American Tanks & Afvs Of World War Ii

The entry of the U.S. into World War II provided the Allies with the industrial might to finally take the war to German and Japanese forces across the world. Central to this was the focus of the American military industrial complex on the manufacture of tanks and armored fighting vehicles. Between 1939 and 1945, 88,140 tanks and 18,620 other armored vehicles were built, almost twice the number that Germany and Great Britain combined were able to supply. In this lavishly illustrated volume, armor expert Michael Green examines the dizzying array of machinery fielded by the U.S. Army, from the famed M4 Sherman, M3 Stuart, and M3 Lee through to the half-tracks, armored cars, self-propelled artillery, tank destroyers, armored recovery vehicles, and tracked landing vehicles which provided the armored fist that the Allies needed to break Axis resistance in Europe and the Pacific. Packed with historical and contemporary color photography, this encyclopedic new study details the design, development, and construction of these vehicles, their deployment in battle and the impact that they had on the outcome of the war.