7068 - British Armor in Sicily and Italy

7068 - British Armor in Sicily and Italy2
by Dennis Oliver ISBN 962-361-138-2
72 pages, 170 photos, 16 color plates

While combat in Northwest Europe and on the Eastern Front during WWII tends to gather most of the limelight, the Allies fighting in Italy often get overlooked. This volume by Dennis Oliver goes a long way to rectifying that situation, concentrating as it does on British armored vehicles serving in Sicily and Italy. The Italian peninsular was mooted as the soft underbelly of German-occupied Europe, but Italy proved anything but easy for Allied troops as they fought in its difficult mountainous terrain.

Every British armored vehicle - except for the Cromwell - was found in the Italian theater. The book is brimming with photos of British vehicles such as the White scout car, M3 halftrack family, Daimler Dingo, Otter armored car, Universal Carrier, Stuart, Priest, Grant, Sherman, Churchill, Bishop 25pdr self-propelled gun, M10, and Buffalo amphibious vehicle. This list hints at the superb variety of photos that the author has managed to collect for this book, many of which will be new to readers. The book also features a set of 16 color plates by Dennis Oliver showing a variety of vehicles. These also portray tactical and unit markings in glorious detail. Captions throughout the book are well researched and full of useful information about vehicles, units and the operational employment of equipment.

The book starts with an excellent summary of the various British armored and associated units that saw combat in Sicily and Italy. Each regiment, brigade and division receives a separate entry, with details of their roles and combat operations. This book will be a welcome addition to the libraries of Allied armor enthusiasts, and it expertly plugs a gap that has often been ignored by other publishers.