English language books on the use of armor during the Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939 are few and far between. Into this void now steps the well qualified Anthony J. Candil. He is a former senior officer in the Spanish Army with extensive training and experience in armored warfare. His expertise and background is evident in his approach to this topic, and is welcome.
Tank Combat in Spain is concise, well organized, and offers important insight into the employment of tanks during the war, lessons learned (or not learned) by the participating armed forces, as well as other armies observing
When most people think of the Red Army circa 1942 they imagine a war machine on the rise, and blessed with fleets of wordclass T-34 medium tanks. On the one hand it's true that by the spring of 1942 Soviet tank factories cranked out far more T-34's than they had during the nadir of Soviet fortunes late in 1941. But, for a number of reasons (including both T-34 losses at the front as well as the decision to parcel out T-34's in independent tank brigades versus concentrating them in the Tank Corps) there were never enough of these reliable, well armed armored fighting vehicles to go around.
