The Essential Vehicle Identification Guide: Western Allied Tanks 1939-45

by David Porter

The Essential Vehicle Identification 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.

All the major and many minor tanks are featured, with variations of the M4 Sherman, Churchill and Matilda, as well as mat-laying, engineering, and mine-clearing versions. Lesser known models from the early years of the war, armored cars, half-tracks, trucks and amphibious vehicles make this a rounded compendium of Western Allied armored fighting vehicles.

Packed with more than 200 full-color artworks and photographs with exhaustive specifications, The Essential Vehicle Identification Western Allied Tanks, 1939-45 is a key reference guide for military modelers and World War II enthusiasts.

Genres: History

192 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2009

About the author

David Porter was born and raised in Tuscola, Illinois, and has been writing professionally since 1984. He is owner/publisher of three newspapers: The Tuscola Review, Arcola Record-Herald and Lebanon Advertiser.

He previously worked as Director of Communications for the Illinois Press Association and served as president of the Southern Illinois Editorial Association.

His book, The Make-out Room & Other Stories, is a compilation of 123 newspaper columns with a wide variety of subjects. Light reading.

His wife, Jennie, is a Kindergarten teacher in Tuscola. The two were classmates having first met in Kindergarten.

Note: Goodreads links all books written be people of the same name. The only book from me as of Nov. 29, 2020, is The Make-Out Room & Other Stories.

Reviews

[Aidan Armas · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book.My favorite genre is war like books and I loved this book.David Porter wrote another book called Allied tanks of world war 2 that I read which made me want to read this book.I know alot about ww2 vehicles already ,but i want to know more so i read this book.It has not just the vehicle but key details about them like how many people the vehicle can hold or the mm. of the gun.Also it has what battle they were specificlly in like the landing crafts of d-day.Lastly,It wasn't just about the US but other nations like Canada.I would totally reccomend this book to others.

[Astrades · Rating 2 out of 5]

Książka nie przypadła mi do gustu. Jej najlepszą częścią są liczne, kolorowe ilustracje przedstawiające pojazdy oraz kilka zdjęć z epoki, ale jako pozycja o czołgach to sprawdza się miernie. Zacznijmy od tego, że malutko jest tu informacji o samych wozach, jak ich budowa, osiągi czy rozwój. Większość tekstu to opis działań alianckich dywizji pancernych na różnych frontach IIWŚ i to w dodatku w dość krótkiej, nie najlepiej napisanej formie. Nie zamieszczono też żadnych map, więc trudno sobie wyobrazić geograficznie działania poszczególnych dywizji. Szkoda czasu na tą pozycję. Gdybym książki nie pożyczył to żałowałbym wydanych pieniędzy.

[Paul Tisserant · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent reference book.