Published 2016. I've just treated myself to this. 230 pages. Published by Osprey, in association with the Tank Museum. I didn't know if this was just all the New Vanguard WWI tank series bound together, but I gather it isn't, although "some material has previously been published" in the Mk I, Mk IV, Mk V, Medium Mk A, and British Light Tanks books. I haven't got all of those, but another review says that there has been some reworking and it isn't just a straight compendium.
All very nicely done, with lots of splendid drawings and photos. The tale of British tank development is familiar to the likes of us, but it's told in the usual DF style, and anyone coming to it without much previous study will have a full understanding after reading it.
The book starts with Little Willie and goes through the War and beyond: The Idea, In the Beginning (Mks I-III), Mk IV, Mk V, Medium Mk A, and Wartime Prototypes. The final 4 chapters are outside my period, but they are: New Beginnings, Vickers Mediums, 1930s Developments, and Light Tanks 1927-45.
The biggest objection, though, is that the account of the two Mk Vs in Berlin in 1945, which was rather badly done in the New Vanguard Mk V book, has been reprinted here, which must be seen as a missed opportunity to set the record straight. That's a pity, as it could have helped to silence the fantasists who like to believe that these tanks were used in battle in some way.
"Sometimes things that are not true are included in Wikipedia. While at first glance that may appear like a very great problem for Wikipedia, in reality is it not. In fact, it's a good thing." - Wikipedia.
Hello James,
I have the book also and also think it is a good book.
Onequetsion for you:
I do not understand what you wrote about the two MK V's......
On page 107 I read about one MK V in Berlin and that that one came from Smolensk.
Maybe I have not yet read the part you refer to?
Hope to hear about this story.
Best regards,
Willem
There were two Mk Vs. One of them was 9146, the other unidentified. Everything about this episode is correct, but it applies to two tanks, not one. Somehow, David Fletcher made a bit of a mess of this passage, and has given the impression that there was, or might have been, only one. Both ended up in Berlin in 1945, via Smolensk. It's a pity this wasn't corrected in the book. There are severals photographs of the two together.
Of course, the idea that they took part in any fighting in the Battle of Berlin is nonsensical.
-- Edited by James H on Tuesday 4th of April 2017 01:06:20 PM
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"Sometimes things that are not true are included in Wikipedia. While at first glance that may appear like a very great problem for Wikipedia, in reality is it not. In fact, it's a good thing." - Wikipedia.
