Valentine Infantry Tank 1938-45

Description

The Valentine was Britain's most produced and most widely used tank of the Second World War. Having the strange distinction of falling somewhere between being an infantry tank and a cruiser tank, the Valentine first saw combat during Operation Compass in November 1941 and remained one of the main medium tanks in British service into 1943. As the Churchill became more prevalent the Valentine was relegated to specialist variants like amphibious and bridgelayer tanks, which would remain in service in the Far East to the end of the war. This book describes the evolution of the Valentine design and weighs up its impact on the battlefield. Widely regarded today as one of the weaker tanks to be fielded during the war, it was exceptionally numerous - more Valentines were produced than any other British tank and it accounted for 25% of the tanks produced in Britain during the war.

Bruce Newsome, Ph.D., is Lecturer in International Relations at the University of California Berkeley. He consulted to governments on defense acquisitions while at the RAND Corporation in Santa Monica, California, and the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom. His publications include: Making Tanks: How Britain Required, Design, and Produced the Best and Worst of Tanks, 1918-1945 (2015); Homeland Security (2015); Security and Risk Management (2014); Made, Not Born: Why Some Soldiers are Better than Others (2007). Henry Morshead is a design consultant in the European automotive and aerospace sectors, with clients including Jaguar, Bentley, Citroen and Airbus. He is also a technical sponsor of the Bloodhound supersonic car, contributing digital surfacing and design services. A former officer in the Royal Engineers and illustrator for Jane's, he maintains a keen interest in the design and use of military land and air vehicles.

"Osprey has collected a staff of excellent writers and researchers to bring readers insights on many historic military vehicles. Both Osprey and author Newsome continue this tradition in a concise affordable volumn. The story of the Valentine Infantry Tank covers several derivatives that were antecedents to future vehicles and some that were dead ends. The variety in this book makes for interesting reading." --AMPS "This volume will be of great use to the armor and diorama modeler as well as the World War II enthusiast and historian." --Armorama.com