Book Alert: M1 Abrams Main Battle Tank Haynes Manual

Amazon has listed a release date of June 10 for the new Haynes Manual on the M1 Abrams MBT by Bruce Oliver Newsome and Gregory Walton.  This volume covers the history of the M1, including the M1A1 and M1A2 variants.  Like other books in this series, this is a hardcover of 160 pages.  As far as we can tell, this is the first tank related book written by these authors.

Publisher’s Description:

The American M1 Abrams main battle tank is a revolutionary design: it broke an evolutionary development lineage from the M20 medium tank of 1941 to the M60 (which it replaced, and which stayed in production until 1987).

The M1 remains the only main battle tank in the inventories of the US Army and the US Marine Corps, with years of service to come, while no replacement has been procured. It is believed that the M1 will easily serve for more than 50 years in the US alone.

The US retains about 6,000 M1s, while almost 2,000 are in use with the armies of other countries including Australia, Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia.

Available from Amazon : M1 Abrams Main Battle Tank Manual: From 1980 (M1, M1A1 and M1A2 Models) (Haynes Manuals)

Book Alert: Centurion Main Battle Tank: 1946 to present

Haynes has published a new entry in their series of owners workshop manuals on tanks titled Centurion Main Battle Tank: 1946 to present (Owners’ Workshop Manual).  This new book explores the British Centurion Main Battle Tank.   Written by Simon Dunston, this is a hardcover book of 160 pages with numerous color photos, charts and images.

Publishers Description:

First trialled in Europe in the spring of 1945, but formally introduced into British Army service in December 1946, not only is the Centurion one of the most important tanks in the history of the British armoured fighting vehicle (AFV), but it is also one of the most significant post-war Western tanks. Between 1946 and 1962, 4,423 Centurions were built in 13 basic marks and numerous variants, with the chassis also adapted for several other AFV roles. A small number of the Beach Armoured Recovery Version (BARV) served with the British forces during the Iraq War of 2003, some 58 years after the Centurion first entered service! The Centurion has seen extensive combat in the Korean War (Britain), Vietnam (Australia), the Middle East (Israel) in the 1967 Six Day War, 1973 Yom Kippur War, and during the 1978 and 1982 invasions of Lebanon, and in the Indo-Pakistan War (India) in 1965 where it fought against US-supplied M47 and M48 Patton tanks.