly faded away. This was inevitable because of the 'ten year rule' which proclaimed that there would be no major war in that period, and it was only in the second half of the thirties that the British army started to take the subject seriously. In 1939 the British anti-tank armament and tactics were inadequate, this became a major worry after Dunkirk and this book gives particular emphasis to the anti-tank defences built in England against the expected German invasion. Under the pressure of necessity tactics and equipment improved reaching a high point of effectiveness at Medenine in 1943. After that, although equipment improved slightly, the threat was never again so great and the British army could confidently handle whatever Axis armour came its way. There must be some doubt if anti-tank warfare should be regarded as a subject in its own right, mostly because it is purely a reaction to the invention and progress of the tank. The writer of this book believes it should be, and this book should support this view.

Armoured Warfare in the British Army 1945-2020

Armoured Warfare in the British Army 1945-2020 PDF Author: Richard Taylor
Publisher: Pen and Sword Military
ISBN: 139908111X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 408

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Book Description
In this, the third volume in his comprehensive, highly illustrated three-volume history of the evolution of armored maneuver warfare in the British army, Dick Taylor covers the post-war period, up to the present day. He explains how the Royal armored Corps contracted rapidly after 1945, then faced the twin challenges of National Service and heavy involvement in numerous wars and campaigns around the globe. He recounts how the RAC became a fully-professional organization by the early 1960s, and continues the tale of disbandments, down-sizing and amalgamations. In a narrative which is as much a social history as an operational one, the vivid personal accounts of soldiers feature heavily throughout. The story of the Cold War in Germany (BAOR) is told. Then, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the book describes the role British armor played in conflicts in the Gulf, the Balkans and Afghanistan. Dick Taylor’s thoroughgoing account concludes with an assessment of the RAC in 2021 in the immediate aftermath of another defense review.

German Armoured Warfare of World War II

German Armoured Warfare of World War II PDF Author: Ian Baxter
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 234

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Book Description
Starting from the Blitzkrieg period, when Nazi Germany unleashed its mobile armored divisions into Poland, France and the Low Countries, German Armored Warfare of World War II captures the full might of the Panzerwaffe, Hitler's Panzer arm, from its early triumphs to its final demise. Featuring previously unpublished photographs, many of which have come from the albums of individuals who experienced the war firsthand, the book presents a unique and vivid record of German armor in action from 1939 - 1945. The photographs detail in turn the different elements that went into making up a fully fledged Panzer division: light tanks, main battle tanks, artillery, assault guns and anti tank destroyers, reconnaissance units, support vehicles, and of course the Panzergrenadiers. in depth descriptive captions accompanying the photographs also provide much historical information and facts about the events portrayed. Depicting action from the fields of France to the Russian steppes and rugged Italian terrain, German Armored Warfare of World War II is a captivating glimpse of one of the most effective weapons of war ever to have appeared on the battlefield.