Men of Armor

This is a unique book compared to those normally reviewed here. It is not an operational history, nor is it an in depth look at a given weapons system or battle. Instead, what Jeff Danby has created in Men of Armor is an excellent look at what it was like to train, deploy, and engage in combat as part of a Second World War U.S. armored battalion.

Quite a bit of work goes into getting right a book like this and in this regards Danby's research efforts are superb. Not only does he rely upon a wealth of sources (primary and secondary alike) but he also took the time to interview many of the participants in the events covered by this book. What's more, this isn't a book where the product of those interviews shows up in massive sections of block quotes. Much better, Danby takes what he gleaned from these interviews, cross-references that testimony with all available sources, and puts it all together to form a coherent narrative that brings to life the wide range of experiences these G.I.'s experienced while serving with the 756th Tank Battalion.

Men of Armor is very much a book for tank enthusiasts. The chapters on the unit formation, training, and deployment are as extensively documented and fleshed out as those covering combat in Italy. This is important. In this sense one gets a clear flavor of what it was like to not only experience these events but also the myriad ways during peacetime or war in which one can find themselves injured or worse when operating tanks. All too often we tend to focus on combat while forgetting the inherently dangerous nature in say practicing a shore assault, driving on mountain roads in the dark, or training in the use of a tank's weaponry. This book illustrates all of that, as well as much more. If you are truly seeking to understand what day-to-day life was like inside a U.S. Army tank battalion during the Second World War then this is definitely a book you should consider picking up.