Introduction

This book looking at the ‘Cold War Warrior M1 and IPM1 Abrams’ from Tankograd Publishing is due for release in March this year and will have a lot of appeal I suspect. The Abrams in all of its guises has a lot of appeal with modellers and this title will help any modeller tackling the early Abrams, especially when it comes to finishing and weathering your Abrams as it may have looked in Western Europe during the 1980’s.

The following is the introduction provided by Tankograd Publishing on this title.
The last decade of the Cold War was dominated by the introduction of state-of-the-art weapon systems for the American units in Europe, first and foremost receiving the revolutionary new M1 Abrams main battle tank. This publication shows the introduction and the early service years of the M1 and IPM1 main battle tanks in exercise shots taken with the USAREUR in Germany 1982-88. In addition there are reports on personal experiences, background information on the exercises involving the new MBT, information on the camouflage including special camouflage schemes and bumper codes and a special chapter on the markings of the M1-equipped US units.

Review

This soon to be released title from Tankograd Publishing is one of their duel language offerings with German and English text throughout. The book consists of 64 pages bound in a card cover. The paper quality is high and has a gloss finish which is ideal for the photographs.

The text in this title has been kept to an acceptable level, if looking at it from a modellers viewpoint. The text at the start of the book begins with a comparison between operating the Abrams against the Leopard 2; this text is written by Colonel Wolfgang Schneider (Retired) and is a very good read. Colonel Schneider’s balanced assessment on the operation of the early Abrams tank covers both its strengths and weaknesses; some of those weaknesses are surprising. None of this segment will help you as a modeller, but it does make for an enjoyable introduction to the vehicle.

The next text segment looks at the military tactical situation that the Abrams was being introduced to and how it was to be utilised in the event of the Cold War turning Hot. In a very short text segment this looks at the task the Abrams was to perform and how other weapons systems slotted in around that task. The rest of the text in the book looks at the exercises in which the Abrams took part in between 1982 to 1988, these events were;
Reforger 1982 FTX Carbine Fortress
Reforger 1983 FTX Confident Enterprise
FTX War Steed III/ 1984
Reforger 1984 FTX Certain Fury
FTX Lionheart 1984
Reforger 1985 FTX Central Guardian
FTX Spearhead Victory 1985
Combined Arms Live Fire Exercise Lightning Strike
FTX Crossed Sword 1986
Canadian Army Trophy 1987
Reforger 1987 FTX Certain Strike
Reforger 1988 FTX Certain Challenge
The last segment of this title looks at;
Vehicle identification system, Camouflage and Turret Graffiti
Vehicle markings of the 64th Armor Regiment between 1982 and 1986
Vehicle markings of the 11th (US) Armored Cavelry Regiment ‘Black Horse’ between 1982 and 1987
Vehicle identification system – Battalion insignia of the 3rd (US) Armored Division ‘Spearhead’ in 1987

The images in this title consist of 100 colour photographs, 24 black & white photographs and 6 graphics. All of the images in this book are of a very good quality and offer some excellent reference when it comes to weathering and potential display of a model. Each of the images is accompanied with a descriptive caption in both German and English and these will prove of help. I particularly liked the photographs of the Abrams in the snow and one showing a paint job that is straight from a WW2 German tank that should prove eye catching.

Conclusion

This book from Tankograd Publishing covering the Cold War Warrior M1 and IPM1 Abrams 1982 – 88 should prove to be an appealing title in the Tankograd Publishing range. This book can never hope to answer all of the questions that people may have due to its limited size, but due to the competitive price it does provide an affordable entry level reference book.