This unique pictorial history captures the many types of armored vehicles used across the Western Front of WWII—through soldiers’ photos of enemy wreckage. Early in the Second World War, victorious German soldiers regularly photographed and posed with destroyed or abandoned Allied tanks. When the tide of the war turned against them in 1944, their wrecked Panzers were photographed by victorious Allies. The practice created an extraordinary record of the thousands of tank wrecks that littered the battlefields across the Western Front. In this volume, Anthony Tucker-Jones has selected a fascinating collection of these historic images, forming a rare visual guide to the fate of World War II armor. All the principal tanks of the conflict are represented: Renaults, Matildas, Churchills, Shermans, Panzer IVs, Panthers and Tigers along with many others. Tanks Wrecks of the Western Front provides insight into the rapid development of tank design during the war, and shows how vulnerable these armored vehicles were to antitank guns and air attacks.

“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

'What a brilliant book this is... a terrific narrative of Hitler's Ardennes offensive of December 1944 – superb storytelling that achieves a skilful balance between drama and detail.' - James Holland The Battle of the Bulge was the last major German offensive in the West. Launched in the depths of winter to neutralize the overwhelming Allied air superiority, three German armies attacked through the Ardennes, the weakest part of the American lines, with the aim of splitting the Allied armies and seizing the vital port of Antwerp within a week. It was a tall order, as the Panzers had to get across the Our, Amblève, Ourthe and Meuse rivers, and the desperate battle became a race against time and the elements, which the Germans would eventually lose. But Hitler's dramatic counterattack did succeed in catching the Allies off guard in what became the largest and bloodiest battle fought by US forces during the war. In this book, Anthony Tucker-Jones tells the story of the battle from the German point of view, from the experiences of the infantrymen and panzer crewmen fighting on the ground in the Ardennes to the operational decisions of senior commanders such as SS-Oberstgruppenführer Josef 'Sepp' Dietrich and General Hasso von Manteuffel that did so much to decide the fate of the offensive. Drawing on new research, Hitler's Winter provides a fresh perspective on one of the most famous battles of World War II.

A pictorial history of this powerful piece of artillery, an icon of the Cold War era. In 1949, the US Army wanted an artillery gun that could fire a nuclear warhead in the event that guided missiles and long-range bombers proved insufficient in delivering atomic weapons. The result was the M65 280mm Atomic Cannon. On May 25, 1953, at 0830 hours, an M65 of A Battery, 867th Field Artillery Battalion, let loose with the only nuclear round the type would ever fire. Six battalions of the M65 would eventually be deployed, most in Europe with one battalion sent to the Korean Peninsula. Though never used in combat, they served as a significant tactical nuclear deterrent. Through historic photos, this volume traces the development, production and deployment of this iconic piece of military equipment from the drawing boards to the Cold War battlefields of Europe.

THE NEW YORK TIMES, WALL STREET JOURNAL, LOS ANGELES TIMES, AND USA TODAY BESTSELLER “A band of brothers in an American tank . . . Makos drops the reader back into the Pershing’s turret and dials up a battle scene to rival the peak moments of Fury.” —The Wall Street Journal From the author of the international bestseller A Higher Call comes the riveting World War II story of an American tank gunner’s journey into the heart of the Third Reich, where he will meet destiny in an iconic armor duel—and forge an enduring bond with his enemy. When Clarence Smoyer is assigned to the gunner’s seat of his Sherman tank, his crewmates discover that the gentle giant from Pennsylvania has a hidden talent: He’s a natural-born shooter. At first, Clarence and his fellow crews in the legendary 3rd Armored Division—“Spearhead”—thought their tanks were invincible. Then they met the German Panther, with a gun so murderous it could shoot through one Sherman and into the next. Soon a pattern emerged: The lead tank always gets hit. After Clarence sees his friends cut down breaching the West Wall and holding the line in the Battle of the Bulge, he and his crew are given a weapon with the power to avenge their fallen brothers: the Pershing, a state-of-the-art “super tank,” one of twenty in the European theater. But with it comes a harrowing new responsibility: Now they will spearhead every attack. That’s how Clarence, the corporal from coal country, finds himself leading the U.S. Army into its largest urban battle of the European war, the fight for Cologne, the “Fortress City” of Germany. Battling through the ruins, Clarence will engage the fearsome Panther in a duel immortalized by an army cameraman. And he will square off with Gustav Schaefer, a teenager behind the trigger in a Panzer IV tank, whose crew has been sent on a suicide mission to stop the Americans. As Clarence and Gustav trade fire down a long boulevard, they are taken by surprise by a tragic mistake of war. What happens next will haunt Clarence to the modern day, drawing him back to Cologne to do the unthinkable: to face his enemy, one last time. Praise for Spearhead “A detailed, gripping account . . . the remarkable story of two tank crewmen, from opposite sides of the conflict, who endure the grisly nature of tank warfare.” —USA Today (four out of four stars) “Strong and dramatic . . . Makos established himself as a meticulous researcher who’s equally adept at spinning a good old-fashioned yarn. . . . For a World War II aficionado, it will read like a dream.” —Associated Press

