Images of War
34 total works
On the Eastern Front during the Second World War massive Soviet and German tank armies clashed in a series of battles that were unmatched in their scale and ferocity. Several of them have attained almost legendary status. But epic encounters such as these were only part of a broader story, as Anthony Tucker-Jones demonstrates in this selection of graphic photographs. While the images give a fascinating inside view of combat, they also reveal the daily routines of tank warfare 65 years ago. Training, maintenance, transportation and supply are shown, as are the daily lives of the tank crews and the often appalling conditions in which they worked and fought. The photographs also record in vivid detail the destructive reality of armoured warfare, from the initial triumphant advance of the German panzers deep into the Soviet Union to the massive Red Army counter-offensives which drove the German armies back to Berlin.
German, American and British tanks come to mind first whenever the military vehicles of the Second World War are considered - they get all the historical attention. The tanks, self-propelled guns and armoured cars built and deployed by the secondary nations in the conflict, in particular by Hitler's Axis allies, have been almost forgotten. The rarity of these armoured fighting vehicles makes them especially interesting, and that is why Anthony Tucker-Jones's photographic history is of such value. His selection of previously unpublished wartime photographs provides a visual record of the armoured forces thrown into action by Hitler's allies on the Eastern Front from 1941 to 1945. Illustrated here are the panzers deployed by Bulgaria, Finland, Slovakia, Hungary, Italy and Romania on the Eastern Front and in the Balkans. Hungary's home-made armour included the Toldi and Turan tanks and Zrinyi self-propelled guns. The Italians produced CV-33 tankettes, Semovente self-propelled guns, Autoblinda and Lancia armoured cars and a series of tanks. Romanian and Czech tanks and assault guns were also deployed.
Anthony Tucker-Jones's photographic survey of these little known and underrated military vehicles will be fascinating reading, and a useful source of reference, for everyone who is interested in the history of armoured and mechanized warfare.
Anthony Tucker-Jones's photographic survey of these little known and underrated military vehicles will be fascinating reading, and a useful source of reference, for everyone who is interested in the history of armoured and mechanized warfare.
Armoured Warfare in the Italian Campaign, 1943-1945
by Anthony Tucker-Jones
Published 19 September 2013
Armoured Warfare in the Italian Campaign, 1943-1945
by Anthony Tucker-Jones
Published 19 September 2013
This selection of over 150 photographs provides a visual guide to the desperate air war fought over the Eastern Front between 1941 and 1945. Most of these black-and-white wartime photographs have never been published before. They show Stalin's Red Air Force and Hitler's Luftwaffe, their equipment and the role they played in supporting the war on the ground. Although it was a major aspect of the struggle on the Eastern Front, aerial combat has long been neglected, and Anthony Tucker-Jones's photographic history is a vivid introduction to it. Just before Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union the leadership of the Red Air Force was decimated by Stalin in a series of purges. Although it had thousands of fighter aircraft these were not capable of taking on the Luftwaffe and were swiftly destroyed in the German blitzkrieg. But a remarkable recovery followed as the Red Air Force slowly but surely turned the tide against the ravages of the Luftwaffe to wrestle back air superiority by 1944. The photographs and Anthony Tucker-Jones's text give a fascinating insight into this decisive reversal of fortune.They also record, in a series of memorable images, the principal Soviet and German aircraft that featured in the aerial fighting and the pilots who flew them.
Early in the Second World War in Western Europe the German victors regularly photographed and posed with destroyed or abandoned Allied armour. During their invasion of France the Germans left 4,500 smashed French tanks in their wake, and these were a popular subject for their photographs. Then, when the tide of the war turned against them in 1944-5, their wrecked and burnt-out panzers were photographed by the victorious Allies during the key battles for Normandy and the Ardennes. These wartime photographers created an extraordinary record of the many thousands of tank wrecks that littered the battlefields, and Anthony Tucker-Jones has selected a fascinating visual guide to the fate of the numerous types of tank employed by the American, British, French and German armies throughout the conflict.
All the principal tanks are represented - Renaults, Matildas, Churchills, Shermans, Panzer IVs, Panthers and Tigers along with many others - so the book gives an insight into the rapid development of tank design during the war. It also shows how vulnerable these armoured vehicles were - and how lethal they could be for their crews - when they were hit by anti-tank guns and air attacks.
Tanks Wrecks of the Western Front will be absorbing reading and reference for anyone who is interested in the history of armoured warfare, and it will be a useful visual guide for modellers.
