Military Model Scene

Title: US Battle Tanks 1917-1945
Author: Steven J. Zaloga
Publisher: Osprey
ISBN: 978-1-4728-5882-5

This the first of 2 planned volumes tackling the topic of US Battle Tanks from the subject matter expert, Steve Zaloga and Osprey Books. A 270-page hard-cover book.
This first volume is split across 4 main chapters, tackling US Tanks of WW1, the Interwar Years, WW2 and lastly, in the Pacific Theatre. Throughout the book there are lots of archive photos, along with plenty of the fine colour artwork that we find in the many smaller Osprey series such as New Vanguard, Duel and Combat series. The author has contributed many books to these popular series over the years, and some of that work is used within the new on, but with a lot more added to it as well. There are also plenty of data tables which add even more to the nice clear text. I particularly enjoyed the elements on the early years of US tank development, following WW1. There is coverage of designs by both Christie and Marmon-Herrington in the topic of Light Tanks which I thought added more to their story. Each period looks at light, medium and heavy tanks, as well as amphibious, flame thrower and other specialised conversions. It was quite late before the USA really got into developing and building tanks in large numbers, and the speed with which they established their production lines but it didn't take long for the US manufacturing capacity to supply more than enough to supply both America and their allies. The book also looks at their development practice, how they compared to the enemy tanks they came up against, the experience of the crews and more.
There are lots of facts and figured spread throughout the book, but without making it dull reading. Author Steve Zaloga has a very readable style, and while some of the information has been featured in his smaller books from Osprey, this puts it all together in an excellent reference on the subject which I'd suggest will make this an excellent choice if you want a single reference on the subject for your bookcase. When we get volume 2, tackling the post WW2 years, the pair will be a valuable resource for modellers and armour enthusiasts alike.
Thanks to Osprey for the review copy.

Robin