Tanks at the Iron Curtain 1946–60: Early Cold War armor in Central Europe (New Vanguard)

At the conclusion of the Second World War in Europe, the military situation rapidly transitioned to a new face-off between former allies. The utility of tanks had been firmly established, and both sides sought to adapt existing models to a potential new conflict. The result was an arms race in tank technology that would last for decades (and is expected to be covered in this and two follow-on Osprey publications).The author provides a concise account of the competition, supported by lots of period photographs and modern illustrations. Stocks of World War II tanks were the initial basis for both sides. As the author relates, technologic innovation tended to be incremental rather than dynamic, and prompted by concerns the other side was ahead. The account includes adaptations for a possible nuclear battlefield. Well recommended to students of tank warfare as a brief but interesting introduction to the particular time period.

Book covers the basic information on tanks used during this period gives good insight into the negative issues facing Russian tanks at the time and the effects of western tanks trying to improve tanks during this time period, overall easy to read and follow lots of pictures and drawings.

Not a heck of a lot of writing on this particular time period.Some good background and "what if" scenarios. Also some good references for models building of that time period as well.

Another of Zaloga's excellent books. This one covers a period that many have ignored and has tanks that many will not be familiar with (M103, ARL44 and T44 for instance). Good reference for modelers as well.

This is the first part of a 3-part series describing Cold War armor in Europe. This book covers the period from 1946-1960. Future volumes will cover 1960-1975 and 1975-1990. Part I makes a very nice addition to a Cold War library. It is particularly useful because the early Cold War is generally under reported. Steven Zaloga’s depth and knowledge and clear writing makes it easy for readers to understand the complexities of the armored situation in early post-war Europe.The book itself is presented in the standard—very short—48-page New Vanguard format. I really wish Osprey would bump the series up to the far more useful 64-page length. In any case, Tanks at the Iron Curtain is quite good. It starts with an overview of the composition, organization, and doctrine of the major potential combatants. Minor players (e.g., Italy, Belgium, etc) are omitted. Of particular interest is how the different combatants evolved to deal with an expected nuclear battlefield.Next up is a Tanks in Battle section. Sadly, this is the least useful part of the book. It is only 4 pages long on my Kindle Fire and pretty much just says “these tanks were involved in these conflicts.” Had I been the editor, I would have suggested omitting the section entirely or considerably expanding it. The next part, the Technical Analysis section, is the best part of the book. It describes the different ammunition, range finders, and IR devices used in the 1946-1960 era. Last up is a Tank Comparison section that details two contemporary reports, one from they UK the other from the USSR, that compare the effectiveness of western and soviet tanks. All in all, Tanks at the Iron Curtain is a very handy reference for the armor used during this transitional period of the Cold War.

thank you

The focus of this 48-page booklet is two areas: order-of-battle (tank inventory and production) andtechnical evaluation of Allied vs USSR armor. The former might be quite useful to war-game designers,while the latter tells how the Soviet Union military authorities evaluated Western tanks.The Tanks, Doctrine, and Organization provides general background to both Western and Soviet armor areas, under these headers. This covers the armies of the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact tanks; France, West Germany, United Kingdom, other NATO countries, plus U.S. armor.There were no battlefield engagements across NATO-Warsaw Pact boundaries, so it is difficult to see how well the Soviet authorities evaluated Western tank designs, up to 1960 - the section covered under Technical Analysis (analysis of tank ammo types and effectiveness against opponents) and Tank Comparisons - how the Soviets evaluated Western tank designs, based on Tsentr operation-strategicheskikh issledovanniy Generalnogo shtaba VS USSR (1991) source.As with all Steve Zaloga's books, outstanding! [Follow-on, post-1960 booklet is scheduled for 2022.]

A good solid basic introduction to the tanks of the earlier phases of the Cold War. Nothing particularly spectacular or revelatory but certainly worth having in your collection.

Rehashed stuff, nothing new, a bit of a let down.