This is the land equivalent of Jane's Battleships, a comprehensive encyclopaedia of all the combat vehicles of World War II from Somaliland to Japan. A nation-by-nation overview of each country's development of tanks and their involvement in World War II is before providing an A-Z of each army's tanks and fighting vehicles including armoured cars, personnel carriers, amphibious craft and mortar carriers. Quirkier profiles of vehicles such as the German TKS tankette are given.

This volume presents a cross-section of the most common transport vehicles produced and used by the German army. Tanks plus auxiliary vehicles such as cars, motorcycles, vans, ambulances, trucks and tractors made it possible for the troops to keep moving. These lightly armored or unarmored vehicles--aka "soft skins"--operated behind the front lines, maintaining supply lines, connecting armies with their home bases, and ultimately determining the outcome of battle. Beginning with the development of military vehicles in the early 1930s, this volume discusses the ways in which this new technology influenced and, to some extent, facilitated Hitler's program of rearmament. Nomenclature, standard equipment, camouflage and the combat roles of the various vehicles are thoroughly examined. Individual vehicle types are arranged and discussed by the following classifications: cars and motorcycles; trucks and tractors; half-tracks and wheeled combat vehicles. Accompanied by well-researched, detailed line drawings, each section deals with a number of individual vehicles, describing their design, manufacture and specific use.

From heavy tanks to self-propelled guns, this highly illustrated technical guide introduces all the main types of armored fighting vehicles used by Germany in World War II--organized chronologically and by type. Each of the 120 featured artworks displays authentic markings and color schemes, while the separate models include exhaustive specifications. This is a key reference for military modelers and World War II enthusiasts.

A definative encyclopaedia of the most important tanks in history: over 230 tanks are shown in 500 colour and black & white photographs. Tanks from every corner of the world including those used in WWI and WWII. Specification boxes provide at a glance information.

The Essential Vehicle Identification Guide: Western Allied Tanks, 1939-45 offers an highly illustrated guide to the main armored fighting vehicles used by the Western Allies during World War II. This compact volume includes sample unit structures and orders of battle from company up to corps level, providing an organizational context for key campaigns throughout the war. Organized chronologically, the book offers a comprehensive survey of Western Allied armored fighting vehicles by campaign, including the fall of Poland, the defense of the Low Countries and France, desert warfare in North Africa, the push through Italy, the Normandy landings, the Battle of the Bulge, and the final defeat of Germany.

Allied Tanks of World War II offers a highly illustrated guide to the main armoured fighting vehicles used by the Western Allies and the Red Army from 1939–1945. This volume includes sample unit structures and orders of battle from company up to corps level, providing context for key campaigns throughout the war, organised chronologically.

"Organized chronologically by type, Russian Tanks of World War II offers a highly illustrated guide to the main armored fighting vehicles used by the Red Army during World War II. The book offers a comprehensive survey of Soviet AFVs, from the prewar T-18 light tank and BT fast tank series to the heavy Joseph Stalin tanks and self-propelled guns of the final months of the war. All the major and many minor tanks are featured, including every significant variation of the T-26 light tank, KV series and T-34 to see action on the Eastern Front. There are also chapters on the many types of self-propelled guns developed by Soviet industry, as well as Allied Lend-Lease AFVs, such as the British Churchill and Valentine tanks and American Sherman and Stuart tanks. Each featured profile includes authentic markings and color schemes, while every separate model is accompanied by exhaustive specifications. Packed with 120 newly commissioned, full-color artworks with exhaustive specifications, Russian Tanks of World War II is a key reference guide for military modelers and World War II enthusiasts."--Publisher's description.

At the start of the campaign on the Eastern Front, in the earliest days of Operation Barbarossa, it was the German armour that swept all in front of it as the Wehrmacht drove eastwards in an unrelenting advance on Leningrad, Moscow and Stalingrad. The ill-prepared and under-resourced Russian forces were forced to retreat. Gradually, the balance of the war swung in favour of the Russian forces, whose strength both in numbers and equipment proved decisive in the ultimate defeat of the German forces in the east. Critical in the Soviet victory was its armour; tanks such as the T-34 proving the equal, if not better than, some of the tanks available to the Germans. This authoritative history of the Soviet forces before and during World War 2, reveals the development of their tactics in the early post-revolutionary era right through to the ultimate victory in Berlin in May 1945. The dramatic struggle of the tank crews against the German advance is told through some 200 contemporary photographs, many of which have never been seen before.The photographs include images of tank training in the 1920s and 1930s, on active service, and many compelling pictures from some of the major tank battles of the day. Over the past five years, aided by the opening up of archives in Russia previously closed to western experts, there has been a massive growth in interest in the events that occurred on the Eastern Front. Russian Tanks is an important addition to the literature currently available, exploring as it does, the vitally important Soviet armour of the period.