Name three important tanks of WWII and I'm sure that for most of us the Sherman will be in that list. Though only a medium tank, it was able to take on some of the heavier German tanks and if lucky, be able to put it out of action. It was this 'if lucky' part that the British were not quite fond of so one of the things they decided to do with some of their Shermans was to install a 17pnd 'Firefly' anti-tank gun into the standard turret.

The name 'Firefly' became to be synonymous with the tank itself and with the additional punch of this bigger gun, the Sherman was, at least in firepower, the equal of many of the Panther and Tiger tanks it would face in combat.

The British used the Sherman I and Sherman V tanks, mostly because the turret was able to handle the larger gun. These tanks were identified officially as Sherman IC and Sherman VC tanks. The 'A' and 'B' were used to identify other gun modifictions.

Fortunately for us, these tanks were used post war by many Allied countries and for this book, two examples were used for extensive photo coverage. One is a fully operational and restored version used by the Belgian army in the early 1950s and in their armor museum. The other is one used for a test vehicle in Sweden for developing their S tank and is not in quite as good a condition, though it does have several differences from the Belgian tank.

In concert with the other books of the series, there are a plethora of close-up images of the outside and inside of these tanks. The book is quite logically developed with each section of the vehicle covered and a drawing showing where you are looking, something that really helps. All of the close-up images are in full color and there are literally hundreds of them.

Then there is a historical section discussing the development and use of the Firefly, most of which occurs during and after the Normandy invasion. There are a huge number of period photographs showing the tank in various locales and conditions. This is the stuff that diorama fans really enjoy as it provides some excellent ideas for projects. Included in this are full scale drawings in 1/48 and 1/35 scale as well as several pages of drawings taken from Tech Manuals which are sure to be useful to detailers.

Overall, I'd have to say that from a modelers standpoint, there is no better book on the subject that this one. Buy it!

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