On the Eastern Front during the Second World War massive Soviet and
German tank armies clashed in a series of battles that were unmatched in their
scale and ferocity. Several of them have attained almost legendary status. But
epic encounters such as these were only part of a broader story, as Anthony
Tucker-Jones demonstrates in this selection of graphic photographs. While the
images give a fascinating inside view of combat, they also reveal the daily
routines of tank warfare 65 years ago. Training, maintenance, transportation and
supply are shown, as are the daily lives of the tank crews and the often
appalling conditions in which they worked and fought. The photographs also
record in vivid detail the destructive reality of armoured warfare, from the
initial triumphant advance of the German panzers deep into the Soviet Union to
the massive Red Army counter-offensives which drove the German armies back to
Berlin.
