ALLIED ARMOUR 1939-1945

◗ Anthony Tucker-jones ◗ Pen and Sword (2020) ◗ £25 ◗ 242 pages (hardback) ◗ ISBN:9781526777973 ◗ pen-and-sword.co.uk

It is quite a challenge to cover such a major topic in just 240 pages, but the author makes a success of it. Coverage is episodic rather than systematic: some campaigns (such as the Desert War) have little coverage, whilst others have a reasonable overall analysis plus one or more examples of combat, with assessments of the pros and cons of various AFVS, including amphibious troop/supply carriers and tanks. The 1944 Champagne Campaign, with its emphasis on rapid exploitation after the lessons of Anzio, warrants a dozen pages, and there are also interesting accounts of actions at Arras in 1940, Pacific island operations, the Villers-bocage fiasco in Normandy, and sundry NW Europe operations. There are no maps, and the photos will probably be largely familiar to those interested in this period.

One of the most interesting chapters is the final one on industrial output. When you see the raw figures on adjacent pages, the Allied production levels are daunting – around 24,000 German tanks (albeit excluding SP guns) versus 48,000 Shermans and 55,000 T-34s alone...

Chris Jarvis