David Fletcher: "the British Tanks 1915-1919"

There isn't exactly a glut of WW1 AFV Books - as compared to WW2, where soon every little Nazi Panzer Batallion will be covered in huge monographs, weighing in at a kilo+. But now and then something DO appear, and when the author is David Fletcher, of Bovington Tank museum fame, then you know that you are really in for a treat. 

Fletcher is THE WW1 Armour Expert, and really knows his stuff, and besides that, he writes very well, and also has a fine sense of humour. The contents of the book reminds quite a bit of his earlier work from 1984, "Landships", in that it covers the design, production and use of the early British tanks. It also contains elements from another one of his works, "War Cars" from 1987, in that it starts way before 1915, with the first designs of British armoured vehicles: Cowens project of 1854, the Fowler Armoured Tractor, the first tracked vehicles etc. The initial chapters are really ambitious; and spacious too: the reader doesn't come to 1915 until page 40.

Then there follows chapters on the MK:s I-III, design, production, training and fighting. (Early alternative projects, like the "Flying Elephant", are covered too.) Then the Mk IV & V are dealt with, followed by chapters on the Flanders Campaign and yet another on the Battle of Cambrai. Compared to "Landships" here you get much more information and discussion on the actual employment of the tanks, and the battles they fought in. (I found it especially useful to find texts on the Battles of Gaza, the only place were tanks were employed in the Middle East, including some rare photographs.) 

Then comes yet another, more technical chapter, on the new designs, like the Whippet and the Tadpole tail, followed by three chapters on the decisive battles of 1918, where the tanks really came to the fore. The new designs shortly after the war are also discussed, as is the use of British tanks in post-1918 conflicts, primarily the Russian Civil War. As I said, the text is first rate, and many of the photographs have never been shown before. 

I do regret that the book have no new scale plans: instead you get contemporary plans - from the Bovington Archives - are used; many are quite OK, but we've seen many of them before in the "Landships"-book. (I get a feeling that the Publishers have been a bit stingy here.) This lack of good, three-way scale plans reduces the use of the book for modellers. You will not find any colour-profiles here, either. So those of you who were waiting for a really THICK reference book - á la the huge tomes of Flying Machine Press, which covers many WW1 aviation subjects in admirable detail - have to wait a little longer. (The book is only some 192 pages thick.) 

But if you are into this subject, get this book: it will be the standard work for years to come!