Books by Steven J. (Author) Zaloga

World War II marked the zenith of railway gun development. This book provides an overview of the types of railway guns in service during World War II, with a special focus on the German railway artillery used in France, Italy and on the Eastern Front, and analyzes why railway guns largely disappeared from use following the end of the war.

During the final battles on World War II''s Western Front, the legendary German Tiger I heavy tank clashed with the brand-new M26 Pershing fielded by the United States. The Tiger I had earned a formidable reputation by the end of 1944, although its non-sloped armor and poor mobility meant it was being superseded by the Tiger II or "King Tiger." While the Tiger I had been in the front lines since 1942, the US Pershing first entered combat in late February 1945, and more than 20 Pershings would see action before war''s end.This book examines the dramatic Tiger/Pershing duel at Elsdorf in Germany, and also assesses the clashes between German armor and the sole ΓÇ£Super PershingΓÇ¥ deployed to Europe. Featuring full-color artwork, carefully chosen photographs, and specially commissioned maps, this is the story of the first US heavy tanks in combat with the fearsome Tiger I during the last months of World War II in Europe.

During World War II, the two preeminent mechanized infantry forces of the conflict, the German Panzergrenadier arm and the U.S. Army''s armored infantrymen clashed in France and Belgium after the Normandy landings. These engagements went on to profoundly influence the use of mechanized infantry in the postwar world. Drawing upon a variety of sources, this book focuses on three key encounters between July and December of 1944 including during Operation Cobra and the Battle of the Bulge, and examines the origins, equipment, doctrine, and combat record of both forces.With specially commissioned full-color artwork and maps, this study casts light on the evolving nature of mechanized warfare at the height of World War II

Tells the story of defensive lines in Europe in World War II, looking at the lesser known Mediterranean extension and describing how it was conceived of, built and used. This book recounts the defenses role in the Allied invasion of Southern France and Operation Dragoon - The Second D-Day.

Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim is a legendary figure, whose life and career were deeply influential in Finnish and European history. This study provides an insight into Mannerheim's career, analysing his traits, his biggest victories and his key enemies.

The T-64 tank was the most revolutionary design of the whole Cold War, designed to provide the firepower and armour protection of a heavy tank in a medium-weight design. This book sheds light on the secrets behind the Cold War's most controversial tank, revealing how its highly advanced technologies proved to be both a blessing and a curse.

The armour clashes in May 1940 were the biggest the world had yet seen, as the sweeping German advances of that period came to epitomize Blitzkrieg. The Wehrmacht's Panzer III was well matched by the French Somua S35 tanks. Fully illustrated, this work draws on research to provide a definitive analysis of the clash between these two tank designs.

Covers the French armor of World War II. This title looks at the infantry and battle tanks that faced the onslaught of the German Blitzkrieg in 1940. It offers a background to the design and development of these tank types, and an evaluation of their performance in the Battle of France.

A sequel to French Tanks of World War II (1), this title focuses primarily on France's cavalry armored vehicles, including the light reconnaissance tanks such as the AMR and AMC families, the famous Somua S.35 cavalry tanks and the extensive array of armored half-track and armored cars used by the French cavalry.

Not only did the Sicily operation represent a watershed in tactical development of combined arms tactics, it was also an important test for future Allied joint operations. Senior British commanders left the North African theater with a jaundiced and dismissive view of the combat capabilities of the inexperienced US Army after the debacle at Kasserine Pass in Tunisia in February 1943. Sicily was a demonstration that the US Army had rapidly learned its lessons and was now capable of fighting as a co-equal of the British Army. The Sicily campaign contained a measure of high drama as Patton took the reins of the Seventh US Army and bent the rules of the theater commander in a bold race to take Palermo on the northern Sicilian coast. When stiff German resistance halted Montgomery's main assault to Messina through the mountains, Patton was posed to be the first to reach the key Sicilian port and end the campaign. The Sicily campaign contains a fair amount of controversy as well including the disastrous problems with early airborne assaults and the Allied failure to seal the straits of Messina, allowing the Germans to withdraw many of their best forces.

General Omar Bradley was the premier US Army tactical commander in the European Theatre of Operations in 1944-45. Beyond the performance of the US Army in the ETO, Bradley was also intimately wrapped up in other controversies, especially the internecine squabbles with his British counterpart, Bernard Montgomery. This book tells his story.

The Allies' M10 Tank Destroyer and the Germans' Sturmgeschutz (StuG) lll were the unsung workhorses of the northwest European battlefields of 1944-45. Fully illustrated with specially commissioned artwork, this title tells the story of their confrontation at the height of World War ll.

