The Japanese fought the Russians in 19, the Soviets with the one of the world’s greatest generals, Zhukov, in command! In 1941 the French in Vietnam briefly fought the Japanese with World War One era tanks. Starting in China in the 1930’s the Chinese engaged the Japanese using Russian T26’s and German Panzer I’s. They did happen, and they happened often, but they never matched the scale of the Western Theatre. However, the supporting photos are sorely lacking.Ask most historical strategy gamers about World War Two and not many would have thought there were any tank battles in the Pacific Theatre of World War Two. There is a treasure of information within the covers. Gilbert is to be commended for bringing this little-mentioned but important subject to light. Most photos are poorly rendered and unless you can find an original edition copy, be prepared for this disappointment. Reading a caption that describes a picture, one should be able to make out the details described. While the text is sharp and clear, the 70-or-so pictures are muddy, dark and indistict for th e most part as a military modeler, the images are fairly important to me.

It should be noted this reprint edition (Da Capo) is not up to the quality of the original Combined Publishing edition. He provides vivid descriptions of the equipment used and actions taken by both sides and is balanced in praising the US forces while tempering their successes with the terrible losses of life and limb. One thing that surprised me was the inaccurate current body of knowledge of this important theatre of battle the author sets the records straight via many interviews and supporting research. The text is lively and engaging, supported by 'I was there' interviews of surviving participants. This is an excellent history of USMC armor activity during the Pacific campaigns of WWII.

Greatest tank battles pacific