On Armor (Military Profession)
by Bruce I. Gudmundsson
List Price:
Our Price: $14.76
You Save: $14.19 (49%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Bruce I. GudmundssonEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2004-10-30
ISBN: 0275950204
Number of pages: 248
Publisher: Praeger
Book Reviews of On Armor (Military Profession)
Book Review: A Great Work, Until the End.
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a great and very interesting book (though I thought it got off to a slow start for me). It talks of the evolution of the Armor force and how it seems to be coming full circle: where the tank was once thought it could do it all--with infantry and other support--now it's looking as if it cannot any longer.
The majority of this book is about how the Germans used armor during WWII and, even if you're not a fan of the German juggernaut and hungry for as much knowledge about it as possible, this is still a book I highly recommend on armor usage. The Germans were on to many things that I thing would have much use even, today: assault guns (especially), tank hunters and the sort. The way the tank/Panzer evolved during WWII is truly brought out in this work, so is, in a sense, how the Germans were able to hold on for so long.
The only real problem I have with this book, though, is the final chapter: 'The Future of Armor'. The author goes through a great deal of enlightened exposition to only come to some conclusions that I find absolutely surprising. He's right about the Abrams being a pig utterly unsuited to operational level warfare (but then find an US officer who understands that anyway): its engine eats up fuel like its going out of style and its weight...well, you tell ME how a 70 ton vehicle is going to be any use in Eurasia where you have a river every 5 to 15 miles and bridges mostly unable to support them(granted, few of the other MBTs out there are any more 'operationally-friendly). But the fact that he promotes the idea that an all-wheeled force would be just as good or even better in many circumstances is, quite frankly, wrong.
I'm sorry, but from all I've researched wheeled vehicles will NEVER out-perform tracks. He speaks of how the US got the idea of using wheeled vehicles by watching how the French used them as their empire fell apart. I agree with the fact that wheeled vehicles are great on roads, but go find lots of those in Iraq or Russia. APCs like M113s are just as good if not better then wheeled vehicles and their cross-country performance (like any tracked vehicle) is FAR better. He talks of arming them with ATGMs (another thing I see becoming more and more obsolete) and that with them they would 'be able to take a terrible toll of the tanks with little lose to' themselves. Now, if the tanks were moving without infantry support (which they should NEVER do!) I could see this happen, but he never clarifies this point.
He also says--and I quote, 'While a heavy tank would be too powerful for the simple task of overpowering wheeled armored vehicles in a direct fire contest, it would be largely impotent against the kind of precision indirect fire produced by the right sort of wheeled vehicle unit.'
What?! Has Bruce Gudmundsson NEVER heard of HE rounds?! You know, the type that DON'T go through things but blow up when they hit them? Shells even OUR TANKS still carry. (And BTW, what the hell is 'precision indirect fire'? Doesn't 'indirect fire' mean that the firing is IMprecise?)
I also find fault with his theory that the 'All-Purpose Tank' is no longer viable, not that the theory itself is wrong, but the example he uses to show it--The Russian tanks in the Chechen Wars of the early nineties--is completely inappropriate. He says, and I again quote, '(T)he design features needed to preserve the operational mobility of the Russian tanks made them extremely vulnerable to the RPGs wielded by the Chechen fighters. (Those design features included relatively light armor, the lack of measures to inhibit internal explosions, the cramped crew compartments, and the limited ability to elevate and depress the main armament.)'
Now, though I can agree with the first 'feature'--light armor, I find the other design features (or flaws, more appropriately) to be completely incompatible with his conclusion. Though these ARE lousy features, NONE of them has anything to do with making a tank operationally mobile, they are simply the products of a badly designed tank that was intended to be built on the cheap. The Russian tanks weren't vulnerable because they were designed for operational mobility, they were vulnerable because they were garbage. This is no different then US forces thinking their new doctrines were proven viable because of the two Iraq wars. They in no way take into account the fact that the people they were fighting had no business being in tanks in the first place. The Iraqis (no offense) were absolutely awful fighters using vehicles and tactics (if they can be called that) in the second war that were no different from the ones they used in the FIRST war, and even THEN they were obsolete.
