Editions du Barbotin

Centurytracks No. 1 French Shermans of the Liberation, 1943-45

by  Claude Gillono

Reviewed By  Andrew Birkbeck, IPMS# 27087

MSRP: 14.50 Euros (US$18.75) There is relatively very little written about the French Armed Forces in World War Two, especially post D-Day. Even less is written in the English language. It was therefore with great anticipation that I dove into this little book upon its arrival in my mail box. I wasn't disappointed. This book is from the people who bring us the excellent TRACKSTORY series of AFV monographs on French armored vehicles, and who produce the excellent MINITRACKS modeling magazine for small scale (1/72nd) armor fans. The book under review today is in the format of the Trackstory books, with a card cover, 62 pages in length, the pages being 7" x 9.75" in size. As with the Trackstory books, this title is dual language, French and English. The English has its "issues", and for me at least required that I read the pages twice to make sure I got the true meaning of the author, and even then a few areas were a tad confusing. This said there is so much to recommend about this book that I am willing to forgive the English "quirks". The book divides into five sections. Section 1 covers the birth of the Sherman tank, starting with the M2 Light Tank, and moving through the development of the M3 Medium Tank and on to the M4 Medium Tank (aka The Sherman). Section 2 then covers the various M4 variants: M4, M4A1, M4A2, M4A3, M4A4, plus the various sub-variants of these, such as the 75mm, 76mm and 105mm gunned turrets. These two sections I found extremely useful for a reader like myself who is not a Sherman "expert". The written sections of the book are expertly supplemented by various well-produced drawings and black and white period photographs. Included here are drawings explaining to the reader the main differences between the various M4 Shermans, principally the engine decks. Coverage is given to the production figures for each variant, and which factories in the USA produced which tank variant, and any noteworthy "factoids" concerning production differences between the factories. All in all a really fine read. Section 3 covers "The Liberation Army", the rebirth of the French Army after the debacle that was the Battle of France during 1940. This includes the re-equipping and training of French forces that escaped to the United Kingdom, as well as those forces that surrendered to the invading Allied Army in North Africa and then were incorporated into the "new" Allied-supported French forces. In Section 4 the author covers the three armored divisions (Divisions Blindees, or DB) that made up this Army of the Liberation: 1st DB, 2nd DB and 5th DB. Again the author uses well chosen period photographs to supplement the written text. Finally we come to Section 5, colors and markings of Army of the Liberation Shermans. Twelve pages of first-rate color artwork covering 18 different Shermans in total, each piece of artwork supplemented by one or more black and white period photographs of the tank covered in the artwork. Simply excellent stuff. This book can be ordered directly from the publishers via their web site (www.minitracks.fr). Here you will find this book along with all the excellent TRACKSTORY books and MINITRACKS magazine. The price of the Sherman book is 14.50 Euros (US$18.75) plus postage. The publishers also produce some very nice decals that compliment some of their previous books. One can only hope they shortly come out with a companion sheet of decals for this book, which I am sure would be highly prized by any modeler interested in this subject. I certainly would snap up a copy! In conclusion then, I found this a highly informative book well supplemented by good black and white period photos and excellent color artwork. As a general primer on the Sherman in general, and French Army Shermans in particular, I doubt this book can be bettered. The only disappointment was the "quirky" English. This however shouldn't stop anyone buying the book, which I would rate "excellent".

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