Russian Tanks of World War II: 1939–1945 (Technical Guides)

I was hoping for more in-depth information, and especially more 3-view drawings, but the vast majority of the illustrations are just side views. I was put off almost immediately, from the first paragraph in the book, where the author, omission, attributes the fall of Nazi Germany exclusively to the Soviet Union. He also misuses "decimate" (stop watching the military channels!). The book suffers from spelling errors and the format is chopped up by sidebars and illustrations. Too much of the book concerns Lend-Lease vehicles, of which there are far better references.

This fairly slim volume gives a good technical overview of the important Soviet Armored Fighting Vehicles. It doesn't go into great depth on the various changes (to simplify manufacture) but I'm not sure that I would have wanted to read a book talking about changing headlights and stowage, anyway. It is a technical overview, so it doesn't really give operational examples or discuss why the users like/disliked the vehicle (except in a few, rare examples) so if you're looking for that, look elsewhere. This volume is attractive, well-written, and contains many good period pictures and illustrations. Four stars - recommended.

Like: Tech details, numbers constructed, numbers lost in combat and modifications to each unit.Dislike: Could have included discussions on vulnerabilities plus more cutaway diagrams of tanks & support vehicles.I would certainly recommend it to others.

An excellent color reference of all the major armored fighting vehicle classes of the Red Army in the Second World War.

Book contained information I previously had not known about, The drawings of the tanks was clear and insightful making understanding the information that much more useful. Great book for those interested in the War in the East, how the Soviets were able to catch up quickly and surpass the Germans in quality and quantity

perfect book for tank and armor modellers, camouflage data, great figures, excellent source of information for paint your models.

The format is small the description are ery brief. There seems to be a lot of vehicles not included.

Reviews of individual machines are pretty summary, but good focus on development history and technical data. I strongly recommend it to those wanting to acquire an entry-level perspective of soviet tanks development.

'Russian Tanks of World War II' is a full colour, highly illustrated guide to the armoured fighting vehicles used by the Red Army during the conflict from it's inception to it's conclusion.All of the most famous vehicles of the period such as the T-34, KV-1, and IS series of tanks, are of course covered, but there are also chapters on the many variations of self propelled guns used by the Russians like the SU-85 and ISU-122, as well as much more obscure oddities like the T-18 light tank, every variation of the T-26 tank, T-37 Amphibious tank, T-24 Medium tank, A-20 (prototype to the T-34), and even a chapter covering the various vehicles provided to the Russians by the UK and U.S under the 'lend-lease' program, such as the M4 Sherman, Churchill, Stuart, and Valentine.Each vehicle entry is accompanied by full colour illustrations with authentic markings and colour schemes, as well as a smattering of black and white photography, a brief design and operational history, as well as technical specifications including information such as crew capacity, dimensions, weight, speed, range, armament, and years produced.In the rear of the book is contained chapters on specifications and data, including a comparison of tank profiles, more detailed entries on guns and armaments, causes of T-34 tank losses, information on Soviet tank production and strength, and information of lend-lease arrivals.In terms of complaints the only one I would make is that the book is a lot smaller than I expected - a little larger than A5 in size - and as such a little expensive if you pay the full cover price of nearly £15 (which I didn't).Overall however what you have here is one of the most definitive guides you will be able to find for the source material in question.

Its not perfect, more a coffee table book for treadheads. That said, you get a great deal of info for your money, even if it is generally cursory. It is a book that gives you a broad overview of Soviet tank designs, rather than details on a specific type.

On the whole i liked this and thought the information provided was good and included some lesser known items

Well presented book with loads of detailed colour prints. Ideal guide for the scale modeler who likes to paint authentic cam colours.

Vista la carenza di materiale specifico sui blindati sovietici, ho puntato su un libro recente. L'opera è sintetica ma fornisce molte informazioni tecniche su una vasta gamma di mezzi, dal T-18 ai possenti semoventi ISU-152, senza dimenticare i vari BT, T-34 e KV. Molto utili una serie di grafici e tabelle a fine libro, che riportano numero di carri armati disponibili dal 22 giugno 1941 all'ultimo giorno di guerra in Europa; la produzione anno per anno e tipo per tipo dell'URSS; l'afflusso dei veicoli occidentali in base agli accordi Lend-Lease.Qualche critica va alle avare notizie dell'impiego operativo, visto che spesso si può leggere: "questo carro/semovente fu utilizzato sul fronte orientale dal 1943 al 1945". Mi aspettavo di più.Anche l'apparato bibliografico mi ha fatto storgere il naso, soprattutto perché per metà è composto da siti (non tutti affidabili e comunque sempre in pericolo di essere chiusi).Comunque mi sento di dare quattro stelle perché, per colui che è completamente a digiuno e capace di comprendere l'inglese - qui devo dire non troppo difficile - questo libro rappresenta sicuramente un ottimo inizio.