David Porter (2)

A wonderful book, although the title is a little misleading. The book covers a lead up period relating to German weapon/materials development during WWI and after the Treaty of Versailles. This book coves a vast area of engineering and scientific advancements by the Germans in WWII. It covers air, sea and land in depth with detailed analysis and specifications of each item discussed. There is a wonderful colour set of illustrations and comparative sketches denoting performance and even the fate of individual items in certain circumstances.

It is fascinating to think that without the advancements made by German engineers and scientists in WWII such as V weapons, America would never have stood a chance of beating the Russians to the moon; or without the German development of the the jet engine or Horton wing, the US would not have had a stealth bomber. The latter in particular I find humourous since the stealth bomber was hailed as a wonder of late 1980's early 1990's American military manufacture, yet the concept had already been designed and developed by the Horton brothers decades before the US even thought of stealth or a flying wing.

Overall this is an excellent overview of German weaponry and manufacture that illustrates the high level of skill and quality we have come to associate with German engineering...thankfully the Porsche Motor Company no longer manufactures super heavy tanks, nor do Hoechst and Bayer produce lethal nerve agents.… (más)

Very excellent high level visual guide to Soviet forces in WWII. Many books lack good maps but this one has them in abundance. Also,really nice graphics of Soviet tank units. The text is concise and covers the major points very well. Two small things that I wish were included:

1: Many of the TO&Es are not totaled at the bottom making it hard to see the unit strength at a glance.

2: There is no coverage of the 1945 Manchurian invasion which shows Soviet forces in full flower. As Nomonhan is included at the beginning of the book the omission of its bookend at the end of the war is very curious.

These are, however, minor items in an otherwise really good book.… (más)

Visually great book. Lots of different illustrations of almost every major Soviet tank armored car, rocket truck and support vehicle. They miss the T-50 for some reason which is very minor historically but serious as regards development of tank design. Information is a bit repetitive - there are several drawings of BT-5s with the same caption for example. But the book covers unit strengths and compositions for more obscure conflicts like the Winter War and Manchuria 1945 which is awesome. Overall very good.… (más)