Introduction

This book covering M36/M36B1 Tank Destroyer is part of a series of titles from Pen and Sword as part of their ‘Images at War’ series. These books cover the subject matter mostly in photographs and so offer a great visual reference for anyone interested in the subject matter regardless of the reason for that interest. For the modeller these books represent a horn of plenty when it comes to visual information.

Review

This offering from Pen and Sword is part of the ‘Images at War’ series. This series of books are soft backed offerings having a good card cover with a very good spine to the book that keeps the contents in good order. This book covering M36/M36B1 Tank Destroyer has been authored by David Doyle who is or should be well known to most interested in finding reference material for their model building. The contents of this title are provided over 121 pages of good quality semi gloss paper.

The contents are presented in the following sections:
Chapter 1 – M36
Chapter 2 – M36B1

The dedicated text in this offering is limited to a short introduction. This introduction very quickly covers the reasoning that lead to the M36 and goes onto explain how the British fitted the QF 17pdr that went on to be called the Achilles after the war. So as I said a short introduction but a concise one.

The photographs in this offering are a mix of period black and white offerings with very good captions that clearly explain who or what and where and when where possible. The others are modern colour images that have been added as a walk around of the vehicle; Half of this title is dedicated to the walk around and that bothers me a little. The images in the Walk around have been used by the author to identify specific areas of the vehicle, as indeed he should; my concern however is that restored vehicles in both museums and private collector’s hands have a habit of being cannibalised offerings resulting in examples that are not 100% accurate. So with that proviso in place I commend the author for the captions provided due to the good amounts of information provided.

The period black and white photographs are very well captioned and have been well chosen for the clarity of them. I feel these images will best serve the modeller who wishes to depict a specific vehicle at a specific time and place. Details such as marking can be picked out as can the collection of comforts that often get added. There are a series of photographs that show an M36 that rolled over while being towed and these will make excellent reference for those wishing to make a diorama of it rolled on its side or after it had been righted. There is also a very nice photograph showing the effect on winter white wash applications that could make for a visually stunning model.

The section covering the M36B1 is covered in only 16 pages and while the photographs are a mix of period and preserved vehicles the section is too short in my opinion to be of much use.

Conclusion

This offering from Pen and Sword has been tackled in a different way to that in which I have become used to in other titles from the series. The period photographs and captions are very well done and add a great deal when it comes to making you note details in the photographs. Most of this book consists of a walk around covering details on the M36 and while the modeller in me appreciates this to some extent I would have preferred to see more in the way of period images as these catch my eye more. I must congratulate the author on the work he has done on the captions. I do question the addition of the M36B1 to the mix as the section is too short to be of much use.