Armoured Fighting Vehicles
of the World

Book Review

by Don Featherstone

ARMOURED FIGHTING VEHICLES OF THE WORLD by Christopher F. Foss. (8 3/4" x 5 1/2"; 192 pages; photographs on every page plus eight page colour section. Ian Allan Ltd - £ 2.95p).

This is an up-dated version of a book which appeared in 1971 but it is in effect a new book. There have been so many developments in the field of armoured fighting vehicles with old vehicles being phased out of service, others under development have now entered service or have been abandoned. Many vehicles have been improved and updated and their performance and characteristics have changed. Therefore the tables in the book have been consolidated as have the sections on development, variants and user countries. All data is now metric and much additional information had been added and all the photographs are new.

Material for the book has come from over seventy Governments, companies and individuals all over the world. Claimed to be the most comprehensive book in the English language on modern armoured fighting vehicles, there is little doubt that this claim is pretty well justified. As an old tank man, I go to Catterick and Bovington and clamber. around over Scorpions and Chieftains without having, the slightest idea of their technical details or capabilities. Armoued with the knowledge gained from this book I hope to be able to dazzle some of the highly professional corporals and sergeants at these establishments when next I visit them!

Strongly recommended to anyone interested in armour and wargaming in the post World War II period but more than that, this book is a most impressive demonstration of the military engineering capabilities of so many countries of the World. On the other hand, one could deplore the fact that so much ingenuity should be used to this end although it cannot be denied that defending ones country from invasion must be a service to humanity.

Book Reviews

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© Copyright 1975 by Donald Featherstone.
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