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A comprehensive overview of the work of the Military Vehicles Research and Development Establishment on Chobham Common, which provided armoured vehicles for the British Army from 1945 to its close in 2004. Through much of World War II British tanks and armoured vehicles were outmatched by the German tanks they encountered and this led to the British Army placing much emphasis on ensuring that the same situation would not arise again if the Cold War turned hot. The task of developing the Main Battle Tanks and supporting armoured vehicles to out-range and quickly destroy the Soviet threat fell to the scientists and engineers at the Fighting Vehicle Research and Development Establishment on Chobham Common near to Chertsey. It was the design authority for all British Military vehicles for most of the period. Military vehicle and equipment expert William Suttie draws extensively on official MOD reports to tell the story of the development of the British Cold War armour, such as the Centurion, Chieftain, Challenger, and many other wheeled and tracked armour vehicles that served the British Army of The Rhine. The vehicles developed at the Chertsey site were never used for their intended purpose on the plains of North-west Germany, but have proved their worth in British operations in places like Korea, Bosnia, Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as in the hands of other users around the world. Fully illustrated with photographs, schemes and drawings, including some that have never been published before, this is a unique detailed overview of the development of all post-war British armoured vehicles.
From an internationally acclaimed expert in the field comes a detailed, analytical and comprehensive account of the worldwide evolution of tanks, from their inception a century ago to the present day. With new ideas stemming from the latest academic research, this study presents a reappraisal of the development of tanks and their evolution during World War I and how the surge in technological development during World War II and the subsequent Cold War drove developments in armour in Europe and America, transforming tanks into fast, resilient and powerful fighting machines. From the primitive, bizarre-looking Mark V to the Matilda and from the menacing King Tiger to the superlative M1 Abrams, Professor Ogorkiewicz shows how tanks gradually acquired the enhanced capabilities that enabled them to become what they are today – the core of combined-arms, mechanized warfare.
Despite being the inventor of the tank and responsible for campaign-winning tactics, by the start of the Second World War the United Kingdom had fallen well behind other nations in the design and build of armoured vehicles. Here, William Suttie uncovers the history of tank design from a government perspective and the decisions and failures that led to that state of affairs, and details the formation of the Fighting Vehicles Research and Development Establishment at Chertsey. Known as the Tank Factory, the Chertsey establishment sought to ensure that the United Kingdom became world-leading in the field of military vehicle research and design, and that the British Army would never be underprotected or outgunned again. Drawing on unpublished sources and photographs, this fascinating book reveals the establishment's history, its groundbreaking research and its inventions and designs, including first-hand insights from those who worked there.
The successor to the Chieftain from the 1960's, work began in 1976 on development of a new MBT specifically for the Iranian army, who needed a more capable tank than the Chieftain to suit their climatic and geographical conditions. However, once the revolution occurred in 1979 the British army was reluctantly forced to accept this new design themselves. Once in service there were technical problems resulting in various modifications. However, the Challenger would go on to great success in the Gulf War, playing crucial roles in both Desert Storm and Desert Sabre operations. In this book, Simon Dunstan examines this tank in detail, evaluating its performance both on the test range and in the field of battle.
This book, the last in a four-part series on British Battle Tanks covering the whole history of British armoured warfare, concentrates on those vehicles that have served following the end of World War II up to the present day. Starting with the Centurion, the title explores those types that equipped the armoured divisions lined up on the German plains to resist any potential Soviet offensive, as well as in Korea and Suez, including the Chieftain and Conqueror, and modern tanks such as the Challenger 2 which are still in service today. Covering the many variants of these and other tanks in British service as well as their deployments around the world, including in Afghanistan and Iraq, this illustrated volume is a comprehensive guide to the development of British tanks since the Second World War.
"War X is an explosive introduction to the discussion of modern warfare and a timely consideration of industrial warfare. It is also a deliberation on the startling world of new weapons development and the indescribable future of war that beckons."--BOOKJACKET.
