Clash of Chariots: The Great Tank Battles - Hardcover

Donnelly, Tom

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 042515307X ISBN 13: 9780425153079

Publisher: Berkley Hardcover, 1996

Synopsis

Here, in one fascinating volume, are the greatest tank battles that changed the course of history. Tom Donnelly and Sean Naylor bring these intense battles to vivid life, revealing the tactics and operations with rare analytical insight. Illustrated with maps and photographs, Clash of Chariots is a definitive reference source on tank warfare - the machinery and men that redefined the strategies of war in the twentieth century...
In World War II, the epic-scale arenas of battle saw the rise and dominance of tanks - the frightening efficiency of the German blitzkrieg, the savagery of the four-year campaign between the Germans and the Soviets, and the brilliance of the Allied counteroffensives that won the war. In Israel, tank units overcame disastrous odds to defend their homeland in two brutal desert wars. And, most recently, in the Persian Gulf American-led coalition forces vanquished Iraqi tanks in less than 100 furious hours of ground combat.
Donnelly and Naylor bring us the entire story of these epic struggles, from individual tankers to commanding officers. They analyze a variety of tactics and operations - what worked and what didn't - and look ahead to the future of tank warfare. Clash of Chariots is a monument to the most important battles of this century - and a resource that no military buff should be without.

About this title

About the Author

Thomas Donnelly is director of the House National Security Committee policy group and a former editor of Army Times. He is also co-author of Operation Just Cause: The Storming of Panama.

From Kirkus Reviews

A powerful study of armored warfare, from the introduction of the tank by the British army at the Battle of Cambrai in 1917 through Desert Storm in 1991. Donnelly (Operation Just Cause, 1991), Naylor (a staff writer for the Army Times), and editor Boyne (Clash of Wings, 1994) combine their efforts in a study of the tank and its primary features--mobility, firepower, and shock value in combat--as applied in armored warfare by the armies of Britain, Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, the US, and Israel. While the tank is a fearsome weapon, unsupported tanks are vulnerable. The authors illustrate both the effectiveness and vulnerability of tanks with several examples of their use by and against Nazi forces: The first masters of tank warfare, Guderian and Rommel, perfected the ``blitzkrieg'' (lightning war), which integrated air power, artillery, and infantry with tanks in a technique that combined speed and force to overwhelm enemy forces at their weakest points. In the Battle of France (1940), an outnumbered panzer force conquered France in six weeks. Rommel's use of supported tanks in his Africa campaigns (194142) was similarly successful, until his forces ran out of fuel and tank parts and had to face a more powerful British force. At the battle of Kursk (1943), overconfident German forces were stopped by an enormous number of heavy Soviet tanks in the greatest tank battle in history. The authors argue that Israeli tank commanders copied Rommel's tactics successfully in the 1967 and 1973 wars, crushing their opponents. Armored warfare reached its zenith in the Gulf War in 1991, when US and British armor, with cutting-edge technology, made scrap metal out of Iraqi tanks, proving that the tank remains a crucial element in military strategy. An effective study of one of modern warfare's most awesome weapons. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Berkley Hardcover
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 042515307X
• ISBN 13: 9780425153079
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 301