All the principal tanks are represented - Renaults, Matildas, Churchills, Shermans, Panzer IVs, Panthers and Tigers along with many others - so the book gives an insight into the rapid development of tank design during the war. It also shows how vulnerable these armoured vehicles were - and how lethal they could be for their crews - when they were hit by anti-tank guns and air attacks.
Tanks Wrecks of the Western Front will be absorbing reading and reference for anyone who is interested in the history of armoured warfare, and it will be a useful visual guide for modellers.
During the Second World War five brutal battles were fought in and around Warsaw. Each proved to be dramatic, decisive and bloody, and in this volume of the Images of War series Anthony Tucker-Jones records them all in graphic detail.
The first occurred in 1939 when the Polish army was defeated by the German invaders, and five years of occupation followed. The second was sparked by the Jewish Ghetto Uprising in 1943 which was ruthlessly suppressed by 1,200 SS troops and led to the deaths of 13,000 people. In the third the Red Army's advance was beaten back at the gates of the city in the summer of 1944 and the fourth was fought at the same time when the Nazis crushed the rising of the Polish Home Army and sought to destroy the city in an act of revenge. The failure of the rising consigned the country to decades of communist rule.
The photographs and the detailed narrative give the reader a powerful impression of the experience of the people of Warsaw during this tragic period in their history and document the widespread devastation the fighting left in its wake.
The first occurred in 1939 when the Polish army was defeated by the German invaders, and five years of occupation followed. The second was sparked by the Jewish Ghetto Uprising in 1943 which was ruthlessly suppressed by 1,200 SS troops and led to the deaths of 13,000 people. In the third the Red Army's advance was beaten back at the gates of the city in the summer of 1944 and the fourth was fought at the same time when the Nazis crushed the rising of the Polish Home Army and sought to destroy the city in an act of revenge. The failure of the rising consigned the country to decades of communist rule.
The photographs and the detailed narrative give the reader a powerful impression of the experience of the people of Warsaw during this tragic period in their history and document the widespread devastation the fighting left in its wake.
The support provided by the Allied air armies to the preparations for the invasion of France and the Normandy campaign is overshadowed by the dramatic and protracted fighting on the ground. Yet the air campaign played a key role in blinding and isolating German forces in northern France in the months preceding the D-Day landings. These Allied air forces then supported the Allied armies as they pushed inland, most notably by hampering the march of Hitler's panzer divisions and controversially bombing the ancient Norman cities of Caen and Rouen.
Anthony Tucker-Jones's photographic history is a vivid introduction to this enormous Allied air offensive and illustrates the many famous types of aircraft employed by the RAF, USAAF and Luftwaffe. Shots of the Allied bombers - Halifax, Lancaster, Fortress, Liberator, Havoc and Marauder - and the fighters and fighter-bombers - Lightning, Thunderbolt, Mustang, Spitfire and Typhoon - dominate the selection. Shots of the German warplanes are rarer because the Luftwaffe was overwhelmed by Allied air superiority.
These images of the air war over northern France bring home in a graphic way the nature and conditions of combat flying over seventy years ago, and they emphasize the contribution of air power to the campaign.
Anthony Tucker-Jones's photographic history is a vivid introduction to this enormous Allied air offensive and illustrates the many famous types of aircraft employed by the RAF, USAAF and Luftwaffe. Shots of the Allied bombers - Halifax, Lancaster, Fortress, Liberator, Havoc and Marauder - and the fighters and fighter-bombers - Lightning, Thunderbolt, Mustang, Spitfire and Typhoon - dominate the selection. Shots of the German warplanes are rarer because the Luftwaffe was overwhelmed by Allied air superiority.
These images of the air war over northern France bring home in a graphic way the nature and conditions of combat flying over seventy years ago, and they emphasize the contribution of air power to the campaign.
The four battles fought for Kharkov during the Second World War are often overshadowed by the battles for Moscow, Leningrad and Stalingrad, yet they were critical stages in the struggle between the Wehrmacht and the Red Army for control of the southern Soviet Union. Anthony Tucker-Jones, in this volume in the Images of War series, offers a visual record of the dramatic and bloody conflict that took place there, showing every grim aspect of the fighting. Kharkov became one of the most bitterly contested cities during the war on the Eastern Front, and this book presents a graphic overview of the atrocious conditions the soldiers on both sides had to endure. In 1941 Kharkov fell to Hitler's Army Group South. In 1942 the Soviets tried and failed to retake it, losing 240,000 men in the Barvenkovo Bulge. Then, in 1943, the control of the battered city changed hands twice before the Soviets liberated it for good. The fate of Kharkov during the war reflects the history of the wider struggle between Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Soviet Union.