Images of War
34 total works
German Assault Guns and Tank Destroyers 1940 - 1945
by Anthony Tucker-Jones
Published 30 October 2016
The assault guns and tank destroyers deployed by the Wehrmacht during the Second World War are not as famous as tanks like the Tiger and Panther, but they were remarkably successful, and they are the subject of Anthony Tucker-Jones's wide-ranging photographic history. As the conflict progressed, the German army had to find a use for its obsolete panzers, and this gave rise to the turretless Sturmgeschutz or assault guns designed for infantry support. From 1944 onwards they played a vital role in Nazi Germany's increasingly defensive war. A selection of rare wartime photographs shows the variety of turretless armoured fighting vehicles that were produced and developed - various models of the Sturmgeschutz III, the Sturmhaubitze, Jagdpanzer, Panzerjager, Marder, Hetzer. Often a lack of tanks meant that these armoured vehicles were called on to fill the panzer's role, and they proved ideal during the Germans' defensive battles on the Eastern Front as well as in Italy and Normandy - they were instrumental in delaying Germany's defeat.This highly illustrated account provides is a fascinating introduction to one of the less well-known aspects of armoured warfare during the Second World War.
The desperate struggle between the Wehrmacht and the Red Army for Budapest in 1944 and 1945 was as lethal and destructive as any of the urban battles fought during the Second World War. The losses of men and equipment sustained by the Germans were so great that they hastened the collapse of Hitler's regime. Yet what happened in Budapest is less well remembered today than other flashpoints in the conflict on the Eastern Front. Anthony Tucker-Jones's photographic history is a fascinating and graphic introduction to this neglected episode in the closing months of the war. The battle began with Operation Panzerfaust in October 1944 when the Germans seized Hungarian leader Admiral Horthy to prevent his country defecting to the Soviets. Red Army advances then left German and Hungarian units trapped in the city and sparked fifty days of intense fighting. Then in March 1945 Hitler launched Operation Spring Awakening, the reckless final German offensive of the war, designed to recapture Budapest and stabilize the Eastern Front. It failed spectacularly, opening the road to Vienna for the Red Army.The selection of archive photographs gives a sharp insight into every aspect of the fighting in and around Budapest and records the ravaged city the battle left behind.
The latest volume in Anthony Tucker-Jones's series of books on armoured warfare in the Images of War series is a graphic account of the development of armoured forces in the Arab and Israeli armies from 1948 to the present day. In a sequence of over 200 archive photographs he tells the story of the role armour played in Arab-Israeli conflicts over the last sixty years, from the initial battles of 1948, through the Suez Crisis, the Six Day War, the Yom Kippur War, the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982 and the Israeli attack on Hamas in Gaza in 2008. In all these clashes armoured vehicles played a prominent, sometimes decisive part. As the photographs show, an extraordinary range of Second World War and post-war tanks, armoured cars and armoured personnel carriers was deployed by all sides. Russian T-34s, SU-100s, T-54/55s, T-62s and T-72s were imported from the Eastern Bloc by the Egyptians and Syrians. Shermans, Pattons, Centurions and AMX-13s were imported from the West by the Israelis. In addition, the Israelis developed modified hybrids such as the Sherman/Isherman, the Sho't, Magach and Sabra, and they produced to their own design their main battle tank, the Merkava.
Anthony Tucker-Jones's photographic survey is an excellent introduction to late-twentieth-century armoured warfare, and it gives a fascinating insight into the military history of Israel and its Arab neighbours.
Anthony Tucker-Jones's photographic survey is an excellent introduction to late-twentieth-century armoured warfare, and it gives a fascinating insight into the military history of Israel and its Arab neighbours.
Anthony Tucker-Jones's photographic history is a fascinating visual introduction to the armoured battles of the Second World War in the Far East and Asia-Pacific regions, from 1937 to 1945. In contrast to the experience of the armies that fought in Europe and North Africa, in the Far East tanks remained an infantry support weapon, and their role is often neglected in histories of the conflict. Japanese armour confronted tanks deployed by the Chinese, Russians, British and Americans. Early in the war, against Chinese forces which lacked armour, the Japanese had some success, but their light and medium tanks were no match for their Allied counterparts. Later Japanese designs were better armed, but they were built in such small numbers that they could do little to stem the Allied advance. The role of armoured vehicles in each theatre of the war in the Far East is shown in a selection of over 150 rare wartime photographs that record armour in action in China, Manchuria, Mongolia, Malaya, Burma and during the battles fought for the Pacific islands.
