M. P. Robinson

I was a bit skeptical about this book as the "Images of War" series is so hit-or-miss in quality and its emphasis on World War II. However, there are relatively few English language books on French armor, especially postwar development, so I took a chance with this volume.

I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of this work. The "Images of War" series always struck me as a more expensive picture book more akin to the Squadron and Detail in Scale series; however, the text in this book is more substantive and sourced. The other series mentioned hardly ever source their content.

This book follows the usual armored vehicle history format, with the telling of the story of the AMX-13 design origins, the postwar state of French armored vehicle development and manufacturing, a description of the various models of the AMX-13 gun tanks and their deployment in French Army service, the description of the various AMX-13 variants using the same chassis, and finally, the story of foreign AMX-13 sales and their operational use. The authors' writing style is very easy to understand; however, the profusion of designations applied to the AMX-13 tanks and variants is a confusing mess that probably no author could make clear.

This book greatly clarified the story of this important postwar armored fighting vehicle as well as that of French armor development and manufacturing in general. The only reason I rated this book at four stars is that the short format of this book series wouldn't allow more details.… (mer)