|
Italian
Medium Tanks
In Action
By
Nicola Pignato
Color by Don Greer
Illustrated by Andrew Probert & Richard Hudson
Squadron/Signal
Publications
S u m m a r y
|
| Catalogue Number: |
Armor Number 39 |
| ISBN: |
0-89747-426-0 |
| Media: |
Soft cover, landscape format, 50
pages plus covers (incl. 2 centre pages with colour profiles). |
| Price: |
US$8.46 from Squadron.com |
| Review Type: |
First Read |
| Advantages: |
Good coverage of an otherwise
neglected subject area; informative text; sequential strucure; plentiful
photos; many diagrams and scrap views to illustrate variant differences
and details; captions add value to photos. |
| Disadvantages: |
|
| Recommendation: |
Recommended. |
Reviewed by
Brett Green
Italian medium tanks were an important participant on the battlefields
of North Africa and the Balkans, yet information on these vehicles remains
relatively scarce.
Squadron have addressed this shortcoming with their latest Armor book
in the "In Action" series, "Italian Medium Tanks in
Action".
Don Greer's attractive cover artwork encases an interesting story of
armoured vehicles that were of decent design, but failed to earn a
fearsome reputation due to light armour, poor tensile strength and,
importantly, ineffective leadership in the field.
The book focuses on the vehicles rather than their service history. The
text does a good job of providing a background to Italian armour
production, and a sequential description of the major medium tank variants
in use from 1938 to the Italian armistice in 1943. The main types covered
are the M 11-39, M 13-40, M 14-41, Semovente da 75/18, Carro Commando
(Command Vehicle) M41, M 15-42 and later Semovente variants. The bulk of
the coverage is devoted to the M 13-40 and M 14-41, of which over 1400
were produced.
Photos are usually the highlight of the Squadron In Action series, and
this book is no exception. Almost all of the 40 pages feature between two
and four captioned photos - around 100 photos in all. These are
supplemented by 60 plans and scrap view drawings to compare features and
point out details.
Despite their relative lack of success on the battlefield, Italian
tanks are second only to the Germans in their creative camouflage schemes.
The two page "centrefold" highlights eight of these colourful
schemes in yellow, brown and green. The artwork is very nice indeed.
"Italian Medium Tanks In Action" will be a welcome companion
to modellers planning to build the Tamiya or Italeri M 13-40 or Semovente
kits.
Recommended.
Thanks to Squadron for the review sample.
Italian
Medium Tanks In Action is available online from
Squadron.com
Review Copyright © 2001 by Brett
Green
This Page Created on 29 June, 2001
Last updated 22 July, 2003
Back to HyperScale
Main Page
Back to Reviews
Page
|
Home | What's
New | Features
| Gallery |
Reviews | Reference
| Forum
| Search