Number 30 in Osprey's very popular Duel series is this one on two Cold War tanks, the US M-60 and the Soviet T-62. Both of these tanks were upgrades of older versions. In the US case, it was the M-48 Patton and for the Soviets, the T-54/55 series of tanks. These were basically up-gunned and up-armored versions that also had upgrades in the engine and other systems.

On paper, the two tanks are really quite equal in terms of overall capabilities with the edge being given to the T-62 with its somewhat larger gun. These tanks were developed specifically for meeting each other in Central Europe, yet they never fired a shot at each other in this theater of operations.

It was in the deserts of the Sinai Peninsula in 1973 that they first had the opportunity to meet each other. In this case, the Israelis had the M60 and the Egyptians had the T-62. Naturally, the Israelis had made some modifications to the tank to meet their specific needs, while the Egyptians operated theirs pretty well as delivered. Though the Israelis did win most of the tank battles during this conflict, their M-60s took a rather heavy toll. The Egyptian plan was not to engage in tank to tank battles but to use anti-tank guns and missiles to eliminate Israeli armor. When battle between the two was initiated, it was found that the M-60 had a nasty tendency to catch fire when hit, thanks to the flammability of the hydraulic fluid in the turret ring. This in turn caused the ammunition to catch fire and explode. It is telling that the return rate to serviceability of hit M-60s was very low (about 19% compared to 50% or more of other tanks). 

The T-62, on the other hand, had a very cramped turret and was literally painful to ride in for any period of time. As good as the Egyptians were with the tank, the Israelis were even better with theirs and it is the training and tactics of the Israeli tankers that proved to be the most important aspect of the fighting and why so many Egyptian tanks were put out of action.

Move ahead about 20 years to the First Gulf War and again it was the M-60 vs the T-62. This time it was USMC M-60s vs Iraqi T-62s. It was the last gasp for the M-60 in US service, but the results were very one-sided against the Iraqi T-62s. During the entire combat operations only 10 US M-60s were put out of action and all of those were caused by mines. No T-62 even hit a US M-60. The M-60 was, by that time, covered with Blazer reactive boxes, and no a single box was hit.

Typical of the series, there is a history of the development of both tanks as well as their technical specifications and  deployments. Crew training and tactics are also part of the story. The two major wars in which the tanks fought each other are covered as well as the lessons learned in each one.

In all, a superlative inclusion to this series and one that I know you will find useful.

September 2010

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