Book Review of
Leopard 2
NATO’s First Line of Defence 1979-2020
Author: David Grummitt
Pen & Sword Books Tank Craft Series
ISBN: 9781526774101
By Ray Mehlberger
MSRP: $28.95
By Ray Mehlberger
MSRP: $28.95
HISTORY:
The Leopard 2 is a main battle tank developed by Krauss-Maffei in the 1970s for the West German Army. The tank first entered service in 1979 and succeeded the earlier Leopard 1 as the main battle tank of the German Army.
It is armed with a 120 mm smoothbore cannon, and is powered by a V12 twin-turbo diesel engine. Various versions have served in the armed forces of Germany and 12 other European countries, as well as several non-European nations, including Canada, Chile, Indonesia, Singapore, and Turkey.
The Leopard 2 was used in Kosovo with the German Army, and has seen action in Afghanistan with the Dutch, Danish and Canadian contributions to the International Security Assistance Force, as well as seeing action in Syria with the Turkish Armed Forces.
There are two main development batches of the tank: the original models up to Leopard 2A4, which have vertically faced turret armour, and the improved batch, namely the Leopard 2A5 and newer versions, which have angled arrow-shaped turret appliqué armour together with other improvements.
All models feature digital fire control systems with laser rangefinders, a fully stabilized main gun and coaxial machine gun, and advanced night vision and sighting equipment (first vehicles used a low-light level TV system or LLLTV; thermal imaging was introduced later on).The tank has the ability to engage moving targets while moving over rough terrain.
THE BOOK:
Pen & Sword Books is located in the UK.
This book is soft-cover of 64 pages in 8 ¼” x 11 ¾” page format.
The front cover shows a color photo at the top of the Tamiya 1/35th scale Leopard 2A5, built by modeler Chris Jarrett.
Across the center of the front cover there are 3 color photos of. Two of them are Leopard 2A6’s covered with grass for camouflage. The third one is a Leopard 2A40.
At the bottom of the front cover there is a color side view profile drawing of a Leopard 2HEL, of the Hellenic Army, Oxi Day Parade, Thessaloniki, Greece, October 2018. It is in a camouflage of a wave pattern of two shades of grey and dark green. It has a solid white cross on the sides of its turret.
The book contains 60 black and white photos an 8 color ones of actual Leopard 2’s.
There are 13 color side profile illustrations, that include 5 color illustrations of unit insignias. These are of:
The Leopard 2A7, 2A5, 2NL, 2HFL, Panzer 87, 2E, 2A4F/N, 2A6M, 2A4M, 2A5DK, Stridsvagn 122, 2A6NL.
In the built-up models section there is:
The Meng Brand 1/35th Scale Leopard 2NL by modeler David Grummitt.
The Meng Brand 1/35th scale Leopard 2A4FIN by modeler Bouantoun.
The Tamiya brand 1/35th scale Leopard 2A5 by modeler Chris Jarrett.
The Hobby Boss brand 1/35th scale Stridsvagn 122 by modeler Chris Jarrett.
The Tamiya brand 1/35th scale Leopard 2A6M by modeler Lester Grummitt.
The Border Models brand 1/35th scale Leopard 2A6 by modeler Lester Grummitt.
In the available Leopard models section there is listed many kits by various companies of the Leopard 2 variants and accessory kits.
THE AUTHOR:
David Grummitt is editor of Military Modelcraft International magazine. He is also a professional historian and writer and is author of several books on late medieval warfare and of Tankcraft 17 “M2 Abrams”.
I want to sincerely thank Casemate Publishers, the N. American distributor of Pen & Sword Books for this review sample.
All Pen & Sword book titles can be viewed on Casemate’s website at:
The Leopard 2 is a main battle tank developed by Krauss-Maffei in the 1970s for the West German Army. The tank first entered service in 1979 and succeeded the earlier Leopard 1 as the main battle tank of the German Army.
It is armed with a 120 mm smoothbore cannon, and is powered by a V12 twin-turbo diesel engine. Various versions have served in the armed forces of Germany and 12 other European countries, as well as several non-European nations, including Canada, Chile, Indonesia, Singapore, and Turkey.
The Leopard 2 was used in Kosovo with the German Army, and has seen action in Afghanistan with the Dutch, Danish and Canadian contributions to the International Security Assistance Force, as well as seeing action in Syria with the Turkish Armed Forces.
There are two main development batches of the tank: the original models up to Leopard 2A4, which have vertically faced turret armour, and the improved batch, namely the Leopard 2A5 and newer versions, which have angled arrow-shaped turret appliqué armour together with other improvements.
All models feature digital fire control systems with laser rangefinders, a fully stabilized main gun and coaxial machine gun, and advanced night vision and sighting equipment (first vehicles used a low-light level TV system or LLLTV; thermal imaging was introduced later on).The tank has the ability to engage moving targets while moving over rough terrain.
THE BOOK:
Pen & Sword Books is located in the UK.
This book is soft-cover of 64 pages in 8 ¼” x 11 ¾” page format.
The front cover shows a color photo at the top of the Tamiya 1/35th scale Leopard 2A5, built by modeler Chris Jarrett.
Across the center of the front cover there are 3 color photos of. Two of them are Leopard 2A6’s covered with grass for camouflage. The third one is a Leopard 2A40.
At the bottom of the front cover there is a color side view profile drawing of a Leopard 2HEL, of the Hellenic Army, Oxi Day Parade, Thessaloniki, Greece, October 2018. It is in a camouflage of a wave pattern of two shades of grey and dark green. It has a solid white cross on the sides of its turret.
The book contains 60 black and white photos an 8 color ones of actual Leopard 2’s.
There are 13 color side profile illustrations, that include 5 color illustrations of unit insignias. These are of:
The Leopard 2A7, 2A5, 2NL, 2HFL, Panzer 87, 2E, 2A4F/N, 2A6M, 2A4M, 2A5DK, Stridsvagn 122, 2A6NL.
In the built-up models section there is:
The Meng Brand 1/35th Scale Leopard 2NL by modeler David Grummitt.
The Meng Brand 1/35th scale Leopard 2A4FIN by modeler Bouantoun.
The Tamiya brand 1/35th scale Leopard 2A5 by modeler Chris Jarrett.
The Hobby Boss brand 1/35th scale Stridsvagn 122 by modeler Chris Jarrett.
The Tamiya brand 1/35th scale Leopard 2A6M by modeler Lester Grummitt.
The Border Models brand 1/35th scale Leopard 2A6 by modeler Lester Grummitt.
In the available Leopard models section there is listed many kits by various companies of the Leopard 2 variants and accessory kits.
THE AUTHOR:
David Grummitt is editor of Military Modelcraft International magazine. He is also a professional historian and writer and is author of several books on late medieval warfare and of Tankcraft 17 “M2 Abrams”.
I want to sincerely thank Casemate Publishers, the N. American distributor of Pen & Sword Books for this review sample.
All Pen & Sword book titles can be viewed on Casemate’s website at:
Highly recommended.