British Armored Fighting Vehicles [Paperback]

WWII AFV Plans
British
Armored Fighting Vehicles
Vol. V
By George Bradford

For many years George Bradford has been producing and selling drawings of military vehicles. The drawings have been for many years an essential addition to the library of many plastic model builders as a reference source. The drawings produced by Mr. Bradford span from the conception of the tank and armored car in the early part of the 20th Century to the modern day battle tanks that are fielded by the armies of the 21st Century. Quite literally Mr. Bradford has produced hundreds of drawings, which up until now were only available as individual sheets, which had to be purchased directly through his web site.

Now Stackpole Books and Mr. Bradford have combined their efforts to bring you these drawings in several different volumes covering the main combatants of WWII. Each volume covers the tanks and armored cars used by the armies from early light tanks seen at the beginning of the war in 1939 to the heavy battle tanks making their appearances in the last days of the war. The armored cars are also covered in this way giving you an appreciation of the changes made during the war to improve the combat worthiness and effectiveness of the equipment to try and keep men alive and to combat the enemies continued inventiveness in anti-armour warfare against both armored cars and tanks.

This volume here covers one of the original combatants of WWII, the British Army. Many Americans tend to forget that well before Pearl Harbour the British and their Commonwealth cousins were fighting battles in Europe and North Africa and thus had been developing and using multiple types of tanks and armored cars for some time. This led to the British having a wide variety of equipment, some of which was specifically designed for certain parts of the world. Most admittedly though, the British had been severely short sighted in the concept of tank on tank battles and most of their prewar designs were already outdated by the start of WWII. The British High Command could not see past the experiences gained in WWI thinking that tanks would only be for the support of advancing infantry, and they were certainly not expected to go into pitched battles with other tanks. As for armored cars they were intended as patrol vehicles, sentries and armed escort, again no one thought they would be pitted against tanks. This was a lesson soon to be learned as the British began encountering German light tanks in 1939/40. Many rear guard units were comprised of Humber and Morris armored cars, who soon found their light Boys anti-tank rifles were of little use against determined armor.

The book begins by covering some of the light tanks, carriers, and armored cars seen in France at the beginning of the war. Some of the types covered are the very early Vickers tanks and the carriers, which were meant as infantry movers or towers for small artillery pieces. Covered also are the even older Rolls Royce Armored cars dating from the 1920s. These early drawings have notes that some of the smaller details may be inaccurate as that the author had little reference on the actual vehicle he is depicting. Mr. Bradford used as many actual photographs of the period vehicle as possible in his representation but only so much can be gained from 60 to 80 year old photos, so I think some leeway can be given for this. The drawings are all quite clinical though and the layout of each vehicle is as you would see on a factory drawing, but with some shading and filling to give the drawing a little more depth.
The various Lend-Lease vehicles are also well represented with the addition of the Sherman, Lee, Grant, and various other U.S. vehicles used by the British during the span of the war. While the book is not in precise chronological order of the appearance of the type of vehicles shown, it is very close.

A good portion of the book is given over to what are commonly known as the "Funnies". These were tanks that were converted by the Royal Engineers to do specific jobs on the battlefield. These jobs consisted from there use as a mine flail device, where a large drum with chains attached was at the end of a long boom, and when the drum was engaged it would spin the chains and beat the ground ahead of the tank, thus detonating any mines in its path. This was referred to as a flail tank.
The American Sherman and the British Churchill were the two tanks that the majority of the conversions were based on. Everything from the flail tank described above, to tank with bridges both carried on jibs and on their backs, to tanks with powerful searchlights used to blind the enemy at night.
Mr. Bradford has done a superb job here in giving many insights as to the sheer size and scope of the Funnies by including no less than 7 of them here. Truth be told an entire volume could be comprised of just the funnies!

There are at least 2 views of each vehicle, and more often than not you get 4 views. The drawings are all done is various scales. They comprise of 1/72, 1/48, and 1/35th. The majority of drawings are in 1/35th as this is the most predominant scale that military modellers use.

All in all you get some great and detailed drawings of many British Tanks and Armoured Cars and even if you only have a historical interest in the armor of WW2 and not a plastic modellers interest, this volume of the British Armies finest will be of interest.