US Heavy Tanks of World War II

Some of you know that I’m drawn to US heavy tanks.  To me they represent the epitome of tank design.  However, the development of US heavy tanks during World War II and the Cold War periods has been very problematic at best.

In this book, Steven J. Zaloga examines the US Army's efforts to develop and field a heavy tank in World War II and the early Cold War period. It traces heavy tank development from the M6, which never saw combat despite being type classified. The heavy T14 assault tank, earmarked for the British under Lend-Lease.  The M4A3E2 (Jumbo) which was produced as a stopgap in 1944 and 1945.  To the T28/T95 superheavy tank, and finally the T29, T30 and T34 tanks which were aimed at countering the Russian heavy tank threat in the early Cold War.  Except for the M4A3E2 (Jumbo) none of the US heavy tank designs actually saw combat operations.

Title:  US Heavy Tanks of World War II

Author:  Steven J. Zaloga

Publisher:  Osprey Publications

Price:  $20.00 USD

Format: Soft cover, 7X10 inches

Page count:  48 pages

Illustrations:  40 photos and 8 pages of color illustrations

Tables/drawings/diagrams:  Technical tables

All text and photograph captions are in English

ISBN:  978-1-47287-084-1

What’s Between the Covers?

The table of contents provides a logical progression of the development of US heavy tanks.  Each section includes a description of the development, technical table and a nice color representation of the vehicle.  In addition, there is a center fold depiction of a fictional combat scene between the T28 Super Heavy tank and a Japanese O-I Super Heavy tank.  

M6 (T1) Heavy Tank

T14 Assault Tank


M4A3E2 (Jumbo)

T29E3 Heavy Tank

T30 Heavy Tank

As mentioned above this book provides some technical tables for the various US heavy tanks.  These tables provide some general data comparing US heavy tanks to potential adversary tanks.  The following are some examples of these technical tables.

Conclusion

I have several books in my reference library covering US heavy tanks.  I found this book to be a nice complement to these references.  The discussion of each vehicle is very through, and I especially like the color plates used to supplement each discussion.

Highly Recommended for Basic to Expert skill level modelers.

Thanks go out to Osprey Publishing for this review book.

Reviewed by Mike Petty, AZ AMPS

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