by T.F. Schweder

Simulations Design Corporation, publishers of the now defunct CONFLICT magazine, and of the new "pouch series" games, are the publishers of this work also. It is in the format of their CONFLICT magazine, and in fact carries that name, as "Conflict Special Study #1, The Main Battle Tanks of the Yom Kippur War". It is 8 1/2" x11" with 32 pages counting the soft covers.

This is an excellent study of the subject, and is profusely illustrated with photographs, sketches, scale drawings, and charts. There are separate studies on the Russian T-54/55/62 ' the U.S, M-48/60, the British Centurian Mk 5 (Modified), the Egyptian tanker and the Jewish tanker as well as general and comparative comments, a bibliography and a glossary of terminology. The central theme of this work is stated in the following paragraph;

Because a tank is not an aggregate of individual components, a comparison of characteristics such as gun caliber, speed, and weight, while valuable, is unsatisfactory for purposes of evaluation because all, of these characteristics must be integrated. It is the manner of their integration that determines a tank's effectiveness.

And so, while the Russian tanks look superior when taken one category at a time, when you put them all together they are the least effective of the three types. The reasoning behind this conclusion is what makes this work so interesting and informative.

It should be required reading for all the TV commentators and press correspondents that seem to think that the Russians are providing the Arabs with the finest equipment in the world, and that our equipment is all poorly-designed stuff passed off on the American taxpayers by an unscrupulous "military-industrial complex". Anybody interested in the ArabIsraeli conflict, or the state of modern warfare, should not be without this booklet. It sells for a very reasonable $2.50 and is available from Panzerfaust Publications, PO Box 896, Fallbrook, CA 92028, and better hobby shops around the country.

Book Review

Book Review: Arab-Israeli Armor 1973
Book Review: Wargamer's Guide to Stalingrad
Book Review: Tanks and Other Armored Fighting Vehicles 1942-45
Book Review: Taurus Catalog
Book Review: Other Titles Received