I think Mr. Gunmundsson has written a great and important book; anyone who wishes to study armor and how to use it PROPERLY must read this work. I do not disagree with ALL of his conclusions though...he is right in the end when he says, 'The age of the tank is over. The age of tanks has begun.'
Conventional Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Conventional Books
The Armourer and His Craft: From the XIth to the XVIth Centuryby Charles ffoulkes
Dover Publications; Published: 1988-12-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $16.95
Merchant of Death: Money, Guns, Planes, and the Man Who Makes War Possibleby Douglas Farah, Stephen Braun
Wiley; Published: 2008-04-14; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.69
Price in other shops:
Clash of Chariots: The Great Tank Battlesby Tom Donnelly
Berkley Hardcover; Published: 1996-08-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $7.75
Price in other shops:
Managing the Revolution in Military AffairsPalgrave Macmillan; Published: 2001-11-03; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $173.00
British Armour Theory & the Rise of the (St Antony's Series)by Azar Gat
Palgrave Macmillan; Published: 2000-01-06; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $148.92
Review of Directed Energy Technology for Countering Rockets, Artillery, and Mortars (RAM): Abbreviated Versionby Committee on Directed Energy Technology for Countering Indirect Weapons, National Research Council
National Academies Press; Published: 2008-09-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $13.35
Price in other shops:
Tanks of the World 1915-1945by Peter Chamberlain, Chris Ellis
Cassell; Published: 2007-04-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $16.85
Price in other shops:
Breaking the Phalanx: A New Design for Landpower in the 21st Centuryby Douglas A. Macgregor
Praeger; Published: 1997-01-30; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $99.50
Price in other shops:
Blazing Skies: Air Defense Artillery on Fort Bliss, Texas, 1940-2009by John A. Hamilton
Dept. of the Army; Published: 2009-05-13; Paperback; Book
Best price: $86.00
Guided Weapons (Land Warfare: Brassey's New Battlefield Weapons Systems and Technology Series)by R. G. Lee
Brassey's (UK) Ltd; Published: 1988-09; Hardcover; Book
Price in other shops:
Similar books summaries and other product reviews
Sociocultural Intelligence: A New Discipline in Intelligence Studies (Continuum Intelligence Studies)by Kerry Patton
Continuum; Published: 2010-07-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $23.58
Price in other shops:
Fighting Power: German and U.S. Army Performance, 1939-1945 (Contributions in Military Studies)by Martin van Creveld
Praeger; Published: 2007-06-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $20.00
Panzer Tactics: German Small-Unit Armor Tactics in World War IIby Wolfgang Schneider
Stackpole Books; Published: 2005-11-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $16.00
Price in other shops:
Stormtroop Tactics: Innovation in the German Army, 1914-1918by Bruce I. Gudmundsson
Praeger; Published: 1995-06-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $30.67
Price in other shops:
Field Artillery and Firepowerby J. B. A. Bailey
US Naval Institute Press; Published: 2003-12; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $54.00
Price in other shops:
On Air Defenseby James D. Crabtree
Praeger Paperback; Published: 1994-10-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $33.90
Price in other shops:
On Artilleryby Bruce I. Gudmundsson
Praeger Paperback; Published: 1993-09-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $34.50
Price in other shops:
On Infantryby John A. English, Bruce I. Gudmundsson
Praeger; Published: 1994-11-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $24.00
Price in other shops:
Tank Warfare (Battle Tactics)by Tim Ripley
Casemate Publishers and Book Distributors; Published: 2003-07; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.38
Price in other shops:
On Gunnery: The Art and Science of Field Artillery from the American Civil War to the Dawn of the 21st Centuryby Michael D. Grice
BookSurge Publishing; Published: 2009-09-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $13.77
Price in other shops: