Three new titles from Trackpad Publishing on armor used by various armed forces.

Tanks of the Early IDF by Tom Gannon.

This book looks at examples of the first tank types to enter Israeli service. Modern-day Israel’s fight for independence began at the end of November 1947, after the UN issued its ‘UN Partition Resolution for Palestine’ and continued well beyond its actual Declaration of Independence in May 1948. Knowing that there was a danger of invasion by multiple neighboring countries, efforts to obtain weapons spread to various places around the world, plus Jewish forces took advantage of opportunities to do so locally.

This volume deals with the first tanks used by Haganah/PALMACH and the newly established TZAHAL (IDF or Israel Defense Force). These include the vehicles described here: Hotchkiss H39, Renault R35, Cromwell and Sherman. As with nearly all weapons acquisitions in the Yishuv/Israel, improvisation and creativity was the name of the game, and those efforts are honored with monuments all over the country.

A4, landscape, 168 pages, approximately 350 photographs.

Belgian Army Leopard 1 Forty-five Years of Service 1969-2014 by Patrick Winnepenninckx.

This In the Field book looks at the Leopard 1 that served in the Belgian Army for 45 years. This book complements the Belgian Leopard 1(BE) and Leopard 1A5(BE) (forthcoming) books in the Model Foto Focus series which provide full details of all technical aspects of the Belgian Leopard tanks.The book focuses on the ‘in-service’ use of the Leopard throughout its Belgian Army service. It provides information on the units that fielded the Leopard main battle tanks, their markings, employment during field training exercises, live-fire gunnery, operations, and their retirement.

A4, landscape, 80 pages, approximately 274 photographs.

Brazilian Stuart M3, M3A1, X1, X1A2 and their Derivatives by Hélio Higuchi, Paul Bastos Jr. and Reginaldo Bacchi.

Somewhat eclipsed by medium and heavy tanks for its secondary role in the European Theatre of Operations during World War II, the Stuart tank was, however, more successful further away in the Pacific Theatre, where it surpassed in efficiency all its Japanese counterparts, albeit later out-performed by the M4 Sherman.

It was in the post-war years that it would prove its mettle in Latin America due to its ease of operation and maintenance, allied to its low weight. It turned out to be much more useful than its larger cousins in the many local internal and external conflicts it took part in. Brazil, in particular, was its main operator. There, the M3/M3A1 Stuart became legendary as the most numerous tank in the history of the Brazilian Army, having been in active service for over forty years, participating in various instances of political turmoil, and decisively contributing to the development of local defence industries.

Several models of tanks, such as the X1 Pioneiro, derived from modifications to the Stuart’s chassis. Later, it would inspire the X1A2 project, the first mass-produced Brazilian tank.

A4, landscape, 100 pages, approximately 100 photographs.