• Action-packed stories of legendary tank soldiers in combat • You-are-there approach lets readers relive the experiences of German panzer crews • First time in English With the same drama and attention to detail that made Panzer Aces (978-0-8117-3173-7) and Panzer Aces II (978-0-8117-3175-1) such thrilling reads, Franz Kurowski tells the stories of more German armored officers during World War II. Extensively researched, these gripping accounts follow panzer crews into some of the bloodiest engagements of the war, from the deserts of North Africa, the monumental battle of Kursk, and the hedgerows of France to frightening clashes in the black of night on the Eastern Front.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The magnificent conclusion to Rick Atkinson's acclaimed Liberation Trilogy about the Allied triumph in Europe during World War II It is the twentieth century's unrivaled epic: at a staggering price, the United States and its allies liberated Europe and vanquished Hitler. In the first two volumes of his bestselling Liberation Trilogy, Rick Atkinson recounted how the American-led coalition fought through North Africa and Italy to the threshold of victory. Now, in The Guns at Last Light, he tells the most dramatic story of all—the titanic battle for Western Europe. D-Day marked the commencement of the final campaign of the European war, and Atkinson's riveting account of that bold gamble sets the pace for the masterly narrative that follows. The brutal fight in Normandy, the liberation of Paris, the disaster that was Operation Market Garden, the horrific Battle of the Bulge, and finally the thrust to the heart of the Third Reich—all these historic events and more come alive with a wealth of new material and a mesmerizing cast of characters. Atkinson tells the tale from the perspective of participants at every level, from presidents and generals to war-weary lieutenants and terrified teenage riflemen. When Germany at last surrenders, we understand anew both the devastating cost of this global conflagration and the enormous effort required to win the Allied victory. With the stirring final volume of this monumental trilogy, Atkinson's accomplishment is manifest. He has produced the definitive chronicle of the war that unshackled a continent and preserved freedom in the West. One of The Washington Post's Top 10 Books of the Year A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of 2013

Pivotal to modern warfare, tanks have dominated the battlefield for over a century. Get up close to more than 400 military colossuses with this definitive visual guide to armoured vehicles. In 1916, the British built a vehicle that could pound the battlefield impervious to enemy fire, crushing obstacles and barbed wire in its path. The first tank, or "Mother" as it was known, had arrived. In The Tank Book you can view it in detail, along with other iconic models including the German Panzer, the legendary Tiger, the Vickers Medium Mark II, the Centurion, and the Hellcat - the fastest armoured fighting vehicle ever. This comprehensive volume takes you through the most exciting story in recent military history with the development of heavy artillery, anti-tank weaponry, and the men - such as Mikail Koshkin and Sir William Tritton - who designed these awe-inspiring beasts. Produced with The Tank Museum, The Tank Book traces the tank's development in response to two world wars, Korea, Vietnam, the Cold War and many other conflicts. It shows each model in detail, highlighting details such as their performance, specification, armour, weaponry, and much more. If you are interested in modern warfare, The Tank Book is truly unmissable reading.