I like Shermans just fine, but have always had a soft spot for the new generation of American armour that was being fielded at the end of the Second World War; the Pershing in particular is a real favourite of mine.  Hence, David Doyle's new title the AFVisual series covering late war US AFVs is right up my alley.

Printed in landscape format, this book is over twice the size of the first book in this series I saw, that on the M36 tank destroyer.  This book covers three vehicles, the T26E3/M26 Pershing, the M24 Chaffee, and the M40 self-propelled gun.  Coverage is not equal, with over 60 pages devoted to the Pershing, 22 to the Chaffee, and 17 to the T83/T89/M40 (the T83 was the pilot vehicle sent to Europe with a 155mm gun, while the T89 originally had an 8” howitzer).  Aside from period colour photos on the covers (a nice shot of a 1^st Armored Division Chaffee on the front and a fascinating photo of a Pershing being transported on a trailer towed by a Diamond T 981 with a fifth wheel), the rest of the book is black and white, with minimal text (except for informative captions, just a short background piece for each vehicle) and lots of big, beautiful photographs. 

Each of the three subject vehicles is covered in a multifaceted way, with trials and factory photos, in action photos (Second World War only; these vehicles’ extensive postwar service are beyond the scope of this book), tech manual images, and walkaround shots of preserved vehicles. 

The Pershing section starts off with a bang, namely some extraordinarily clear production line photos and some nice general arrangement shots taken during trials at Aberdeen Proving Ground and the Detroit Tank Arsenal.  Front, side, and rear views of a Pershing with a one-foot grid overlaid are particularly useful.  Next up are a series of photographs of the Zebra Mission Pershings undergoing acceptance trials in Aachen before being issued to the 3^rd and 9^th Armored Divisions; the mud scraper shown fitted in front of the drive sprocket of a vehicle on pp. 19-20 was something I had not seen before.   

The bulk of the in action shots of Pershings in Europe are extensive coverage of two of the more famous Pershing casualties, “Fireball” of the 3^rd Armored Division, knocked out by a Tiger on Feb. 26, 1945, and Sgt. Key’s vehicle from the 9^th Armored Division, hit by a pair of 150mm rounds on March 1, 1945.  These photos are doubly useful: not only do they vividly illustrate the damage which AP and HE rounds can inflict on AFVs, they also provide excellent photo coverage of the Zebra Mission T26E3s.  One of the few typos in the book shows up in this section, however.  The author clearly knows the difference between T80E1 and T81 tracks, but on p. 46 and p. 50 erroneously refers to “T81E1” tracks (he earlier correctly identified the tracks on Key’s tank as T80E1s).

The book then moves on to walkaround shots of two Pershings preserved at Fort Knox, plus one rather decrepit, but still interesting, early production example.  Interspersed with these photos are tech manual images of both the interior and exterior of the Pershing that provide an excellent resource for modelers.  The Pershing section ends with two pages on the “Super Pershing,” the single T26E1 pilot that was converted to T26E4 standard, armed with the huge 90mm T15E1 gun, and shipped to Europe.  The Super Pershing photos have been seen elsewhere, but I really liked the shot of the Super Pershing before conversion, when it was still a T26E1 – especially the crew standing in front of the tank!

The section on the M24 has, as one would gather, much less depth than the Pershing’s.  Nonetheless, there are some in action photos that were new to me, and the walkaround coverage is worthwhile and pretty comprehensive.

The most welcome section of this book is probably that on the M40 self-propelled gun, since there is not a lot available on this interesting vehicle.  The photos of the pilot vehicles convey the size and complexity of the M40 series very well, and also explain and illustrate how the vehicle evolved from the pilots to production standard based on lessons learned during trials.  One of the most interesting photos in this section is a great shot on p. 99 of one of the T83 pilots during trials at Aberdeen with extended end connectors fitted to the T80 tracks.  There are three rare photos of the T89 pilot (after its 8” howitzer was replaced with a 155mm gun) in service with the 3^rd Armored division shelling Cologne in March 1945; of note is the fact that black camouflage over olive drab is clearly visible.  The walkaround photos of the M40 sitting outside of the Patton Museum should be of use if we ever get the AFV Club M40 that has been promised for many years.

I highly recommend this book for anybody interested in any of these vehicles.  Although a lot has been published on the Pershing in particular (and I’ve got most of it), the particular mix of period photos, tech manual images, and walkaround shots of preserved vehicles make this a great one-stop shop for the modeler.  Now where is that AFV Club M40 kit?