Tank Warfare (Battle Tactics)

Tank Warfare looks at the way that tanks changed warfare from their first introduction on the static Western Front of World War I, through the proving ground of World War II, where the tank became the queen of the battlefield, to its more dangerous position on the modern battlefield. Today, the tank is still a major asset but against it there has evolved a range of defensive antitank options light infantry-borne antitank weapons, mines, attack helicopters, and tank-busting aircraft that do much to dull its edge of invincibility.

Each chapter in Tank Warfare examines carefully the evolution of tanks in the period, illustrating the seminal types, and looks at the changes to the threats against armor, assessing the improvement of the tank's physical and tactical defenses against such threats. It is intelligently written, cogent, and extremely well illustrated and it provides a much needed discussion of a vital component of land warfare.

Tim Ripley is a research associate at Lancaster University's Centre for Defense and International Security Studies (CDISS) in the United Kingdom. Over the past decade he has traveled extensively in the Middle East and Balkan region as a correspondent for Jane's Defense Weekly, Jane's Intelligence Review and Flight International.