Centurion Main Battle Tank: 1946 to present

by Simon Dunston

First trialled in Europe in the spring of 1945, but formally introduced into British Army service in December 1946, not only is the Centurion one of the most important tanks in the history of the British armoured fighting vehicle (AFV), but it is also one of the most significant post-war Western tanks. Between 1946 and 1962, 4,423 Centurions were built in 13 basic marks and numerous variants, with the chassis also adapted for several other AFV roles. A small number of the Beach Armoured Recovery Version (BARV) served with the British forces during the Iraq War of 2003, some 58 years after the Centurion first entered service! The Centurion has seen extensive combat in the Korean War (Britain), Vietnam (Australia), the Middle East (Israel) in the 1967 Six Day War, 1973 Yom Kippur War, and during the 1978 and 1982 invasions of Lebanon, and in the Indo-Pakistan War (India) in 1965 where it fought against US-supplied M47 and M48 Patton tanks.

160 pages, Hardcover

Published April 1, 2017

Reviews

[Shyue Chou Chuang · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent but flawed volume on the Centurion. The raison d'etre for a tank is that of firepower and protection. In this otherwise excellent volume, a lot of the text were that of the development and production history of the tank, the automotive aspects, the engine, the military service and also the different Centurion variants. Sadly, like the Bill Munro book, this volume lacks information on the 20-pounder, the shell types available, and the 105 L7 gun and its shell types. It also lacks detailed information on the armour. (These would not be classified information today.) A good volume but it could be better.