Armored Thunderbolt

by Steven J. Zaloga

Hundreds of photos, including many never published before with riveting accounts of armored warfare in World War II Compares the Sherman to other tanks, including the Panther and Tiger Author is a world-renowned expert on the Sherman tank and American armor Some tank crews referred to the American M4 Sherman tank as a "death trap." Others, like Gen. George Patton, believed that the Sherman helped win World War II. So which was it: death trap or war winner? Armor expert Steven Zaloga answers that question by recounting the Sherman's combat history. Focusing on Northwest Europe (but also including a chapter on the Pacific), Zaloga follows the Sherman into action on D-Day, among the Normandy hedgerows, during Patton's race across France, in the great tank battle at Arracourt in September 1944, at the Battle of the Bulge, across the Rhine, and in the Ruhr pocket in 1945.

Genres: History, World War II, Military History, Nonfiction, Amazon, Military Fiction

368 pages, Hardcover

First published September 22, 2008

About the author

Steven Zaloga is an author and defense analyst known worldwide for his articles and publications on military technology.  He has written over a hundred books on military technology and military history, including “Armored Thunderbolt: The US Army Sherman in World War II”, one of the most highly regarded histories of the Sherman Tank.  His books have been translated into Japanese, German, Polish, Czech, Romanian, and Russian. He was a special correspondent for Jane’s Intelligence Review and is on the executive board of the Journal of Slavic Military Studies and the New York Military Affairs Symposium. From 1987 through 1992, he was the writer/producer for Video Ordnance Inc., preparing their TV series Firepower.  He holds a BA in history from Union College and an MA in history from Columbia University.

Mr. Zaloga is also a noted scale armor modeler and is a host/moderator of the World War II Allied Discussion group at Missing-Lynx.com, a modelling website. He is a frequent contributor to the UK-based modeling magazine Military Modelling. He is a member of the Armor Modeling and Preservation Society.

Reviews

[Checkman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I served in the U.S. Army from 1986 - 2000. Eight of those years were on active duty and the rest were in the Army Reserve and Idaho Army National Guard. I was a Military Intelligence soldier on active duty (not as interesting as it sounds), Signal Corp (communications) in the Army Reserve and Armor (tanks) in the National Guard.

My favorite branch was Armor. I really liked being a tanker. Loved rolling across the desert (south of Boise) in a sixty-ton M-1 Abrams tank, firing the 105 mm main gun or letting loose with the co-axial (mounted alongside the main gun) machine-gun. Yes those behemoths could be pain in the neck when they weren't working right, hot in the summer and freezing in the winter, but I still liked the tanks. You see I'm a short stocky man. I was not designed for the Infantry, but as a tanker I was in my element. My short legs and unathletic frame mattered for naught in the turret of a tank. In a tank I felt like a true combat soldier. It connected me to those past soldiers who so loved the horse cavalry.

I was younger back then. Try to remember that many young men love soldiering - at least for a while. I was no exception. I should also add that I never experienced combat. That probably makes a difference.

In addition to being a veteran I'm also an amateur history buff. My historical interests have bounced around as the years have gone by , but recently I've returned to the history of tanks. I've especially been interested in reading more detailed accounts of the M4 "Sherman". The main battle tank of the U.S. Army as well as the British Army during WW II. Not battle accounts so much as the history of the development of the Sherman and it's many design variations. The strange thing is while there is a cornucopia of books documenting the developmental history of the many German, British and Russian WWII armored vehicles there isn't as many books documenting the American vehicles. Yes they do exist, but it takes work to find them and I have discovered that they aren't as comprehensive as the multitude of books about the German Panther and Tiger tanks. It's an odd situation really. Many books about the various small arms used by the U.S. Army over the past 250 years and libraries dedicated to U.S. military aircraft, but tanks seem to be the red-headed stepchild.

Steven Zaloga has made a significant contribution to changing that situation with "Armored Thunderbolt". An experienced writer who has published dozens of books for Osprey. If you aren't familiar with Osprey publishing the company focuses on printing affordable, short, concise and beautifully illustrated books on very specific topics. For example, Mr. Zaloga has written books about the U.S. M18 Hellcat tank destroyer and how the U.S. bazooka fared against German tanks in the Battle of the Bulge (December 1944). The books are very readable and I find them useful additions to my library despite their brevity; because they are so focused the various editions sometimes address microscopic issues overlooked by "big picture" historians.

