Introduction

The following introduction is as provided by Tankograd Publishing:
The publication features outstanding maneuver-use photos, partly full-page illustrated, depicting modern battle tanks and armored vehicles wheel chain in their natural "habitat": the hard work around the world. In the well-known above-average image quality, exercises are presented dramatically and with short informative captions to the vehicles exciting.

Review

This review takes a look at one of the latest releases from Tankograd Publishing and covers tanks in the Sharp Shot Challenge. The author of this particular release is Walter Böhm who is a regular contributor to Tankograd Publishing. This offering from Tankograd Publishing is a part of a new series of books aimed at young and or newcomers to the subject and as such the text is of a less technical nature and written in German only. This is soft backed book with a good glossy card cover and 40 pages of good quality paper on the inside.

This offering from Tankograd Publishing begins with five pages of text. Tankograd Publishing has become very good at getting the information across to the reader while keeping the text concise. The text has been broken down as follows:
Command Issuing and Use
Beginning of the SETC
Stations of the SETC
And the winner is: PzBtl 393 and the Leopard 2

The text all being written in German severely affects my ability to read it, but one of the things I like about German is that with a little effort you can usually understand the context of what is being said. This text is interspersed with images of tanks and soft skinned support vehicles. This offering then moves onto the excellent photography skills of Walter Böhm that make this another must have title from Tankograd Publishing.

The photographs in this offering cover a wide range of main battle tanks from major powers around the world. The photographic skills of Walter Böhm show many tanks of various countries live firing in the Strong Europe Tank Challenge 2018, and some of these images give a great visual representation of the forces unleashed when a main battle tank lets fly. Tankograd Publishing has not restricted the content to tanks lobbing rounds down range as they have covered the preparations and other aspects of the challenge. These challenges cover everything from rescuing injured crew and changing track pins through to carrying replacement wheels and arming rounds.

The book comes to an end with a look at the nations and tanks of the competitors; of course the winner has to get special attention. Each nations tanks is provided with a decent photograph and data sheet. The vehicles and nations are:
USA – M1A2 SEP V2 Abrams
Germany – Leopards 2A6
France – Leclerc S XXI
Austria – Leopard 2A4
Poland – Leopard 2A5
Sweden Stridsvagn 122
UK – Challenger 2
Ukraine – T-84 Oplot

The photographs utilised in this book are of an excellent quality that enables the viewer to see the effects live fire has on the vehicles in terms of shock waves and dirt generated. The view of tanks firing may be of limited interest to many experienced modellers who tend to look for details rather than the overall look, but the target audience of this series will love what is offered.

Conclusion

Tankograd Publishing excels as a publisher when it comes to affordable titles looking at very specific areas of the military forces and vehicles of the world and this offering is not an exception to that rule. The text being in German only may affect its appeal to some, but its images more than make up for it believe. The mix of tanks and three types of Leopard 2 will hold a lot of appeal for many, but its reference value is curtailed by the sheer number of vehicles that had to be covered; with that said the photographs are glorious in their timing.