British Tank Crewman 1939-45
By (Author) Neil Grant
Illustrated by Graham Turner
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Osprey Publishing
1st December 2017
30th November 2017
United Kingdom
General
Non Fiction
Modern warfare
Land forces and warfare
Military history
Military vehicles
European history
940.541241
Paperback
64
Width 184mm, Height 248mm, Spine 7mm
214g
Great Britain had introduced the tank to the world during World War I, and maintained its lead in armoured warfare with the Experimental Mechanised Force during the late 1920s, watched with interest by German advocates of Blitzkrieg. Despite these successes, the Experimental Mechanised Force was disbanded in the 1930s, making Britain relatively unprepared for World War II, both in terms of armoured doctrine and equipment. This fully illustrated new study examines the men who crewed the tanks of Britains armoured force during World War II, which was only four battalions large in 1939. It looks at the recruitment and training of the vast numbers of men required, their equipment, appearance and combat experience in every theatre of the war as the British armoured division sought to catch up with the German Panzers.
Neil Grant is from a military family and grew up on a succession of army bases. Neil has a degree in archaeology, and presently works for English Heritage.