The German Tiger I and Tiger II (known to the Allies as the 'King Tiger' or 'Royal Tiger') were the most famous and formidable heavy tanks of the Second World War. In their day their awesome reputation inspired such apprehension among Allied soldiers that the weaknesses of these brilliant but flawed designs tended to be overlooked. Anthony Tucker-Jones, in this illustrated history, tells the story of their conception and development and reconsiders their operational history, and he dispels the legends and misunderstandings that have grown up around them. The Tigers were over-engineered, required raw materials that were in short supply, were time-consuming to manufacture and difficult to recover from the battlefield. Only around 1,300 of the Tiger I and fewer than 500 of the Tiger II were produced, so they were never going to make anything more than a local impact on the outcome of the fighting on the Western and Eastern fronts. Yet the myth of the Tigers, with their 88mm guns, thick armour and brutal profiles, has grown over time to the extent that they are regarded as the deadliest tanks of the Second World War.
Anthony Tucker-Jones's expert account of these remarkable fighting vehicles is accompanied by a series of colour plates showing the main variants of the designs and the common ancillary equipment and unit markings. His book is an essential work of reference for enthusiasts.
Anthony Tucker-Jones's expert account of these remarkable fighting vehicles is accompanied by a series of colour plates showing the main variants of the designs and the common ancillary equipment and unit markings. His book is an essential work of reference for enthusiasts.
Over 150 wartime photographs give a graphic snapshot of the dramatic tank battles fought by the Waffen-SS panzer and panzergrenadier divisions during 1944-5 on both the Eastern and Western fronts. By this stage of the Second World War these formations were at the height of their powers and took part in major armoured operations in Russia, France, the Netherlands, and Poland. As the Wehrmacht retreated the Waffen-SS played an increasingly important role. Most notably their panzers prolonged the war by staving off defeat at Arnhem and Wolomin, stabilizing both the Western and Eastern fronts at critical points in the fighting. The photographs and the accompanying narrative record the contrasting conditions they faced on each battlefront and the weapons and equipment they used, especially the armoured vehicles, including the Tiger and Panther tanks, which were among the best designs the Germans produced. But they also record the crimes committed by members of the Waffen-SS against civilians and captured enemy soldiers during the series of brutal, often desperate operations mounted to stave off German defeat.Anthony Tucker-Jones's photographic history is a fascinating introduction to these elite units during the final phase of the fighting in Europe.
Armoured Warfare from the Riviera to the Rhine, 1944-1945
by Anthony Tucker-Jones
Published 30 June 2016
While the Allied armies were deadlocked with the Germans in Normandy after D-Day and even as they broke out and began their long advance, another campaign was being fought against the Germans in southern France - and it is this campaign, which is often neglected in accounts of the liberation of Europe, that is the subject of Anthony Tucker-Jones's latest photographic history. In a sequence of over 150 wartime photographs he tells the story, from the amphibious invasion of the French Riviera - Operation Dragoon - to the battle at Montelimar, the forcing of the Belfort gap, the destruction of German resistance in the Colmar pocket and the entry of Allied forces into southern Germany. His concise narrative gives a graphic overview of each phase of the operations, and the selection of photographs shows the American, French and German forces in action. The mechanized and armoured units and their equipment are a particular feature of the book. The photographs are a valuable visual record of the tanks, guns, jeeps and trucks - the most up-to-date military vehicles and weaponry of the time - as they moved along the roads and through the towns and countryside of southern France.
Four years of armoured battle on the Eastern Front in the Second World War littered the battlefields with the wrecks of destroyed and disabled tanks, and Anthony Tucker-JonesOs photographic history is a fascinating guide to them. It provides a graphic record of the various types of tank deployed by the Red Army and the Wehrmacht during the largest and most destructive confrontation between mechanized armies in military history. During the opening stages of the war the German victors regularly photographed and posed with destroyed Soviet armour. Operation Barbarossa left 17,000 smashed Soviet tanks in its wake, and the heavy and medium tanks such as the T-28, T-35, KV-1 and the T-34 proved to be a source of endless interest. Once the tide turned it was the turn of wrecked and burnt-out panzers D the Mk IVs, Tigers and Panthers D to be photographed by the victorious Red Army. As well as tracing the entire course of the war on the Eastern Front through the trail of broken armour, the photographs provide a wide-ranging visual archive of the tank types of the period that will appeal to everyone who is interested in tank warfare and to modellers and wargamers in particular.