Featuring artwork, and archive photographs, this study offers key insights into the tactics, leadership, combat performance, and subsequent reputations of six representative US and German infantry battalions pitched into three pivotal actions that determined the course of the campaign for mastery in Western Europe at the height of World War II.

Surveys the development of the T-26 as well as its combat record in the Spanish Civil War, the war in China, the border wars with Poland and Finland in 1939-40, and the disastrous battles of 1941 during Operation Barbarossa.

Operation Pointblank was the code name for the United States Army Air Force's attempt to destroy German fighter capability through the use of daylight strategic bombing in advance of the D-Day landings. This book examines the entire operation from both the Allied and the German perspectives.

As the Allies attempted to break out of Normandy, it quickly became apparent that there would be no easy victory over the Germans, and that every scrap of territory on the way to Berlin would have to be earned through hard fighting. This book deals with the battles between the German Panzer IV and US Sherman of World War II.

A hotly-debated topic amongst tank buffs is of the relative merits of the Soviet and American tanks of World War II. This book sheds light on the crucial tank battles of the Korean War as the rival superpowers' finest tanks battled for supremacy.

A detailed technical and operational history of the USA's main post-war tanks throughout the 1950s. The author covers all the internal workings of the vehicle and presents a thorough analysis of their service records with the US and more than 25 other nations.

Offers a study of a successful but little-known German tank of World War II, the Panzer 38(t). This title gives an account of the technical history and combat record of one of the most successful early World War II tanks.

Operation Nordwind is one of the lesser known campaigns of World War II. Largely overshadowed by the Battle of the Bulge further north, Nordwind was the last operation by the Waffen-SS Panzer divisions in the west. This title highlights the difficulties of inter-Allied cooperation between the Americans and the French.

"Kamikaze: Japanese Special Attack Weapons, 1944-45".

This history of the Soviet BMP armoured infantry vehicle, one of the most revolutionary advances in infantry tactics and armoured-vehicle design of the post-war era, describes its development and combat history since the 1960s, and includes contemporary photographs and colour plates and cut-aways.

In this book Steven J Zaloga offers a fascinating comparison between the two most important tanks involved in the crucial fighting of 1944, the American Sherman and the German Panther. Placing the reader in the heart of this battle between quality and quantity Zaloga uses a compelling account of the ferocious fighting during the Battle of the Bulge to explain the successes and failures of each tank, highlighting the fact that a tank can only be as good as its crew, weighing up the impact of low morale, high cost and mediocre crew training on the Panther's superiority. With full-colour battlescenes, technical drawings, photographs, digital gunsight views, extracts from crew training manuals and real combat reports, this book brings the titanic battles between the Panther and Sherman to life.

The T-34-85 tank is one of those rare weapons that have remained in service for more than half a century. First introduced in 1944, it has seen combat in nearly every corner of the globe. Steven Zaloga and Jim Kinnear look at this long-serving tank at length. Although long obsolete in Europe, it has proven a reliable and potent weapon in many Third World conflicts, and is still in service with more than a dozen armies around the world.

The T-54 and T-55 tanks are the most widely manufactured tanks of all time. This volume examines the roots of this prolific tank family, starting with the Soviet Army's first attempts to replace the T-34 during World War II, and covering the T-43 and T-44, the more successful T-54, and its ultimate evolution into the T-55.

One of the most sophisticated armoured fighting vehicles in the world, the M2/M3 Bradley is the United States equivalent of the British Warrior, combining the role of personnel carrier with the formidable armament of a 25mm cannon and TOW anti-tank missiles. With a maximum road speed of 66kmh it also has a degree of manoeuvrability dreamed of by other armoured vehicles. In this book Steven Zaloga examines the different variants of the Bradley in detail and looks at the changing tactical requirements of the US Army for an armoured personnel carrier.

The M1 Abrams was the most radical departure in US tank design since World War II. Until the advent of the M1 in the early 1980s, the US Army had relied on the steady evolution of the M26 Pershing tank, through the M46, M47, M48 and M60. The M1 design came at a time when there were a host of important new tank technologies coming to fruition, in terms of structure and weaponry: these were integrated into it. This book details the design, development and operational use of one of the world''s best main battle tanks.

The Soviet T-80 Standard Tank was the last tank fielded before the Soviet collapse, and the most controversial. This title charts the history of the T-80, covering the initial construction, through the development to the subsequent variants, the T-84 and Russia's enigmatic Black Eagle Tank.

Starting in 1940, Germany was subjected to a growing threat of Allied bomber attack. They were joined by US daylight raids which first began to have a serious impact on German industry in the autumn of 1943. This book focuses on the land-based infrastructure of Germany's defense against the air onslaught.