Super-heavy Tanks of World War II (New Vanguard)

Humans have always been fascinated with the massive, the gargantuan. Stroll down to your nearest natural history museum and see where the crowds are - checking out the whale skeleton or the mock up of the T-Rex. Similarly there will always be a fascination amongst certain military buffs for the really fancifully large AFV.This entry in the New Vanguard series by Osprey follows the template of the others. We get concise histories, concise details of deployments (not really a feature here!) and a range of photos and colour plates. The author admits to a fairly arbitrary definition of 'super heavy' in relation to tanks but that doesn't detract - even the smallest vehicles here were huge for their time (he's picked the 70t mark). The work fairly scoots through an introduction taking the reader from 1918 to 1940. There is mention of the massive tanks the Germans and French were planning but which got curtailed due to the end of the war (no mention of the 65t Italian F2000 surprisingly) and then the work moves onto the meat and potatoes of a nation by nation discussion of plans, prototypes and the almost utterly elusive fruition to deployment.The French come first with their Char 2C which was actually built and operated albeit not really functional in 1940 for various reasons. Then there is discussion of the British and their TOG tanks, behemoths that in many respects look very 'WW2 British' - ie somewhat antiquated when placed against the more stripped down functionality of US and Russian arms. And of course they never saw production. German super heavies are then discussed though the legions of German WW2 AFV fanatics will probably find little to nothing new here but for the general reader it is interesting. Of course the Germans actually managed to get one super heavy into action during the conflict, the Jagdtiger entering service during the conflicts final months while other projects such as the Maus failed to achieve the same feat.The Japanese projects never even got as far as the British TOG or German Maus though the US seems to have been poised for construction of it's own T28 and two pilot vehicles were indeed completed and displayed in trials. Especially interesting for their 'double' track arrangement and certainly fearsome looking like all these super heavies they exuded presence. Rather strangely the book then jumps back to the discussion of the British Tortoise which did at least get built in tiny numbers and complete troop trials.And that's about it. The layout is good, the illustrations likewise. Tables of data - or perhaps a one page table with data of all the vehicles featured for quick comparison - would have been handy. And the use of 'what if' combat scenarios didn't add much. Aforementioned tables would have been better.Still this is a good overview that will give the general World War 2 history buff a primer on some of the mammoth vehicles envisaged by various high commands during the conflict, often to deal with scenarios that never eventuated. Much like the vehicles themselves for the most part.

This latest New Vanguard title fills in the gap on some of history's strangest armored vehicles; Super-Heavy tanks. Conceived in the final months of WWI they were meant to smash through the heaviest obstacles and cross wide gaps such as trenches. As a result they look more like early British tanks than the typical WWII AFV.Of all these designs, most remained prototypes or just wishful thinking that was abandoned in light of the mobile warfare that characterized WWII. I do find author Estes definition of what constituted a Super-Heavy to be somewhat arbitrary. To qualify the tank must weigh 70 metric tons. Some of the designs fall below this such as the British TOG2R weighed in at 63 metric tons. And interestingly enough, the German King Tiger tank which actually was produced weighed in at 67 to 68 tons depending on turret. A modern Abrams M1A2 reaches about 70 tons.One flaw with this book is the information is organized poorly. Most of it is either buried in the color illustrations or scattered in the text. Now Estes is a good writer, but compared to Steve Zaloga who sets the standard for writing about armor,he is lacking. There should have been tables with each design's stats. This is all the more since only a handful of mockups or prototypes were built so lack of photos would not be a problem.Of all the designs contained in this study, only the 70 ton JagdTiger was ever built and used in battle. Even then combat records are sparse since in most cases these behemoths were abandoned relatively intact. To Estes credit he separates fact from fiction regarding these fanciful designs.If you are a WWII armor buff or like reading about nonsensical weapons, this book is for you.

It left out some things I'd have liked to have seen but included some I didn't expect. On balance, worth the money.

Outstanding discussion of the subject of super-heavy tanks in WWII. Covers the usual German monster tanks and assault guns that everyone likes to see and read about and adds considerably more details than I have encountered in any other book. Also covers the British and American projects. The text describes the design development of the projects and also discusses some of the political reasons of why certain projects ever got off the ground. Discusses in probably as much detail as is available the baneful waste of industrial resources resulting from Hitler's obsession with giant tanks and assault guns. After all, the outcome of WWII wasn't going to change because the Germans were able to manufacture 80 Jagdtigers.

