Review (PDF) T-34-85 Medium Tank 1944-94 (New Vanguard)
The T-34-85 tank is one of those rare weapons that have remained in service for more than half a century. First introduced in 1944, it has seen combat in nearly every corner of the globe. Steven Zaloga and Jim Kinnear look at this long-serving tank at length. Although long obsolete in Europe, it has proven a reliable and potent weapon in many Third World conflicts, and is still in service with more than a dozen armies around the world.
Series: New Vanguard (Book 20)
Paperback: 48 pages
Publisher: Osprey Publishing; First Edition edition (September 15, 1996)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1855325357
ISBN-13: 978-1855325357
Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 0.2 x 9.8 inches
Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #435,343 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #58 in Books > History > Military > Weapons & Warfare > Conventional > Armored Vehicles #4333 in Books > History > Military > World War II #15286 in Books > Engineering & Transportation > Engineering
Since the 1970s, Steven Zaloga has been one of the acknowledged experts on Soviet and Russian armor, and this latest volume allows him to take advantage of all the declassified material on Russia's World War Two tank development, clearing away a good deal of confusion and myth. The T-34 was the most important Russian tank of World War Two, and thanks to its almost brutal simplicity, was produced in greater numbers than any comparable British, German or American design. The T-34 remained in production in Russia after the war, and was later built under license in Poland and Czechoslovakia. This tank saw combat all over the world, including Korea, Hungary, the Middle East, Vietnam, and Africa, a few remain in service in the Third World today. This is the second Osprey New Vanguard volume on the T-34 (the first is the T-34-76 from the same authors), and it offers an excellent variety of photos, multi-view scale drawings, and a concise but detailed history of the development and use of the T-34 from the latter half of World War Two through the early 1990's. There is also coverage of self-propelled gun and recovery vehicles based on the T-34 chassis. As with all Osprey books, there are excellent color plates (by Peter Sarson) depicting vehicles in service, as well as a color cutaway of the vehicle interior. This title would be a good companion to the photo books on the T-34 series that Zaloga has previously written, published by Squadron and Concord. A terrific value for money for the historian or model builder.
Steven Zaloga is one of my favorite authors on AFV/Tanks. He gives a very complete description of the development, the combat performance, and the production numbers of the T34/85. The T34/85 is regarded by many as the best all-around medium tank of WWII. What I enjoyed reading the most in this book were the combat performances of the T34/85 in WWII (especially against the Panther and Tiger tanks), in the Korean War and in the Middle East conflicts. Zaloga also gives helpful charts throughout the book which describe the production numbers, the armor penetration of the 85 mm gun, and the countries which adopted the T34/85. There are numerous B & W photographs as well as colored illustrations of the tank as well as notes on the colored plates. I really enjoyed reading this excellent treatment of the T34/85. Zaloga packs in a lot of information in just 48 pages. Highly recommended!
Typical horrid Kindle version.At least the plates are in color, but the large exploded views but are split across different pages,Each 'piece' is a pannable/scalable image - but no COMPLETE image.For this series of books, make it's nearly impossible to enjoy the exploded views.Buy the print version and enjoy.
Like all of Steven Zaloga's work this is an informative overview of the second major iteration of the T-34. Has some nice well-drawn technical drawings and a brief but informative history of the T-34-85's development.The only major drawback to the book are the two-page maps; the center binding makes viewing the middle of the map impossible so some of the detail on the map is lost. Osprey publishing has since updated their printings from the 90's and fortunately this problem no longer occurs in their latest books.
The T34/85 tank is a study of style and performance and is covered very well with developement and technical details.The artist color side profiles are excellent as well as the exploded color drawing. The B/W photos could enjoy some enhancement but are numerous. More close-ups of the exterior and interior of the tank w/some engine shots would make this a complete book. But, for the price you receive solid info on a remarkable vehicle.
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