[Subnuts]

Amazon isn't publishing my review of Haynes' Leopard 1 tank manual for some reason, so I'll post it here.

I'm not entirely certain why Haynes no longer publishes their tank "manuals" in association with the Tank Museum, but there's been a noticeable dip in their quality over the last couple of years. Thankfully, this is a pretty solid reference which does a fine job exploring the complex history of the Leopard 1 in its many incarnations.

The author, Michael Shackleton, published a three-volume history of the Leopard 1 in 2003; good luck finding a set for under $200. Although I can't compare it with this book, I imagine all but the most hardcore armor buffs should be content with this book. Starting with a brief look at the Bundeswehr's requirement for a new MBT in the mid-50s and the production and testing of prototypes, we come to the "anatomy" chapter, which describes the tank's main systems, transmission, suspension, armament, etc. Chapter 3 describes all of the main variants and major upgrades of the battle tank variants and some of the engineering attachments they used. Chapter 4 looks at each of the specialized variants of the basic Leopard, including engineering and recovery vehicles, the Biber bridge layer, and the Gepard anti-aircraft vehicle. Chapter 5, the book's largest, covers the tank's service in 16 of the foreign armies that used it, focusing on local modifications and new vehicles derived from the basic Leopard chassis. The final chapter focuses on operating and maintaining the tank, and the appendix includes specification sheets for each main variant.

Although Haynes has a tendency to pad out their books with personal accounts, fluffy asides, and flashy full-page color photos, this is an extremely lean affair. There's not much in the way of operational and development history here, just a straight-up technical study that traces the evolution of the design. Thankfully, we get two color "family tree" graphs to avoid any confusion. For the serious tech heads, there's quite a bit of detail on the functioning of some of the major systems, excellent photographs of the "guts" of the tank, and instructions for starting the tank, preparations for fording rivers, and checklists for First and Last Parades. If you're a modeler, you'll probably be endlessly inspired by all of the foreign modifications. There's even a lengthy schedule for monthly, biannual, and annual servicing. Don't forget to check the oil level in the traverse gearbox once a month!

The only reason I'm giving this four stars instead of five is that it runs into the same problem that most books on modern weapons run into. Even if it's technically obsolete, the Leopard 1 is still being used by five countries, so details on armor, fire control gear, and electronics are sketchy at best. Although it's more tightly written than many Haynes books, it's also somewhat drier in tone. Putting that aside, I recommend this one for armor buffs. It looks like the only other book on the Leopard 1 that's currently in print is an Osprey title from the mid-90s, so this definitely fills a gap in the currently available literature.

I really need to stop buying books before I'm done reading the last one. I keep a list of what I'm either reading or haven't started yet, and there's about 15 on it right now!