This book is considerably larger than Mr. Zaloga's Osprey works, but it's true in spirit to those works. This book is all about the Sherman tank. The birth of the tank, the political, economic and military considerations that played a part in the development and deployment of the M4. The reasons why the Army seemed to ignore the heavier German tanks and continue to make the unequal Sherman tank in such large numbers. It isn't as asinine as one might think by the way nor was the Sherman as overmatched as the legend would have us believe. Personally, I think this book is absolutely brilliant. Instead of having to thumb through several different books to find information I have it in one book. Also, in keeping with his Osprey work, Mr. Zaloga's book is immensely readable and loaded with many high-quality photos as well as charts and graphs. The book itself is high quality with heavy glossy pages and possessing of a satisfying heft. Considering that I paid almost $40.00 I would expect nothing less and I'm not disappointed.

Now, are there some weak points in this impressive work? Of course, there are. If one is looking for detailed blow by blow accounts of the Sherman in action against enemy armor or in support of the infantry, you won't find it in this book. However, it just so happens that Mr. Zaloga has written many books for Osprey providing that such accounts. See Amazon or Osprey. There is also no unit histories and very little firsthand accounts by tankers. Luckily there are many other books that are dedicated to such topics, and they are also easily found on Amazon (I need to buy stock) as well. "Armored Thunderbolt" is dedicated to the development of the M4 Sherman tank. It's a readable account that carefully walks the line between the highly technical and general history.

I gladly give this book five stars.

[Antonio Bernarda · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Good enought" is what describes a Sherman. This books explains well enought its strenghts and weakeness and the developement process and how that same process was affected for better or worse by doctrine and the mentalities of the US Army at the time.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Steven Zaloga certainly doesn't disappoint in this book. Rather than being a nuts and bolts technical description of the Sherman tank, Zaloga describes the tank within the framework of the US Army doctrinal thinking of the time, how the different individuals and organizations involved with Army tank development interacted, and how the Sherman was viewed by Army leadership in combat. The book focuses not on whether a Sherman's main gun could penetrate the front of a Panther or Tiger at 500 yards, but rather how the Sherman tank contributed to the US war effort as part of a larger whole. Zaloga dispenses both praise and criticism where warranted, and the result is a book that gives the reader a much better understanding of the role of the Sherman tank and, to a lesser degree, the role of US tank destroyers and AT guns, in World War 2. While the majority of the book focuses on the European theater, of course, the final chapters address both the Pacific theater and post-WW2 service. Very highly recommended.

[Harry Miktarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is great if you are looking for more information on the American M4 medium tank than the usual battle record, criticism, and unit information. Zaloga touches on the Sherman’s technical aspects but focuses on the how and why it was developed and why the U.S. was so slow to react (or be proactive for that matter)to the battle field advances of our enemies. I found the book absolutely fascinating and surprisingly readable. My only disappointment is that it was too short. I expected a many page volume but it is a slightly oversized glossy with many photos (many that I have not seen before). This cuts down on the content, and I felt it could have easily been a hundred more pages without detracting from the readability. I highly suggest this book to not only to WWII tech geeks but to anyone interested in WWII and especially armored warfare.

[Andrew Herbert · Rating 2 out of 5]

Zaloga covers the development and deployment of the M4 series of tanks. There’s a lot of repetition, and not much new if someone is familiar with the Sherman and WW2. So this might be a good book for someone new to the topic.

Many of the photos are reproduced quite small and not at high resolution. About half are familiar from Squadron, Osprey, Concord and other books. The photos from the Pacific campaign were mostly new to me.

Overall, meh b

[Frederick Widdowson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not quite a counter to Cooper's 'Death Traps' this really gives the history of the production and use on the battlefield of various versions of the Sherman tank. Important reading for students of WWII.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

After a LONG time of starts and stops. I finally finished this book. Overall it was decent. It was very interesting to read about how a lot of government folks didn't listen to the feedback from the commanders in the field when it came to improvements for the tank.

[Ashley Roeder · Rating 2 out of 5]

I went into Armored Thunderbolt expecting a straightforward technical history of the Sherman tank, but what Steven Zaloga delivers is more of a methodical (and sometimes painfully meticulous) defense of it. His central argument, that the M4 Sherman wasn’t the best tank of World War II, but was "good enough" to win the kind of war the United States fought, is compelling. Zaloga’s main mission is to dismantle the long-standing “death trap” myth that has unfairly defined the Sherman’s reputation for decades, showing that its success lay in reliability, production, and logistics.

That said, this is not an exciting read. Zaloga is an exceptional researcher, but his writing style is dense and heavy with production figures, bureaucratic squabbles, and doctrinal debates that tend to drag on. For readers who love military engineering or procurement history, that might be a goldmine; for me, it was a slog. By the time the book finally gets to the “Death Trap” discussion, the most interesting and human part of the story, it feels a bit too late to re-engage.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really good history of the Sherman tank and it's development and variants, but even more than that, a good explanation of US tank design and doctrine and how that shaped not only the Sherman, but US tank destroyers and anti-tank guns.
Another strength is the great number of photographs in the book.

[Keith Hughes · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting book for those with a liking of the history of WWII.