A new memoir of a WWII armor veteran has been released. Nothing Impossible: Memoirs of a United States Cavalryman In World War 2
Publisher’s Description:
Merriam Press World War 2 Memoir Series
First Edition 2017
The late Wallace Clement served in three wars, World War II, Korea and Vietnam. A West Point Cadet, he entered the Army as a 2nd Lt. in 1940, rising to the rank of Major in 1944, serving with the 804th Tank Destroyer Battalion in Italy where late in the war he was captured and ended the war as a POW.
He served in the Korean War, as a Lt. Colonel, and in Vietnam as a Brig. General as assistant division commander of the 23rd Americal Division.
He was awarded every medal that a soldier can receive save for the Medal of Honor.
This is his story, written by him, and edited by a good friend, Sean Heuvel, who as a boy listened to Clement tell his tales of his service.
While the Sherman tank is so closely associated with the Second World War, it’s sometimes overlooked that these vehicles also served the US Army in a very different conflict, the Korean War. This article from the May-June 1953 issue of ARMOR provides an account by a First Lieutenant who recounts how Sherman tank crews in Korea had to acclimate their tactics and vehicles to fighting a static war in mountainous terrain. One thing we found rather interesting in this article was the mention that one of the Easy Eight Sherman tanks was equipped with twin .50 cal machine guns on the roof and one in the hull replacing the .30 cal machine gun. A picture of the vehicle with the twin .50 cal guns is included in the article. If any other photographic evidence of this particular vehicle exists, we would love to see it.
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and also several Osprey New Vanguard series titles. Mr. Estes is a Seattle native and holds a doctorate in Modern European History from the University of Maryland.
I graduated from the Naval Academy in 1969, took the basic USMC officer course [The Basic School] Aug69-Jan70, attended USMC Tracked Vehicle School, Tank Officer Course Feb-Apr70. At the USMC Tank Officer Course, Camp Pendleton (1970), I trained on the M48A3, M67A2 and M103A2 tanks. This included firing the machine guns, 90mm and 120mm tank cannon and the flame projector of the M67A2. Normally each of us in that course would have preferred assignment to the U.S. Army course at Ft Knox, but only one officer per Basic School class was so detailed. However, the truth of the matter was that the USMC course was fully ‘hands on’ and personal training for just 10 tank officer trainees and therefore much more suitable, and I found out months later that lieutenants attending the Armor Officer Basic Course at Ft Knox in those years did not drive the vehicles and several missed gunnery because of range weather conditions. Moreover, the USMC Tracked Vehicle School was located at gorgeous Del Mar Basin on the coast near Oceanside CA, so one could enjoy all the merits of Californication.
When it comes to book series about tanks and armored vehicles, Osprey Publishing’s New Vanguard series certainly holds claim to being the longest running. The publication of 
In the past months a number of photographs has been posted online, which shows some of the older, upgraded Merkava main battle tanks (MBTs) featuring so called “ears”. In different forums people have speculated about the purpose of the oddly shaped turret add-ons, suggesting that these might be part of a 360° close proximity surveillance system or radars for detecting the launch of rocket propelled grenades or anti-tank missiles.
A number of countries has presented or ordered upgrades for main battle tanks (MBTs) in the past months. Unfortunately low activity on this blog has resulted on some of the more recent events not being properly covered. This article is trying to recapitulate a few new developments and news reports that couldn’t make it into a full-sized article. While this approach will increase the coverage of “recent” events, the quality of the post might not be up to typical standards. In three countries low-cost upgrades of the T-72 were presented, while three other news a related to the Leopard 2 tank. The Argentine Army is also looking to improve more TAM tanks.
China’s Ministry of National Defense (MND) has confirmed media reports that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) recently conducted trials of a new light battle tank (LBT) in Tibet. “Recently a new type of tank has undertaken trials on the Tibetan Plateau. The trials were aimed at testing the tank’s performance and are not targeted at any country,” MND spokesperson Senior Colonel Wu Qian said during a press briefing in Beijing on 29 June.
A previously unseen version of the UralVagonZavod (UVZ) BMPT tank support combat vehicle was displayed for Syrian president Bashar al-Assad when he visited the main Russian airbase in his country on 27 June. The original BMPT Terminator was developed for the Russian Army to protect its main battle tanks (MBTs) in urban warfare operations by suppressing threats like dismounted anti-tank missile teams. However, the Russian programme was cancelled and the only known customer is Kazakhstan.
Following approval form the Bundestag’s parliamentary budget committee, the Bundeswehr will see its fleet of Boxer armoured vehicles upgraded from the A1 to A2 standard. The upgrade will probably be undertaken through the Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation (OCCAR), which manages the Boxer programme for Germany, in addition to Lithuania and the Netherlands.
The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has tested a new tank on the Tibetan Plateau in western China, the Chinese Ministry of Defense announced on June 29. “Recently, a new-type of tank has undertaken trials on the Tibet Plateau. The trials were aimed to test the tank’s performance and are not targeted at any country,” PLA spokesman Colonel Wu Qian said during a regular press briefing at the Ministry of Defense (MoD) on June 29.
After years of combat in the Middle East, the U.S. Army still clings to its desert-colored M1 Abrams tanks and combat vehicles. This became a challenge for Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, commander of U.S. Army Europe, when hundreds of M1s began flowing into Europe’s woodland landscape to deter Russian aggression. Hodges recalled watching video with an Air Force friend of tanks arriving in Europe.
GRAFENWOEHR, Germany — Army tankers with the 1st Battalion, 68th Armored Regiment, 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, let loose a hailstorm of 120 mm armor-piercing and multipurpose rounds from their M1A2 Abrams tanks during live-fire training on Tuesday. “We are refocusing ourselves on building up our lethality and honing our fighting capabilities so we remain a strong deterrent to our adversaries,” said battalion commander Lt. Col. Jonathan Kluck.
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army’s plan to procure effective Mobile Protected Firepower for infantry brigade combat teams will enter a high-speed track in 2018 as it skips the technology development phase in favor of commercial off-the-shelf options, according to the Program Executive Office for Ground Combat Vehicles. A request for proposal, or RFP, for Mobile Protected Firepower, or MPF, capabilities is expected in the last quarter of fiscal year 2017, Ashley Givens, spokeswoman for the Program Executive Office for Ground Combat Vehicles, or PEO GCS, told Defense News in a statement Tuesday.
Tank and AFV News 