Helion has been publishing a series on the Russo-Ukraine War. This edition is a bit different for the others in that it concentrates on equipment. In this case, it is tanks, and not just tanks but Soviet/Russian tanks. Ukraine was a major production center for tanks during the Soviet era and it is with these vehicles that were used to defend against the Russian invaders.

These were by no means the latest and greatest as Ukraine had been downsizing its military since becoming independent, but they were put into storage in case they were needed later. The variant that was with the Ukraine Army was the T-64B. The T-64 was not exported during the Soviet era and was the basis for other Soviet era tanks, the T-72 and T-80. These later tanks were similar to the T-64, but had differences in terms of equipment and in particular, the T-80 was gas turbine powered instead of having standard engines.

As the war progressed, Ukraine managed to get their hands on a number of T-72 and T-80 tanks and put them into units to use against the invaders. All of the aforementioned tanks were Soviet era developments. The other tank covered in the book is the T-90 and that is a newer development, though still part of the same general family, although much more capable. The Russians have lost quite a few of those as well and Ukraine has captured a couple of them intact.

This book not only covers the general development of Soviet tanks since the end of WWII, but also goes into considerable detail on all the different variants that have seen combat in the last couple of years. The book has a lot of full color photos, some excellent cutaway drawings, and analysis of how these have performed. As with other books in this series, there are several pages of full color profiles as well as charts to help the reader follow along with the write-up. To me, this is the most interesting book in the series so far as it does cover equipment more than strategy and tactics, which is more the norm of Helon's history books. It makes for a book that I know you will like and is one I can highly recommend.

January 2024

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