The Patton Tank Cold War Warrior, Michael Green

The Patton Tank Cold War Warrior, Michael Green

The M46 Patton was one of the first significant tanks to be produced in the United States after the end of the Second World War, and designs developed from it remained in US service into the 1980s! The Patton was a key US tank in Korea and Vietnam, and served in large numbers with America’s allies. This book covers all three of the Patton types.

I hadn’t realised that the original M46 was based on the Second World War era M26 Pershing, but with a more powerful engine, or that the same name was given to three different tanks – the M46, M47 and M48. Most of the changes between them were in the engines and the turret, suggesting that the original chassis had actually been a succesful design. The book also looks at the modifications carried out in other countries, where the M48 in particular became the basis for a number of further improvements, and is still in service in some places.

Although this book is part of the Images of War series, it has more text than is often the case in this sort of book, so we get a good history of the Patton tank, as well as the impressive collection of photographs. As a result we get a good technical and operation history of the Patton, as well as being able to trace the improvements made between the three main variants, and to the M48.

A key strength of this book is the impressive number of pictures of the inside of the tank, something that isn’t always the case in books on tanks. This gives some idea of how the crew actually fit inside these cramped vehicles, and the impressive array of controls confronting most of them. The photographs are well captioned, with key features identified, again putting this book ahead of many picture books.

Chapters
1 - Patton Tank Genisis
2 - M46 Patton Tank
3 - M47 Patton Tank
4 - M48 through M48A3 Patton Tanks
5 - Patton Tanks in the Vietnam
6 - M48A5 Patton Tank
7 - Patton Tanks in Foreign Service
8 – Patton Tank Variants and Accessories

Author: Michael Green
Edition: Paperback
Pages: 208
Publisher: Pen & Sword Military
Year: 2012


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