T-54 and T-55 Main Battle Tanks 1944–2004 (New Vanguard, 102)

Steven Zaloga is one of my favorite authors on tanks and AFVs. This volume does not disappoint. The T54/55 tank is one of the most numerous and successful Soviet tanks ever developed. Over 40,000 of these tanks are used all over the world. Zaloga does a great job of describing the development of the T54 and T55 tanks and the variant models. He also includes various sections which explain the upgrade versions of the T55, the Chinese copies of the T54 (called the T-59 and T-69), and the combat performance of the T54/55. What I always appreciate about Zaloga is that he inserts helpful information such as the armor penetration of the 100mm D-10T guns (e.g. compare the HVAP round which penetrates 200mm with the latest UBM6 APSDS round which can penetrate up to 290 mm at 2km against a vertical target)and the armor upgrades of the T55. As always in this series, the colored plates and illustrations are excellent. Zaloga packs in so much information in 47 pages! Highly recommended!!

Good little book on T54/T55 some good pics

Great little book full of history and pictures.

A very useful book that gives the reader a highly useful primer on this very important weapon system. Anyone who has followed military actions post World War 2 will be well aware of the plethora of actions the T-54/55 group of tanks have been involved in. They have featured in so many newsclips and the like that it is hard to avoid being aware of them. And even as I write in 2016 they are still lurking about, well past their combat prime, but still useful for less militarily powerful nations to have something in the inventory, especially if their likely foes are similarly equipped or even less well off in the armour department.Author Steven Zaloga basically writes this stuff in his sleep. The work gives a few pages of brief introduction, then you get a blow by blow discussion of the development of not only the tank itself but its various upgrades. You get some sense of the differing thoughts about tank development that went on within the Soviet system and there is discussion of the combat history of these tanks. As an addition there is discussion of the armour penetration effectiveness of the tanks gun and a select bibliography at the rear.As per usual with these works there are a slew of black and white photographs and the traditional Osprey cutaway double page spread as well as a number of colour plates. These photographs and illustrations are excellent for the modeller and ... well... just plain nice to look at. Reading pages of text about upgrades to suspensions and targeting systems can be a tad dry and these features of the Osprey books make them far more readable.Recommended for armchair military history buffs and modellers alike.

Excellent!

Nothing in this book-text and images--could not easily be found on the internet with minimal effort.

Nice book it's a good lite history

The T-54/55 tank is not as big, expensive, safe or powerful as any of the MBT's fielded by many nations today. In its standard form, it stands no chance at all against a Challenger, Abrams or Leopard 2. With the many modifications and upgrades available, however, ranging from minor changes to almost complete overhauls, the T-54/55 has remained relevant in armored warfare for over fifty years. Steven Zaloga, as always, really did his research and, as always, produced a truly magnificent book. 48 pages long and first published in 2004, it is a superb reference book on the T-54/55 for anyone and everyone, be you the casual reader, avid historian, or researcher.It covers the development, service history, upgrades, and more recent years of the T-54/55. This is the most mass-produced tank ever, with between 86,000 and 100,000 having been made. The philosophy behind the T-54/55 is exemplary of what all Soviet weapons designs were based on- durability, simplicity, and ease of manufacture and use. It is not about the quality of the individual tank, but of the mass quantities overwhelming a target, its small size presenting a much lower profile than tanks like the M1. This book tells you all you'd want to know about the mainline T-54/55 tank and its Chinese twin, the Type 59. It is the AK-47 of tanks- inexpensive and everybody's got one, even the United States. While the standard T-54/55 is now hopelessly outdated, and the overall tank itself is as well even with upgrades, it is not to be ignored. And, much like the AK-47, as long as ammunition and parts exist, this tank will be used. It may not be the newest, shiniest, or meanest tank on the block anymore- if it ever was- but for all its flaws, somebody will always be using one. As the book itself says, the story of this, one of the greatest tanks of all time, is far from finished.

Mr. Zaloga knows his stuff. You can't go wrong with any of his books!

Alles OK.

Remise à jour des informations sur ce blindé emblématique du bloc soviétique pendant la guerre froide.

Si molto ben descritto. la parte scritta é piena di dettagli sui colpi di cui era fornito il pezzo principale di questo carro. E anche le varianti di questi veicoli si può dire che non manchino di dettagliate descrizioni.Galland5 :-)) :-)) :-))

Once again Mr Zaloga has written an authorative account of the development, deployment and modifications of both tanks. Historian and modeller will both appreciate this book, especially those specialising in Soviet armour of the cold war period. Well worth the price.