Your armor library

This thread is completely and without shame plagerized. I got it from a thread on another forum from years past and thought a revival might be useful...for me. I am always in search of new good books on arnor. I have two shelves in my bookshelf devoted to books on WWII, one shelf is completely armor. I post this as I am curious about what others have and find valuable. If one of you gung ho mods think his belongs elsewhere, do your stuff.

1. Number of AFV related volumes in your library

2. Favorite book (no set criteria – just ‘cause)

3. Favorite author

4. Favorite “Bathroom reader”

5. Latest acquisition

6. Rarest book

7. Most valuable book

8. Most money you have ever paid for a book

9. Best deal you have gotten on a purchase

10. Most Important book (adds the most to the "Fund of knowledge" to our hobby)

11 Most enjoyable read

12. Most underrated book (and why)

13. What AFV related books are you currently reading

14. What are your “Holy Grail” books (and how long have you been searching)

15. Most overexposed AFV subject

16. Most under reported AFV subject

 

Here's my go at answering.


1. Number of AFV related volumes in your library - 33

2. Favorite book (no set criteria – just ‘cause) - Armored Thunderbolt

3. Favorite author - Zaloga

4. Favorite “Bathroom reader” - Armored Thunderbolt or Germany's Panzer Arm

5. Latest acquisition - Hunnicutt's Pershing book

6. Rarest book - Hunnicutt's Sherman book (pdf)

7. Most valuable book - ?

8. Most money you have ever paid for a book - $40 something for Pershing

9. Best deal you have gotten on a purchase - still waiting for that

10. Most Important book (adds the most to the "Fund of knowledge" to our hobby)
T-34: Mythical Weapon

11 Most enjoyable read - Germany's Panzer Arm

12. Most underrated book (and why)

13. What AFV related books are you currently reading - air war is my current topic

14. What are your “Holy Grail” books Faint Praise

15. Most overexposed AFV subject Sherman's inferiority and T-34's superiority

16. Most under reported AFV subject[/QUOTE]

 

OK - I've had to go away and think about this one ( I'm not really an armour specialist ). But here goes : -

 

'Sixty-Four Days Of A Normandy Summer : With A Tank Unit After D-Day'

I'm going to have to look that one up.

 

Quite a 'low-key' book, and the writer admits he's not a hero....somehow the book really gave me an idea of what it was really like.

 

That does sound good. I've read a couple of those recently and am usually pleased with the purchase. I read By Tank into Normandy and Armoured Guardsmen last year and particularly enjoyed that they were both written by Brits fighting in Shermans and they never once wined about being in a bad tank. They fought like they were there to do a job and complaining was not a part of the job.

 

1. Number of AFV related volumes in your library - Tragically, 100+

2. Favorite book (no set criteria – just ‘cause) - Mechanised force ~ Fletcher, probably

3. Favorite author - David Fletcher

4. Favorite “Bathroom reader” - Osprey books, & the Historic Military Vehicle directory... in between Mojo magazines

5. Latest acquisition - Repairing the Panzers ~ Friedli

6. Rarest book - Lord knows, possibly the Great Tank Scandal/Universal Tank, both crying out for a reprint

7. Most valuable book - Possibly Hunnicutt's 'Sherman'?

8. Most money you have ever paid for a book - c.£90

9. Best deal you have gotten on a purchase - Two Spielbergers for a tenner.

10. Most Important book (adds the most to the "Fund of knowledge" to our hobby) - Mr Churchill's tank, or Nigel watson's 'Universal Carrier' volumes. edit: & Buckley

11 Most enjoyable read - 'By Tank into Normandy' stuart Hills

12. Most underrated book (and why) - Patrick Wright ~ 'Tank', a social history of the machine that makes a refreshing departure from the usual sprocket-fixated technical books.

13. What AFV related books are you currently reading - Repairing the Panzers

14. What are your “Holy Grail” books (and how long have you been searching) - Not telling... Oh alright then, I've about given up anyway; 'Men, Ideas & Tanks' JP Harris. Several years without spotting a sensible price.

15. Most overexposed AFV subject - The Germans, and Tigger in particular.

16. Most under reported AFV subject - Still pretty sketchy publications out there on most British Vehicles, but the biggest gap for me is a really decent encyclopedia of French Machines.

 

1. Number of AFV related volumes in your library

About 20-30, counting Ospreys etc

2. Favorite book (no set criteria – just ‘cause)

The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Military Vehicles by Ian V. Hogg and John Weeks. Just because it's so good for browsing, and useful for tank identification.

3. Favorite author

Ian V. Hogg, when also including his books about artillery and small arms. A comprehensive collection of reference material!

4. Favorite “Bathroom reader”

Osprey-type books - anything with a lot of photos of tanks in the real world of WWII.

11 Most enjoyable read

Iron Fist by Bryan Perrett, especially the early parts. I'm amazed at the stories of British armoured cars.

13. What AFV related books are you currently reading

Panzer Leader by Heinz Guderian

14. What are your “Holy Grail” books (and how long have you been searching)

Mostly I buy on impulse, but I would love to get a book about the SdKfz 231, -2, -3, -4 8-rad at a decent price. Yes, I know it isn't a tank.

15. Most overexposed AFV subject

Guns, I guess. But I have no objection to that.

16. Most under reported AFV subject

Field repairs. There must have been a huge amount of work done fixing damage and wear on battle tanks.

 

List can be quite good fun can't they...

