Merlin Robinson Knihy

The battle history, men and equipment of the most famous Free French unit of World War II, led by France's best fighting general.

The AMX30 Char de Bataille was the standard French Main Battle Tank during the Cold War era. Armed with a smoothbore 105mm main armament (the OBUS-G), AMX30 was lighter and more mobile than other main battle tanks, with excellent acceleration and cross-country agility, which later came into its own during the First Gulf War.

The little-known career of Germany's Panther, perhaps the greatest tank of World War II, in foreign hands both during and after the war.The Panther was arguably the most successful medium tank design of World War II, demonstrated by the number of Germany's enemies that used them after, and even during the war.While some were used by the Western Allies, the Russians used the greatest number of captured Panthers against Nazi Germany, though they did not find much favor thanks to their mechanical unreliability and difficulty in acquiring spare parts. After the war, they were mostly passed on to satellite states such as Bulgaria and Romania. The French army also used them in significant numbers after the war with approximately 50 in service from 1946 to 1950, and they were a significant influence on future French tank design.Using detailed artwork and contemporary photographs, this fascinating book tells the little-known story of the Panther tank in foreign hands in World War II and beyond.