Not very long and not extremely technical but it was as I expected and had lots of early photos of the subject matter . It also had some that I had not heard of . I did enjoy it for what it was and if you are not looking for highly technical data or specific deployment information then it will not disappoint . I enjoyed it and would recommend it if you are interested in this subject .

Good coverage of some outlandish designs that were all the rage between the world wars, and wasted time and effort that could have been better utilized on other more sane projects. They are interesting excercises in design, but by WW II their time was long past. Too heavy to be mobile, too easily seen from the air, and too mechanically unreliable to be of any use, an interesting 'rabbit hole' of WW II tank design.

Disappointing. Covers the British TOG tanks in detail but the rest is bits and pieces. The French Char 2C is more a contemporary of the British Independent A1E1 of the 1930's. While the later German monsters are covered, nothing about the Neubaufahrzeug tanks is mentioned. The US T95 (or T28) is covered but not the M6. The British "Tortoise" is also covered. None of the Russian designs is really covered, neither the T28/T-35 early designs nor the studies done during the war.I think this subject should have been divided into 2 parts, pre-war designs and designs proposed during the war.

interesting study on tank designs

Alla ricerca di informazioni sui mezzi pesanti sperimentali concepiti dal primo dopoguerra, ho trovato una buona quantità di dati in questo agile volumetto della Osprey (magari avere in Italia un editore di tal sorta!). Sono descritti i mezzi ultra-massicci di Francia, Germania, Regno Unito, Stati Uniti e Impero giapponese, con numerose foto d'archivio, disegni e un paio di raffigurazioni "a spacco".Sono rimasto un po' deluso, tuttavia, dalle poche notizie di impiego operativo e dalla marginalità in cui sono stati relegati il Giappone imperiale e i sovietici. Qualche dato tecnico in più (costo, tipo di corazzatura, descrizione del treno di rotolamento...) non avrebbe infine guastato.Dunque un manuale di base sicuramente affidabile, ma non esaustivo.

carrellata sui supercarri messi a punto e poco o niente impiegati sul campo durante la II Guerra Mondiale da Alleati e Asse. All'epoca era ancora in auge il dualismo tra carro "da cavalleria" (o incrociatore, secondo la definizione britannica) e carri "da fanteria" (ovvero da accompagnamento ai fanti che avanzavano a piedi) con un minimo di interesse per queste fortezze semoventi, che avevano fortissime limitazioni sul campo in termini di liberta' di movimento e di complessita' e affidabilita' dei mezzi, soprattutto per motori/trasmissione e sospensioni. Arricchito da molte foto (zoomabili in formato kindle) gradevolissima ed insolita lettura per gli appassionati. SE poi lo pagate in offerta poco piu' di 1 euro ...

Das Heft ist schön und interessant, es gibt einen guten Überblick über die "überschweren Panzer" im 2. Weltkrieg, unter anderm werden beschrieben:TOG 1 und 2JagdtigerE-100MausTortoiseT95Alle jeweils mit Zeichnungen, Beschreibung der Entwicklung, Prototypen, Einsatz, Verbleib.Warum aber Platz für den französischen Wk1-Panzer Char 2c verschwendet wurde, der ja in 10 Exemplaren gebaut und alle im Juni 1940 vernichtet wurden, ist schade. Den hätte ich lieber im Heft 209 "French Tanks of WW2" oder im 173 "French Tanks of WW1" gesehen und den Platz dafür für eingehende Schilderungen der anderen Typen gesehen. Sonst ist es aber ganz interessant.Die Tortoise, TOG und T95 sind aber in Chamberlain/Ellis ,"Britische und amerikanische Panzer im 2. Weltkrieg" eingehender beschrieben. Aber für den Überblick ist es okay.

El libro da un repaso a los carros de combate de más de 80 toneladas que se llegaron a producir durante la SGM. La mayoría de ellos no pasaron de la fase de pruebas y no llegaron a entrar en combate, por ese motivo son prácticamente desconocidos. Sin embargo, todos los principales contendientes en el conflicto llegaron a producir algún modelo de estos gigantes.