Tank Warfare A History of Tanks in Battle

by Kenneth John Macksey

very good

Genres: History, Military Fiction

284 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1971

About the author

British author and historian who specialized in military history and military biography, particularly of the Second World War. Macksey was commissioned in the Royal Armoured Corps and served during the Second World War (earning the Military Cross under the command of Percy Hobart). Macksey later wrote the (authoritative) biography of Hobart.Macksey gained a permanent commission in 1946, was transferred to the Royal Tank Regiment in 1947, reached the rank of major in 1957 and retired from the Army in 1968.

Amongst many other books, Macksey wrote two volumes of alternate history, one, entitled Invasion, dealt with a successful invasion of England by Germany in 1940 and the other describing a NATO–Warsaw Pact clash in the late 1980s. The latter book was done under contract to the Canadian Forces and focuses on the Canadian role in such a conflict. He was an editor and contributor to Greenhill's Alternate Decisions series since 1995.

In Macksey's Guderian – Panzer General, he refuted the view of historian Sir Basil Liddell-Hart regarding Hart's influence on the development of German Tank Theory in the years leading up to 1939.

Reviews

[Andrew Garrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad for its time, but many of his conclusions are incorrect and slew the opinion of what constitutes armoured warfare in one particular direction that is misleading to the incredibly complex and nuanced realities that are war.

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hard to get started on this book, but well worth the trouble. I never appreciated how much the Israelis learnt from Guderian and Eric Von Manstein on tank use, movement and application - lessons indeed well learnt.

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

An outdated survey

This is a survey of tank warfare, written in the 1970’s. While not a bad book, it suffers from both the inadequacies inherent in being a survey and it’s age.