Your go-to tank books?

[Ivan Sorensen]

What it says. I have a couple of books that cover various tanks of WW2 but Im curious what some of your favourites are for technical specs?
I am mainly after books that cover a range of vehicles, rather than in-depth studies of a single vehicle.

[Steve Johnson]

You can’t go wrong with Chamberlain & Ellis’ books on German tanks and AFV’s and American & Allied ones. Succint but very informative.

[MartinR]

Chamberlain and Ellis, as above, plus the Airfix tank guides…

I also refer to Panzertruppen by Jentz a lot, but that is more for unit strengths.

"Mistakes in the initial deployment cannot be rectified" - Helmuth von Moltke

[Sane Max]

this is going to get very repetitive – Chamberlain and Ellis 🙂

[Keith Flint]

Encyclopedia of German Tanks of WW2 – Chamberlain and Doyle. The absolute Bible for this subject.

[Steve Johnson]

Well spotted Keith that the Gemran book is with Doyle, not Ellis!

[Mike Headden]

Book?

Where are we? Ancient Egypt? 🙂

My go to these days is https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/

There are 100 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who can work from incomplete data

[Padre]

Ferrocement Water Tanks: A Comprehensive Guide to Domestic Water Harvesting

My Tilean Campaign can be found at https://bigsmallworlds.com/ and my YouTube channel is www.youtube.com/@bigsmallworlds

[Not Connard Sage]

Mike Headden wrote:

Book? Where are we? Ancient Egypt? My go to these days is https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/

 

Much of which is taken, unattributed, from…books 🙂

Obvious contrarian and passive aggressive old prat, who is taken far too seriously by some and not seriously enough by others.

[Ivan Sorensen]

Turns out I actually own one of the Chamberlain/Ellis books, so I’ll see about snagging a couple more

[John D Salt]

I will echo the support for Chamberlain & Ellis on Anglo-American armour, and Chamberlain, Doyle and Jentz for German. Both are now quite old, but I am not aware of anything better.

For Russian AFVs, the best I know in English is Zaloga and Grandsen’s “Soviet Tanks and Combat Vehicles of World War Two”, which Amazon UK has going for £26, a very good price, I’m sure it used to go for a lot more.

For the Italians, I know nothing better than Pignato’s “Italian Armored Vehicles of WWII”, but it is not up to the standard of the others mentioned so far.

For the French, Vauvillier’s “Encyclopedia of French Tanks and Armoured Vehicles 1914-1940” is comprehensive and colourful. It lacks the plate-by-plate description of armour thickness as found in Chamberlain, Doyle and Ellis, but they cover quite a few French tanks that were used in German service anyway.

For the Japanese, I doubt you will beat Leland Ness’ “Rikugun” vol. 2.

For people who can read a spot of German, it may be useful to get hold of Fritz Hahn’s “Waffen und Geheimwaffen des deutches Heeres 1933-1945”; the AFV coverage is no better than Chamberlain, Doyle and Jentz, but it also includes extensive coverage of all other classes of weapon as well, including useful production figures. Germanophones might also like “Sowjetisch-Russische Panzer 1905-2003”, the German translation of Karpenko’s “Обозрение отечественной бронетанковой техники, 1905-1995 гг”. This is at once broader and narrower than Zaloga and Grandsen, in that it covers a broader period, but does not cover SPs. I would have preferred the Russian original, but have not been able to find a copy outside the Barrington Library in Shrivenham, and the German translation is at least obtainable.

All the best,

John.

[MartinR]

I forgot to add, I have a very large French book which covers every AFV they ever produced or thought about from 1900 to 1940 I can’t be bothered to look up the title or author, but it is organised by system type and explains why light tanks are classified armoured cars etc

Tbh I mainly use it for colour schemes.

"Mistakes in the initial deployment cannot be rectified" - Helmuth von Moltke

[John D Salt]

MartinR wrote:

I forgot to add, I have a very large French book which covers every AFV they ever produced or thought about from 1900 to 1940 I can’t be bothered to look up the title or author, but it is organised by system type and explains why light tanks are classified armoured cars etc

I’d be very surprised if that’s not Vauvillier’s “Encyclopedia of French Tanks and Armoured Vehicles 1914-1940”.

All the best,

John.

[Keith Flint]

Sadly, the online sources (including the nice people at Tank Encyclopedia) are often vague on the details we wargamers want, especially armour provision. I’ve been doing a fair bit of online research recently to get my own rules up to date, and there is no online source as easy to reference or as detailed and accurate as the Chamberlain & Doyle book on German AFVs. Unfortunately, that book stands as a gold standard which I haven’t found in other published books, as John implies.

It’s really frustrating to find that, 80 years or so after the events, so many sources will say “Armour: 15 – 60mm” or some such worthless quote. Often, the maximum quoted was only on the gun mantlet, the minimum on the floor. Not much use for us wargamers, or even military historians trying to get things straight. And as for quoting the angle the armour was set at (massively important of course) – don’t get me started. The best stuff I have found online is the occasional armour diagrams which show all the detail you need (see below). I think they originate from a Russian source but I haven’t tracked it down. Any thoughts John (or anyone else)?

[Author]

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