The third 'armor' book in the Walk Around series is on US Tank Destroyers, an interesting concept, but one that was basically flawed and abandon after WWII. There were three different versions of tank destroyers; the M10 and M36, which were based on the Sherman tank, and the M18 which was new from the ground up.

The theory of the tank destroyer was to have a big-gunned and fast vehicle that could take a shot at an enemy tank and then get out of the line of fire as quickly as possible. To do this, armor plating was minimal, and in fact, these were rather quick vehicles, the M18 able to reach speeds of 55mph.

The book is in three sections, each covering a different version. All of the photos in the book are of existing museum vehicles and the photographic coverage is quite extensive. There is the usual mixture of color and black & white photography as well as a number of profiles.

As basically an aircraft modeler who knew zilch about the subject, I found that it did a super job of explaining the differences and operation of the vehicles. It was a most fascinating read and is just the kind of book that I think the series should be like. There is little actual historical background other than on the mechanics and general development of the vehicles. That is undoubtedly covered in an 'In Action' volume.

For me, the book does its job very well. I found that I learned quite a bit from it and so am a bit less ignorant of things with treads than I was when I started! It is one that I can recommend to all.

You can find this book and many others at

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