This book, first published in 1992, examines defence issues as the twentieth century drew to a close. With the end of the Cold War, many of the threats to European security, such as the threat of nuclear war, disappeared. New ones, however, were emerging. The rise of nationalism, the spread of weapons of mass destruction to politically unstable countries, the increase in world population, the debt crisis – all these contributed to security problems that needed to be resolved. The book assesses the possibilities for future European defence and the role that the United States would play in it: will it be prepared to stay in Europe under European leadership, or must it dominate? It also considers the capabilities offered by new military technology and the need for control of weapons of mass destruction.
For much of the Cold War, the British Army's main battle tanks (MBT) were first the Centurion and then the Chieftain. The question of the latter's replacement became urgent when in 1980 MBT80 was canceled. While the Royal Ordnance Challenger (originally the Shir 2) was acquired as a stop gap its design and capability limitations quickly became apparent.Vickers then took over the Royal Ordnance tank building facility and against stiff foreign competition developed the Challenger 2.This superbly researched and illustrated book tells the story of the evolution and subsequent successful career of Challenger 2 which has seen distinguished service in war and peace since 1990 and has proved itself one of the worlds most formidable fighting vehicles. The authors do not shy away from technical detail and make comparisons with competitors. The result is an objective and authoritative work which will delight military equipment buffs, modelers and wargamers.
What can we learn from the unfought battles of the Cold War? Could any supposed British superiority at the unit level, or superior American equipment and technology, have as much effect on a possible Warsaw Pact attack as the Bundeswehr's apparent mastery of formation tactics? The Cold War dominated the global events for over 40 years. Much of the world genuinely believed that a nuclear war might break out at any moment. Millions of men were involved. National budgets strained to equip and sustain them. Much of Europe had to endure conscription, tank convoys clogging up the roads, low-flying jet aircraft and large-scale mobilization exercises. But what do we really know about the Cold War? More importantly, what can we learn from it? Battlegroup! investigates the unfought land battles of the Cold War on the Central Front. It focusses on the 1980s. It looks solely at high-intensity, conventional warfare; largely from NATO's perspective. It concentrates on the lower tactical levels: from company to brigade, or perhaps division. It considers the tactics, organization and equipment and of the American, British, West German, French and Soviet armies. The book discusses what battles would have been fought; then how they would have been fought; and, lastly, what we can learn from that. The first section looks at the strategic and operational setting and the armies involved. The second section looks at the components of a land force; how those components were organized, and would fight; and assembles them into battlegroups, brigades and divisions. Battlegroup! then steps through the tactics of land warfare: delay, defense and withdrawal; advance, attack and counterattack; fighting in woods, built up areas and at night; and air support to land operations. The final section of the book illustrates some of the possible early engagements of any war on the Central Front. It then draws out the major observations and conclusions. Battlegroup! relies heavily on two previously untapped sources, virtually unknown to English-speaking audiences. They explain much of the Bundeswehr's highly individual approach to defeating a potential Warsaw Pact attack. This is not a counterfactual history. It does not attempt to say who would have won the Third World War. It explodes some myths. It will be uncomfortable reading for some, and contentious in places. Battlegroup! will be essential reading for anyone interested in warfare of the last decade of the Cold War: be it as a professional, an academic or a wargamer.
In 1992 Bosnia descended into a savage and bitter civil war, which by 1995 had claimed over a quarter of a million lives. Following the Dayton Peace Agreement between the warring Bosnian Serbs, Muslims and Croats, NATO began its first land operation, taking over from the UN Protection Force. With a total of only 200 men, a British battlegroup was charged to enforce the peace in a 100km area, through which wound a front line separating the territory of the Bosnian Muslims from that of the Bosnian Serb forces. In this updated edition of the acclaimed book A Cold War, Brigadier Ben Barry has produced the definitive account of the British Army's dangerous and groundbreaking operations in Bosnia.