The Soviet T-54/55 is probably the best-known tank of the Cold War, and it was produced in greater numbers that any other tank in history. It first went into service just after the Second World War and over 70,000 were made, and its design was so successful that it even outlasted its successor the T-62. For a generation it formed the backbone of the armoured forces of the Warsaw Pact and it was exported all over the world, remaining in the front-line until the 1990s. This photographic history in the Images of War series by Anthony Tucker-Jones is the ideal introduction to it. In over 150 archive photographs and a detailed analytical text, he traces the design and development of the T-54/55 and records its operational history. He describes how it was conceived as a main battle tank, an all-rounder, contrasting with the light, medium and heavy tanks produced in the past, and it proved to be extraordinarly effective. It was as adaptable as it was long-lasting, different versions being produced by China, Czechoslovakia, Poland and Romania.
Its relatively simple design also meant it was easy to maintain even in difficult conditions and it was used by armies across the Third World, in particular in wars in Angola, Ethiopia, Mozambique and Somalia. Anthony Tucker-Joness history of this remarkable armoured vehicle will be absorbing reading for tank enthusiasts and a valuable source for modellers.
Its relatively simple design also meant it was easy to maintain even in difficult conditions and it was used by armies across the Third World, in particular in wars in Angola, Ethiopia, Mozambique and Somalia. Anthony Tucker-Joness history of this remarkable armoured vehicle will be absorbing reading for tank enthusiasts and a valuable source for modellers.
In late 1942 Hitler's forces advanced far into the Caucasus in the southern Soviet Union in one of the most ambitious offensives of the Second World War, but this extraordinary episode is often forgotten-it is overshadowed by the disastrous German attack on Stalingrad which took place at the same time.Using over 150 wartime photographs Anthony Tucker-Jones gives the reader a graphic, concise introduction to this remarkable but neglected campaign on the Eastern Front. Operation Edelweiss was designed to seize the oilfields of Maikop, Baku and Grozny. Seen by some as a wholly unnecessary diversion of resources from the critical confrontation at Stalingrad, the assault on the Caucasus aimed to secure oil supplies for the Germans and deny them to the Soviets. As this memorable selection of photographs shows, the Werhmacht came close to success. Their forces advanced almost as far as Grozny, famously raising the Nazi flag over Mount Elbrus, the highest peak in the region, before they were compelled into a hurried withdrawal by the rapid deterioration of the German position elsewhere on the Eastern Front.
After the Second World War military analysts thought that the only place significant armoured forces were ever likely to confront each other again was in central Europe where the Nato alliance would fend off the Soviet Red Army. But then during the Korean War of 1950-53 large numbers of armoured fighting vehicles were deployed by both sides, and this neglected aspect of the conflict is the subject of Anthony Tucker-Jones's photographic history. Korea, with its rugged mountains, narrow passes, steep valleys and waterlogged fields. was not ideal tank country so the armour mainly supported the infantry and rarely engaged in battles of manoeuvre. Yet the wide variety of armour supporting UN and North Korean forces played a vital if unorthodox role in the swiftly moving campaigns. For this fascinating book over 180 contemporary photographs have been selected to show Soviet-built T-34/85s and Su-76s, American M4 Shermans, M26 Pershings and M46 Pattons, and British Cromwells and Centurions in action in one of the defining conflicts of the Cold War.
This latest volume in Anthony Tucker-Jones's series of photographic histories of armoured warfare records in graphic detail the role played by tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and self-propelled artillery during the decisive campaign in northwest Europe in 1944-5. In a sequence of over 200 archive photographs he shows how American, British and Canadian and Polish armoured divisions spearheaded the assault on the Third Reich, and how the Wehrmacht mounted a desperate armoured defence. Tanks were required to operate in the dust of Normandy, the mud and waters of the Scheldt and Rhine rivers and the snows of the Ardennes and the forests of Germany. A succession of crucial armoured engagements was fought - during the D-Day landings, Operation Goodwood and the struggle for the Bourguebus ridge, the Falaise pocket, the Seine crossing, Arnhem, the German attack in the Ardennes, the Rhine crossing, in the Reichswald and during the rearguard actions and the last-ditch tank battles fought by the panzers in the Ruhr before the German surrender.
Anthony Tucker-Jones's photographic survey of the ultimate tank battles of the Second World War illustrates the range of armoured fighting vehicles that were developed during the conflict, and it features the specialised vehicles deployed in Europe for the first time such as the Buffalo, DUKW, Weasel and Terrapin.
Anthony Tucker-Jones's photographic survey of the ultimate tank battles of the Second World War illustrates the range of armoured fighting vehicles that were developed during the conflict, and it features the specialised vehicles deployed in Europe for the first time such as the Buffalo, DUKW, Weasel and Terrapin.
Armoured Warfare in the Battle of the Bulge, 1944-1945
by Anthony Tucker-Jones
Published 30 October 2018