Armour Literature

[dangles]

Hey all,

I have been seriously considering Armour Officer as my number one [and possibly only] trade to apply for once I am done University. I was wondering if anyone knew of any good books or other sources of information related to the trade/armour in general? Just want to immerse myself in the subject as much as possible before I go into the CFRC.  Also, any tips for achieving this goal are greatly appreciated! Thanks.

 

[dangles]

I'm not sure about books.. But Greatest Tank Battles is pretty cool on the history channel.... I'm still not really sure what you hope to get out of the book.  If you're looking for History, that show would be up your alley. Other then that, I really have no idea...

Well for one I'm looking for certain tactics an Armour Officer employs/did employ [which would be Greatest Tanks Battles, it's a pretty good one], and AFV recognition etc.

Basically just want general knowledge!

 

[Fergie]

If you want AFV (or any ships/weapons) recognition Jane's guides are always a good place to start, but honestly I think you can get a lot more out of simply searching online.  You'll get much better images and more diverse and detailed information--at least from civvie side.  The inevitable question is "I don't know much about AFV, where do I start?"

Google the various types of AFV's, like Tanks, IFVs, APC's, etc. (heck even try googling AFV!).  Wikipedia is an excellent baseline of information and images for this.  After getting a rough idea of the different types and roles of AFVs start doing some searches on various army/armed forces.  Again Wikipedia pages generally have a good amount of basic information and almost every page will have a current equipment/vehicle listing, link to one or links to other sources.  These pages will provide a rough idea of how many vehicles, the various types and--the best part--a plethora of images.  After immersing yourself in the various armies of the world (start off with the "big" players, i.e. USA, UK, FRANCE, GERMANY, RUSSIA, CHINA, to get a decent coverage of the majority of AFVs out there... though you'll be surprised where some excellent vehicles come from) you'll get a rough idea of what's more common in the various inventories. 
 
At this point you'll likely be able to start posing questions to yourself "what's the most prolific tank in the world?" or "How many IFVs does Germany have compared to France or Poland  ;D".  A lot of these "I wonder/what if" questions, with subsequent google searches, will provide you a surprising amount of literature and images... A hell of a lot more than any single book volume can provide. 

I'll admit I still have several copies of Jane's and various military encyclopedias, but I'd stick with the plan above... You'll save a lot more money and get more up to date info and images that way.  After a while you'll be able to find out which book has the best info anyway using the same practices you did to immerse yourself in AFV  8)

 

[Fergie]

.... I forgot to cover the tactics/strategies aspect.  In this regard it's not as simple to find out this information as generic google searches on "tank tactics" tend to bring up WWII or Cold War stuff (not that this isn't interesting or irrelevant).  If you're looking for more contemporary I highly recommend searching online for the Canadian Army Journal.  It's an open source of very recent information on a number of things crossing the army world (with an obvious focus on Canada).  Many of the articles are more "in depth" to tactics/operations/strategy and would be an excellent start.  There are numerous other online sources similar to the Canadian Army Journal, but for that you'll have to do a bit more of your own searching.

I play "google search" quite a lot in my spare time and it has rewarded me with an enormous amount of information.  One thing to keep very much in mind is that even though you may become quite "educated" on these subjects, nothing ever replaces real knowledge from experience... Read all you want about how much the Coyote was desired from NATO allies for its excellent recce capabilities, but if you talk to a crewmember they'll likely chastise the thing.  It's great to know stats and paper capabilities, but nothing can compare to real world context (which even I admittedly lack quite a bit of compared to many of our readers).  Regardless have fun with it and hopefully the Armour world treats you well,

-Fergie

 

[TangoTwoBravo]

  One thing to keep very much in mind is that even though you may become quite "educated" on these subjects, nothing ever replaces real knowledge from experience... Read all you want about how much the Coyote was desired from NATO allies for its excellent recce capabilities, but if you talk to a crewmember they'll likely chastise the thing.
-Fergie

I agree that nothing replaces real knowledge. You will find crewmen who want something different, but my soldiers are pretty happy to have Coyotes.

Dangles,

Its dated, but First Clash gives you a good look at fairly conventional employment of armour in a hypothetical peer combat setting. Thunder Run gives a good look at the Iraq invasion in 2003 from a crew commander perspective. "C" gives a good look at the 1991 Gulf War from a tank perspective.

Cheers

 

[dangles]

Thanks Fergie and Tango, there should be lots of reading in my near future! Kind of glad most of it will not cost me any money either...Also, I saw you stickied the Armour Officer thread you said you were going to post Tango, thanks for that, I'll check it out.

I agree real world experience is better than any reading I can do...it's just that the nearest Armour reserve in my area is in Toronto so I can't really join up there as it's about an hour drive each way [just not realistic for me to do as a student with no vehicle].

 

[a_majoor]

You should also look up Guderian's book "Achtung - Panzer!" which will give you an interesting overview of the evolution of Tank and armoured tactics. As you progress in experiance and rank you should also study early armoured theorists like B.H. Liddel Hart, JFC Fuller and Marshal of the Soviet Union Mikhail Nikolayevich Tukhachevsky.

Nothing replaces real experience in the field, but having an understanding of where these drill and tactics come from is illuminating.