This is the second volume of Kagero's Photosniper series to cover the somewhat controversial (at the time) French AMX-30 tank. After WWII, the French wanted a tank to replace all of the American tanks in not only the French Army, but also to provide one that would be used by all NATO countries. This way, in the event of hostilities, all of the continental nations would be operating the same tank, making supply issues much more simplified. As such, work got underway on a 50 ton tank which it was hoped would be funded in large by the US's Military Aid Program. While prototypes were built, the aid never came and the tank never reached service. Rather than have no tank, the French received enough M-47 Pattons (as did other NATO nations) to fulfil their needs.

Next, it was decided to try for a 30 ton tank and rely on the tank's firepower and speed rather than a lot of armor. This idea seemed to go over well with continental NATO countries and Germany became a major partner in the project. 

This was also the time that Charles deGaulle became prime minister, and his haughtiness concerning the French role in European politics also bled over to cooperative weapons development, insisting that the French be the controlling interest. This did little more than tick off Germany and other partners; so much that they basically pulled out of all cooperative programs and developed their own material. This rift is what led to the German Leopard tank. Still, there was an agreement and after both the AMX-30 and Leopard pre-production tanks had been built, a run-off was held. The AMX-30 came out with the best showing, but the Germans still decided to go with their own design (again, much of this due to the French attitude towards partnerships).

Despite the now unfortunate lack of overseas sales, the French continued with the tank's development and production. In a situation with which many are familiar regarding French industry, production of the tanks was painfully slow, mostly due to a lack of timely component delivery. Though full production did ramp up, it took a few years for this to happen. Meanwhile, units had to operate with a combination of AMX-30s and Pattons until production reached the higher level.

Once in service, French crews were quite pleased with the result. Here was a tank that met their needs in accordance with their operating tactics and it was a tank that, with the addition of a snorkel, was able to operated almost completely submerged, making it easy to ford small rivers and other bodies of water. The AMX-30 in its various incarnations stayed in service with active units until replaced by the LeClerc. Even today, there are AMX-30B2 tanks being used in the aggressor role to help train crews.

This edition covers the AMX-30B2 as this was basically an upgraded tank that fixed many of the issues that were prevalent in the earlier versions. Even then the tank was constantly improved with new systems, including the use of ERA when it became apparent that just the hull armor would not be enough. The tank fought well during France's equivalent of Desert Storm in 1991.

In addition to a ton of photos of the tank in its various guises, there is a walk-around section that has detail photos of this particular variant that will be especially useful to modelers. It is a great reference book and an interesting read in its own right.  It is a book that I found quite interesting and can easily recommend to you.

October 2014

Review book courtesy of the fine folks at Casemate Publishing. Visit them for more books.

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