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Tank Commanders: Knights of the Modern Age
Book by Forty, George
- GenresHistory
200 pages, Hardcover
First published May 1, 1993
6 people want to read
About the author
George Forty
101 books11 followersGeorge Forty was a British Army officer who was the chief of staff at the gunnery school at the Royal Armoured Corps. He was later a director of the Tank Museum at Bovington.
Forty was a military historian and had written numerous books on military vehicles with a focus on armoured warfare.
Forty was a military historian and had written numerous books on military vehicles with a focus on armoured warfare.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
April 30, 2019
A very enjoyable book on an interesting topic. George Forty takes the reader on a break neck tour of armoured warfare up to Gulf War II, in 1991. When the book opens with a bit of time taken on the creation of the Royal Tank Corpsin WWI, the font from which all other tank units splash forth, and their first leaders Swinton, Elles and Fuller, I thought we were in for an in-depth study. There was even a brilliant diagram of Fuller's careful choreography for a three-tank platoon of Mark I tanks to clear a German trench system. But the author fully realizes the true scope if his subject- and we have to be off- whipping over a century of tracked and wheeled combat- touching on just about every example.
When I finished, and felt that we had not gone into depth enough on any topic since the beginning, I realized what he was trying to do. He's making sure you get a little taste of every armoured war/campaign- and really working at letting you know WHO made armour history. He makes sure to give you the names of Armoured leaders of every country, often down to the Brigadier and Colonel level. I loved the time spent on the Indo-Pak wars of 1947, 1957, 1965, and 1971, a topic all too rarely covered or gamed in the West. The Vietnam and Arab Israeli sections cover familiar ground well- but I really appreciated the South Asian Content. But what this book is is a great STARTING point. From here the reader/gamer can pick the era they want to study/game. But this is a complete smorgasbord.
As you might expect, this would be a good first book on armour for the Junior reader, as young as a precocious 10. For the gamer/modeller/military enthusiast- a delightful lay out of stuff to get more serious about later. I think that such a general book is great for gamemaster/campaign runners to hand to gamers/modellers new to the Genre. A great book for the new Flames of War/BattleGroup/Command Decision/Team Yankee/Red Storm Rising gamer, fresh from WarHammer, and wanting to familiarize themselves with Tank Battles, usage and theory. A great bibliography/notes section for the active reader too.
When I finished, and felt that we had not gone into depth enough on any topic since the beginning, I realized what he was trying to do. He's making sure you get a little taste of every armoured war/campaign- and really working at letting you know WHO made armour history. He makes sure to give you the names of Armoured leaders of every country, often down to the Brigadier and Colonel level. I loved the time spent on the Indo-Pak wars of 1947, 1957, 1965, and 1971, a topic all too rarely covered or gamed in the West. The Vietnam and Arab Israeli sections cover familiar ground well- but I really appreciated the South Asian Content. But what this book is is a great STARTING point. From here the reader/gamer can pick the era they want to study/game. But this is a complete smorgasbord.
As you might expect, this would be a good first book on armour for the Junior reader, as young as a precocious 10. For the gamer/modeller/military enthusiast- a delightful lay out of stuff to get more serious about later. I think that such a general book is great for gamemaster/campaign runners to hand to gamers/modellers new to the Genre. A great book for the new Flames of War/BattleGroup/Command Decision/Team Yankee/Red Storm Rising gamer, fresh from WarHammer, and wanting to familiarize themselves with Tank Battles, usage and theory. A great bibliography/notes section for the active reader too.
Displaying 1 of 1 review