Tank Wrecks of the Western Front, 1940-1945

This unique pictorial history captures the many types of armored vehicles used across the Western Front of WWII—through soldiers’ photos of enemy wreckage. Early in the Second World War, victorious German soldiers regularly photographed and posed with destroyed or abandoned Allied tanks. When the tide of the war turned against them in 1944, their wrecked Panzers were photographed by victorious Allies. The practice created an extraordinary record of the thousands of tank wrecks that littered the battlefields across the Western Front. In this volume, Anthony Tucker-Jones has selected a fascinating collection of these historic images, forming a rare visual guide to the fate of World War II armor. All the principal tanks of the conflict are represented: Renaults, Matildas, Churchills, Shermans, Panzer IVs, Panthers and Tigers along with many others. Tanks Wrecks of the Western Front provides insight into the rapid development of tank design during the war, and shows how vulnerable these armored vehicles were to antitank guns and air attacks.