Search results for ""Author Craig Moore""

The First World War’s fierce battles saw the need to develop military technology beyond anything previously imagined: as exposed infantry and cavalry were mowed down by relentless machine-gun attacks, so tanks were developed. Here author Craig Moore presents every First World War tank, from the prototype ‘Little Willie’, through the French heavy tanks to the German light tank. He gives a focused history of the development of this game-changing vehicle and the engagements it was used in – vital battles such as the Somme and Cambrai. Stunningly illustrated in full colour throughout, Tank Hunter: World War One provides historical background, facts and figures for each First World War tank as well as the locations of any surviving examples, giving you the opportunity to become a Tank Hunter yourself.

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Using only original official period documents from the Second World War this book tries to provide the reader with the same information on the Panzer V Panther tank that was available to British and Commonwealth senior officers and tank crews during the war. As soon as intelligence reports confirmed the existence of the Panther tank the hunt was on to find reliable information on how to knock out this new German tank. Most people believe that the only way to stop a Panther was to penetrate its armour with an armour piercing A.P. round. Luckily the British 17 pdr anti-tank gun could do that but the British were also looking how to knock them out by using other weapons. They tested using high explosive artillery rounds and 20 mm air attack aircraft canon rounds to penetrate and damage the tank's rear engine deck and puncture the vehicle's radiators. Loss of water would cause the engine to overheat and stop working. Tank radiators were large and spares were not carried on the tank. If the Panther could not be recovered back to a maintenance depot the crew would have to abandon the tank and disable it by setting off internal explosive charges.

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‘American Panther Tanks’ sounds a strange title for a book, but currently there are five surviving WW2 German Panther tanks in America. It is believed that fourteen captured Panzer V Panther tanks were shipped to the United States after the Second World War. Most were cut up and scrapped after being used for testing and targets on live firing ranges. The Panzer V Ausf.A Panther tank at the American Heritage Museum, Hudson, Massachusetts, near Boston, has been completely restored to a very high standard. The other four Panther tanks are at Fort Benning, Columbus, Georgia, under the care of the U.S. Army Armor and Cavalry Collection (U.S. AACC). They are awaiting their turn to be restored. The first four chapters briefly cover the development and production of the Panzer V Panther tank from the first version, the Ausf.D, to the second version the Ausf.A and to the final production version the Ausf.G, using photographs from other surviving Panther tanks around the world. The fifth chapter explores the design history of the Panther II prototype hull. Only one was built. The remaining chapters are dedicated to a photographic walk-around of the surviving Panther tanks in America.

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One towed artillery gun required a team of six horses and nine men. WW2 German engineers came up with the idea of mounting an artillery gun on top of a tank chassis. This new technology reduced the amount of resources required to deploy one artillery gun. Artillery self-propelled guns only needed a four or five man crew. They could also be made ready to fire more quickly. This book covers the development and use of this new weapon between 1939 and 1945. One type was successfully used in the invasion of France in May 1940. More were used on the Eastern Front against Soviet forces from 1941 until the end of the war in 1945. The 'Desert Fox', Ewin Rommel, needed artillery guns that could keep up with his Panzers in North Africa. Horses could not be used in the desert. He was sent 15 cm howitzers mounted on top of Panzer II tank chassis and captured French Army Lorraine 37L tracked armoured supply vehicles. Rommel's forces in Northern France were equipped with a variety of new artillery self-propelled guns. They were used against the Allies when they invaded the beaches of Normandy on D-Day 6th June 1944.

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When the Panzer VI Ausf. E Tiger I tank first arrived on the battlefield, it started the Allied and Soviet intelligence race to discover everything they could about this new threat. The British Army quickly needed to know how to knock it out, then communicate that information back to the troops that had to face this new German metal monster either by official means or via newspapers. This is not a typical book on the Tiger tank. It tries to show the reader what the British and Commonwealth forces knew about the Tiger I tank during the war and the results of scientific firing trials. Unpublished Second World War original documents, discovered in different archives, have been transcribed and reproduced along with any existing photographs found in those official secret reports. These include top-secret Bletchley Park and Enigma intercepts of German messages that were decoded and translated before being sent to wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Illustrated with over 360 images, "How to Kill a Tiger Tank" is the definitive examination of a world-changing fighting vehicle.

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On June 6, 1944, D-Day, the Allied invasion of northern France began. Thousands of Allied soldiers, along with their equipment and vehicles, landed in Normandy on five main beaches. Most tanks arrived on the beaches by landing craft, and a few days later, after the construction of the temporary Mulberry harbor at Arromanches-les-Bains, tanks, along with supply trucks and more troops, started pouring from the ships into the ever-expanding beachhead. This guide book examines the surviving World War Two tanks, tank turrets and other armored fighting vehicles currently on display in Normandy, France, most of which took part in the fighting following the D-Day landings. The background history of each vehicle is explored, and location details are given. Many of the tanks are exhibited in museums, but a number are on display as war memorials, with some being in difficult-to-find places. Also included are the fascinating, little-known stories of the Allied tank attacks on two separate German beach defense fortifications at Gold Beach, both of which survived the initial Air Force bombing and Navy bombardment. They have been preserved and can be visited. 150 illustrations

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