Video Book Review: Tank Craft Series

We recently recieved copies of four different titles in the Tank Craft series.  Rather than review these all in one long video, we recorded an introduction video with some commentary about the series overall, followed by seperate videos for each book.  The titles covered in these are:

T-34: Russia’s Armoured Spearhead (Tank Craft)

Panzer IV: 1939-1945 (Tank Craft)

Panzer I & II: Blueprint for Blitzkrieg 1933–1941 (Tank Craft)

Jagdpanther Tank Destroyer: German Army and Waffen-SS, Western Europe 1944–1945 (Tank Craft)

 

 

 

 

Video Book Review: Panzer IV on the Battlefield 2

We take a look a the book Panzer IV on the battlefield, Volume 2 (World War Two Photobook Series) by Craig Ellis

Inside the Chieftain’s Hatch: Cruiser Mk. II part 2

Nick Moran of World of Tanks takes a look a the interior of the Cruiser Mk. II

The Matilda Diaries

It’s time to catch up on the Matilda Diaries series from The Tank Museum at Bovington.  Here are episodes 17, 18, 19 and 20.

 

 

 

From the Vault: British Report on Panzer II

We recently received images of a document by the British Department of Tank Design from early 1943 showing the results of tests they performed on a captured German Panzer II.  The goal of the tests were to obtain information on the reliability and performance of the German tank, which was captured in Libya.  The report notes that the tank had been put through a good bit of use before being captured, with the odometer showing over 7000 miles.  Despite the condition of the vehicle, the report notes that “the machine behaved extremely well and little serious mechanical trouble was experienced.”  This is an eleven page document, the individual pages can be viewed in the image gallery below.

 

Book Alert: A13 Cruiser Mk.V Covenanter Tank A Technical History

British author and researcher P.M. Knight has released a new and massively updated version of this book on the A13 “Covenanter” Cruiser tank.  This is a significantly larger edition than the previous edition, coming in at a substantial 220 pages.  It is fair to say that this is the most comprehensive coverage of the Covenanter tank ever put down on paper.

Publisher’s Description:

product_thumbnailThe Covenanter was intended to be the main equipment of the Armoured Divisions during the early years of the Second World War, and was a generally reliable tank that was well suited to its primary task of home defence. Due to a rather convoluted series of events, mainly involving material shortages, it would not see service overseas, and as Britain’s strategic circumstances evolved it would increasingly be used as a training tank. If the Covenanter’s active service was relatively uneventful, its development life was the very opposite, with two drastically different variants of the original machine being created, and constant refinement being undertaken while it was in the hands of its users. The Covenanter was reflective of the many blind spots in the British Army’s pre-war thinking as regards Armoured Fighting Vehicles, and from its travails much practical experience was gained that benefited subsequent tank designs.

Available from Lulu.com.

Video: The Tank Museum on Tank vs. Tank: Villers-Bretonneux, April 1918

Here is a new video from The Tank Museum at Bovington about the very first tank vs tank warfare at Villers-Bretonneux in 1918.

Video: Unofficial High Speed Tour of the Deutsches Panzermuseum

Nicholas ” The Chieftain” Moran gives a quick video tour of the Deutsches Panzermuseum in Munster.

Video: Inside the Chieftain’s Hatch: Cruiser Mk. II part 1

World of Tanks has posted a new video in the Inside the Hatch series featuring Nicholas “The Chieftain” Moran.  The new video looks at the British Cruiser Mk. II.

Book Alert: German Heavy Fighting Vehicles of the Second World War: From Tiger to E-100

Fonthill Media has released a new title by author Ken Estes titled German Heavy Fighting Vehicles of the Second World War: From Tiger to E-100.  This is a 180 page softcover book.

Publisher’s Description:

The German army faced tanks of superior size, armor and firepower from the outset of World War II. Although their Panzerwaffen handled the Polish campaign, war with France meant confronting superior heavy and medium tanks like the Char B and Somua, with 47 mm high velocity cannon that penetrated German tank armor with ease. French infantry disposed of effective antitank weapons and a portion of their 75 mm field guns were detailed as antitank guns. Even greater challenges emerged with the Russo-German War, for the Germans had no initial answer to the KV-1 heavy tank and T-34 medium.

The successive technical shocks of superior tanks introduced by each side produced a gun-armor race that continued in some manner even after the war’s end. The Germans placed a premium on technological quality and superiority over mass production, for which their industry (and, arguably, their regime) remained rather unsuited. Not satisfied with the advantage they obtained with the Tiger and Panther series tanks, the army leadership and Adolf Hitler himself pushed for larger and more powerful tanks than had ever been built.

Available from Amazon here.