British Tanks of WWII (1) France & Belgium 1944

This is the first volume of a 2-volume series depicting the British and Commonwealth armor at war in Europe. David Fletcher, a noted armor historian, is the author of this series. The photos came from the Tank Museum at Bovington.

This book begins as the Allies prepared the crossing of the English Channel. D-Day saw the British and Commonwealth forces landed at Gold, Juno and Sword Beaches. DD Shermans and Funnies of the 79th Armoured Division formed the spearhead of the armor punch at Normandy. German reinforcements concentrated their efforts against the British and Canadians and Montgomery fought a hard battle around Caen, suffering heavy casualties. Battle then raged on at Falaise, trapping 60,000 Germans in a pocket. Montgomery then crossed the Seine and marched into Belgium.

The British and Commonwealth troops used a great variety of tanks and vehicles. DD Sherman, Churchill, Firefly, Priest, Sexton, Cromwall, Centaur, Universal Carrier, Humber are a few of the armor featured in this book. The 16 color plates show the vehicles in ¾ view, clearing showing the colorful insignia and markings.

David Fletcher
Softcover 72 pages, 160 b/w photos, 16 colour plates
Concord Publications