Osprey's Duel #21 covers two of the world's most famous post WWII tanks, the British designed Centurion and the Soviet T-54/55. In particular, it concentrates on the Israeli modified Centurion, the Cal Shot and the Syrian operated T-55 tanks. These saw battle against each other in the Golan Heights during the Yom Kippur War of 1973.

The T-55 had some items not found in the Israeli tanks, such as infrared night fighting equipment, but the turrets were cramped and the poor ergonomics meant that it had a slower rate of fire. The Israeli's had gutted the troublesome British engine and transmission, installing a diesel and automatic transmission as used in other Israeli tanks. Thanks to the larger turret and the superior training of the IAC, the Israelis were confident that their qualitative advantage could overcome the quantitative advantage of their enemies and they were proven to be correct.

The book does provide a background on the development of both vehicles, the specifications of both vehicles and a look at the training of the crews who operated them. It covers the other nations who used the vehicles and those times that they were used in battle, though rarely against each other. It was the Israelis and the Syrians who put these tanks to the test against each other and that story is superbly told. It is as riveting a tale as one could ever read on the conflict. There were as many if not more tanks involved than during the epic Kursk battles during WWII in an area that was even smaller. The Israelis were incredibly outnumbered and they were facing a determined and very brave enemy. The Syrians did not cut and run once they saw their comrades being destroyed by the much better trained and led Israelis, but continued to press on. Their night fighting abilities were much better than the Israelis, thanks to their rudimentary, but relatively effective infrared equipment, something the Isrealis had never developed.

The battles were long and hard fought. Time and again, the Syrians came close or broke through only to be countered by skills of the Israeli tank men. The losses on both sides were quite high as the small number of Israeli tanks (less than 200) were basically without reinforcement for days until the reserve units finally arrived. It is only due to the rigid planning and failure to be flexible enough that the Syrians did not win the day.

It is not often that one reads a book like this that is so superbly written that it just draws you in. I've had the pleasure of reading several in the past week, and both of them authored by Simon Dunstan. The man just knows how to write and you are really missing out if you don't pick up this particular edition. It is that good. As with others in this series, it has a nice selection of period illustrations in addition to excellent artwork and diagrams done specifically for this book.

It is a first rate read and one that I most highly recommend.

December 2009

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