introduction

For those who are interested in Israeli Defense Forces armor, Tom Gannon’s work should be familiar to those who own his book “Israeli Sherman” that was published some years back. Also if you have an old MP Models M50, he had his hand in that as well. So it goes without saying that this new work not only meets standards he set with previous efforts, but surpasses them.

Book Basics

This recent two volume set covers the use of US M2/ M3 type halftracks in the IDF, as well as armored cars and other trucks. Volume one is everything pre-1959, with the second volume going from 1960 to the present.
A break down of each is as follows:

Volume 1:
172 pages comprising chapters 1-5 and introduction

• Introduction
• Half Track Primer
• Sandwich Trucks
• Armored Cars, 1948-1959
• Half-Tracks, General Use, 1948 to 1959
• Half-Tracks, Modified, 1948 to 1959

Volume 2:
220 pages consisting of chapters 6-8 with an introduction

• Introduction
• Scout Car and AML-90
• Half-tracks, General Use, 1960-Present
• Half-Tracks, Modified, 1960-Present

Both volumes are hardback with very sturdy binding. Pages are of very nice quality, high weight paper that hold the wealth of photos very well. The covers and overall layout is very attractive with the chapters in different edge colors to aid in quickly finding that section.

a look inside

When I first opened the book I was blown away. Each page contains no more than three photos, and most of the time only two, with a short but descriptive caption. This means that each photo is at least the size of a post card or 5x7 print, so details are easily seen. The Intro gives a good amount of background information in the form of text, much like a Concord “armor at war” series. Then it’s nothing but pictures from then till the last page. Most of these I’ve never seen before, and looking at the photo credit, Tom did some digging in various photo archives, plus had contributions by private collections.

Top that off with walk around and detail shots of museum, restoration, and even roadside wrecks for those wanting to do some of the more unusual halftracks. Some of these are in color, and there is even color historical photos thrown in as well. All images are of high quality. Captions are informative and there is a natural progression and timeline as you read through the book.

Conclusion

Tom Gannon with Barabarossa Books has outdone himself with this two volume set covering halftracks used by the IDF. Bonus material also covers armored cars and “sandwich” trucks.

Once receiving these, I could not put them down. I highly recommend these titles to anybody who has any interest in IDF armor or halftracks. There are enough photos and detail pictures in each volume to make any modeler happy, especially with the wealth of never seen before photos including coverage of variants I didn’t even know existed. These two volumes will be a great addition to anybodies reference library.