Shire Library

First World War Tanks

by  E Bartholomew

Reviewed By  Adam Reiff, IPMS# 43579

MSRP: $11.95 ISBN: 978-0-8526-3799-9 32 pages, softcover Website: www.shirebooks.co.uk Review copy provided by Osprey Publishing: www.ospreypublishing.com Not having much experience in modeling tanks, I took on the opportunity to review this book both with an interest in military history as well as possibly gaining further insight in the history of the tank itself. By way of background information, E Bartholomew was formerly the Education Officer and Assistant Librarian at the Tank Museum in Dorset, England. For this book, Mr. Bartholomew has drawn extensively on materials from the museum including rare documents, technical manuals, handbooks, and illustrations. The book is broken down into five chapters focusing on the following- Initial development of artillery tractors and the early tanks of 1916. An overview of early British tanks. A comparison and contrasting of French and German tanks. An extensive look at the use of tanks in 1918. A summary of the tank and it's use in war. The book has a number of black and white photographs showing various tanks in action. Additionally, included is a suggested reading list on this particular topic as well as a listing of tank museums located around the world. This would be of interest to those modelers looking to create a more authentic looking model and/or creating a diorama. It would also be of interest to those fans of the Osprey New Vanguard and Modelling series. My thanks to Osprey, IPMS and to Shire Classics for the opportunity to review this book.