You might like that Friedl book I mentioned Sentinel:
Panzerwrecks :: Repairing the Panzers Vol.1 in Detail
Not finished it yet, but it's from the chaps that make the Panzerwrecks series, is profusely illustrated, and rather interesting so far.
Very Slightly odd style, that I think may reflect it's apparent influences from web discussions, but that's not a real critique and it's still a cut above many Panzer books, covering a neglected subject very well.
(I got it for c.£20 on Abe, and will certainly be making the effort to get hold of the forthcoming Vol.2.)

~A

 

Thank you, Von Poop. I'll put that one on my "to buy" list.

 

I've got these ww2 armor books in my collection: Panzer IV vs Char Bis 1 Panther vs T-34 Tiger vs Sherman Firefly Sdkfz 251 halftrack Achtung Panzer

 

1. Number of AFV related volumes in your library Let me count - I'll get back to you in 3 years . On a more serious note, maybe 100? of my 400+ book history library.

2. Favorite book (no set criteria – just ‘cause) Phillip Trewhitt's and Chris McNab's Armored Fighting Vehicles of the World

3. Favorite author Armor-related? Walter Speilberger for his all-inclusive approach to writing volumes on German armor. Ian Hogg and Steve Zaloga as close seconds for the same reasons. Zaloga just has to be published a bit more and write some longer books.

4. Favorite “Bathroom reader” Again, Phillip Trewhitt's and Chris McNab's Armored Fighting Vehicles of the World. The Osprey books are another favorite.

5. Latest acquisition Speilberger Collection of German Armor: Panzer I & II

6. Rarest book Catalog of Enemy Ordnance Material Volume 1 (authentic 1st edition, not a reprint), although it isn't limited solely to armor.

7. Most valuable book Hmm. Maybe an original copy M4 Sherman field manual. I can't really say for sure.

8. Most money you have ever paid for a book 150 bucks

9. Best deal you have gotten on a purchase Hard call, but recently it was Guderian's Panzer Leader for 8.99 at the book store bargain bin

10. Most Important book (adds the most to the "Fund of knowledge" to our hobby) The Speilberger series

11 Most enjoyable read Zaloga's "Armored Thunderbolt"

12. Most underrated book (and why) I can't say for sure

13. What AFV related books are you currently reading I'm focusing on reading Guy Walter's "Hunting Evil" right now (got it as a gift), but I'm also working through Erhard Raus' memoir "Panzer Operations".

14. What are your “Holy Grail” books (and how long have you been searching) Anything in the Hunnicut Armor Series (Sherman, Pershing, etc). I can't say that I've been looking hard - I've just always wanted to own them at an affordable price.

15. Most overexposed AFV subject Tiger tanks. An interesting topic, but when most people know what a Tiger tank is and know little about WWII in general - you have problems!

16. Most under reported AFV subject Early war tanks from "minor" nations (Poland, Belgium, etc). Its a fascinating topic, but one that is hard to find detailed information on.

 

Assuming you mean the Spielberger Pz.I & II volume, I find that one of his weaker efforts. A tad sketchy, and somewhat lacking in depth.
I'm a pretty substantial fan of his stuff too, but something needs to be done about the translation used - Some of them are very clearly executed; Tiger, Panther & Stug stand out, but others seem to have been translated by someone with little or no knowledge of technical German/English, making much of these largely sprocket-fixated books very hard going - the gobbledegook in his I/II & 35/38 books was the main reason I transcribed the SoTT Glossary of German Terminology, so I could have a ready online reference for some of the awful diagram labels.

Thinking of the I & II , I didn't mention the Panzertracts series above (not sure what question I'd put 'em next to though).
Strange 'books', but packed with good stuff. Despite a mildly alarming pricing structure, they're often the last port of call for more sensible detail on German kit. (Bring on 'British Tank Tracts' & I'd doubtless collect the set...)

Couldn't agree more that Tigger is overdone - I've got so much published crap relating to the beastie, & only a few books that I regard as reasonably solid. While I admire people that specialise in Tigger 'properly', it's not a fixation that I really 'get'. The internet as a whole doesn't help does it... 'Tigerz R Kule' being far too commonly found on forums etc.

Also remembered I have another contender for my favourite book - Rob Griffin's 'Conqueror', but as it's not WW2-related I'll probably have to leave it out, or maybe move it to a 'Major Contributions to neglected subjects' list.

~A

 

Yes, I have noticed that too with the Panzer I and II volume. I own most of the collection, and so far I think the "Tiger" volume is probably the best. The translation is another thing I have noticed, and it does get annoying after a while. There is one in particular (maybe "Light Jagdpanzer", I can't remember offhand) that is particularly poor. However, the technical information and photos usually make up for it - I can always understand what is being said, it might just take some time to "compute" the poor grammar. That being said, it isn't a problem with Speilberger himself (I don't think he translated his own books), and he probably wasn't even aware of the poor translations.

The price is a bit of a screw up. Up here, the list prices are always around 60 bucks. For that, I would expect a much better translation. In addition, the books are usually dinged up in some way - ripped corners, bent edges, etc. I have never bought any of them for the list prices (just not worth it because you can always find them cheaper if you look). That being said, the detail in some of the books makes the list prices almost justified for me. For example, the detail in the "Special Panzer" volume pertaining to the Maus and E100 was a lot more than I was expecting.

 

For me it has to be the Encyclopedia of German Tanks of WW2 by Peter Chamberlain & Hilary Doyle, that book has help out more times then any other book, it has data on other nations tank used by Germany and it also covers Half-tracks and armoured cars, excellent stuff.