The Soviet T\-34 medium tank needs no introduction, being the most famous tank ever built especially as has seen service across the globe throughout the twentieth century’s most brutal wars. However, despite this fame, little has been written about its design changes. While most tank enthusiasts can differentiate between the ‘T\-34\/76’ and the ‘T\-34\-85’, identifying different factory production batches has proven more elusive. Until now. With nearly six hundred photographs, mostly taken by soldiers who both operated and fought against the T\-34, this book seeks to catalogue and contextualise even the subtlest details to create a true ‘T\-34 continuum’. The book begins with the antecedents of the T\-34, the ill\-fated BT ‘fast tank’ series and the influence of the traumatic Spanish Civil War before moving to an in\-depth look at the T\-34’s prototypes. After this, every factory production change is catalogued and contextualised, with never\-before\-seen photographs and stunning technical drawings. Furthermore, four battle stories are also integrated to explain the changing battle context when major production changes take place. The production story is completed with sections on the T\-34’s post\-war production (and modification) by Czechoslovakia, Poland, and the People’s Republic of China, as well as T\-34 variants.

An examination of two of the most high-profile air and land weapons to be deployed on the Eastern Front in World War II. In late 1942, as part of its attempts to strike back at ever-increasing numbers of Soviet tanks, the German air ministry authorised the development of an adaptation and enhancement of the longspan Junkers Ju 87D-5 Stuka dive-bomber. The aircraft was duly fitted with two underwing pods containing 37 mm BK cannon – an antiaircraft cannon with its origins dating back to 1933. The solid, slow, Ju 87 airframe offered the Luftwaffe an ideal platform for specialist, low level, 'tank-killing' operations. Despite the wealth of experience possessed by some of the Luftwaffe's ground-attack and dive-bomber aces, knocking out T-34 tanks from the air was a demanding and difficult process. Nevertheless, some Luftwaffe pilots notched up impressive tank scores, and the Ju 87 is credited with the destruction of more than 100 tanks across the central and southern sectors of the Eastern Front, including during the Battle of Kursk. Including personal accounts from Stuka pilots and biographies of the anti-tank aces, together with detailed photographs of the cannon installation into the Ju 87G and details of the construction of the T-34 illustrated using specially commissioned artwork, this book covers the epic clash of two legendary machines of World War II.

When the German army launched Operation Barbarossa – the invasion of the Soviet Union – on June 22, 1941, it was expecting to face and easily defeat outdated and obsolete tanks and for the most part it did, but it also received a nasty shock when it came up against the T-34. With its powerful gun and sloped armour, the T-34 was more than a match for the best German tanks at that time and the Germans regarded it with awe. German Field Marshal von Kleist, who commanded the latter stages of Barbarossa, called it ‘the finest tank in the world’. Using original wartime documents author and historian Peter Samsonov, creator of the Tank Archives blog, explains how the Soviets came to develop what was arguably the war’s most revolutionary tank design.

The T-34 was one of the most remarkable tanks of the Second World War. Although the Red Army suffered continual heavy tank losses, the rugged and reliable T-34 was an immense success story and was ultimately instrumental in turning the tide of the war.This photographic history follows the story of this exceptional armoured vehicle from its disastrous first action during Operation Barbarossa to its miraculous defence of Moscow, its envelopment of the Axis forces at Stalingrad and victory at Kursk, and finally, the advance to the gates of Warsaw then on to Berlin.Packed with a wealth of images, including rare archive photographs and photographs of surviving examples, this is an extraordinary record of both the tank and its personnel. The accompanying text features an in-depth technical evaluation outlining the differences in the myriad of models, including detailed plans of each type, alongside a gripping breakdown of the tank's entire operational history.

The Soviet T-35A is the only five-turret tank in history to enter production. With a long and proud service history on parade grounds, the T-35A was forced to adapt to the modern battlefield. Outclassed and outdated, the T-35A tried to hold its own against German invaders with terrible consequences. Fallen Giants: The Combat Debut of the T-35A Tank gives a grim depiction of the aftermath of the goliath that was the T-35A. Very little is known of these strange vehicles bar their basic shape and photographs of parade grounds and frontline action. For the first time, battlefield photographs have been cross-referenced with maps and documents to bring the most complete look at the T-35A in the Second World War to date. Explore the changes that were made to the design throughout the 1930s and interesting conversions often missed.

A pictorial history and analysis of the infamous World War II German tanks. The German Tiger I and Tiger II (known to the Allies as the King Tiger or Royal Tiger) were the most famous and formidable heavy tanks of the Second World War. In their day, their awesome reputation inspired such apprehension among Allied soldiers that the weaknesses of these brilliant but flawed designs tended to be overlooked. Anthony Tucker-Jones, in this illustrated history, tells the story of their conception and development and reconsiders their operational history, and he dispels the myths that have grown up around them. The Tigers were over-engineered, required raw materials that were in short supply, and were time-consuming to manufacture and difficult to recover from the battlefield. Only around 1,300 of the Tiger I and fewer than 500 of the Tiger II were produced, so they were never going to make anything more than a local impact on the outcome of the fighting on the Western and Eastern fronts. Yet the myth of the Tigers, with their 88mm guns, thick armor, and brutal profiles, has grown over time to the extent that they are regarded as the deadliest tanks of the Second World War. Anthony Tucker-Jones’s expert account of these remarkable fighting vehicles is accompanied by a series of color plates showing the main variants of the designs and the common ancillary equipment and unit markings. His book is an essential work of reference for enthusiasts.

More than 4000 examples of the famous diesel-fueled M4A2 Sherman tank were sent to the Soviet Union during the Second World War under the Lead-Lease program. These American-built vehicles were operated by Red Army crews against the Germans during some of the bitterest fighting on the Eastern Front - yet despite serving with distinction and being well-liked by their crews, relatively little has been written about these vehicles until now. Tank expert Peter Samsonov looks at the origins of the M4A2 in Soviet service and the machines that were received from the US as well as providing a detailed assessment of how they fared in combat on the front line.