Rating: 
Summary: Excellent story mired in repetition and unclear jargon
Review: I truly enjoyed reading this book for the same historical and technical accuracy mentioned by many of the other reviewers. This book is a remarkable memoir and provides a irreplaceable glimpse into a personal experience that would otherwise be easily lost to time. However, I must also admit that I found this text to be plagued by many frustrating shortcomings that detract from the overall reading experience.This book is deceptively advertised as being written by Cooper and noted historian Stephen Ambrose. I was truly irritated to discover that Stephen Ambrose's only contribution is actually just a SIX sentence foreword, which is itself little more than a cheaply disguised, glossy, and impersonal pitch for one of his own books. The editor did indeed fail the author on several instances, as was mentioned previously. Actually, I believe this statement was slightly conservative and the editor has actually done nothing: 1) The book is extremely repetitive. Various phrases, sentences, and entire paragraphs of text appear numerous times throughout the book - often almost word for word duplications. 2) There is little consistency in the terminology used and only occasional are definitions provided. I'm sure that many other readers who are, like me, not intimately familiar with finer details of military equipment and tactics will often find themselves lost on the importance of observations and discussions made by the author throughout the text. 3) Grammar. There are several rather simple (making them perhaps even more significant) grammatical errors in the text. These errors are not within quotation marks where they could be dismissed as slang. In a world of email and junk magazines, edited books are perhaps the last frontier of grammatical standards. The editor should have exercised some effort to ensure the quality of the book being published.
Rating: 
Summary: an eye-opener even to a vet of 3rd Armored Division...great!
Review: I was in the 33rd Armored Regiment of which Mr. Cooper was maintenance liason officer. He was able to observe results of combat in a way which gave him a broad and true picture of the war. Very few people were in the position to observe it as he could. Hiss writings strike closer to the truth than anything I have been able to read before. His book should be required reading for any education dealing with wars, warfare and just general education on high school and college levels. It should be a required text book in any military training facility.
Rating: 
Summary: Theory vs. Practice
Review: I've little to add to the other reviews. The information is fascinating and indispensible while the editing is sloppy. Patton's theory of a lighter tank (the M-4) as the best tool for "breakout and pursuit" manuevering sounded good in theory and his tactical and operational reputation were staked on this theory. The more heavily armoured, wider tracked (and with its Christy suspension system like the Russian T-34) Pershing along with its 90mm gun with higher velocity certainly would have saved a lot of tankers lives and accelerated the road to victory. The Pershing was available in January of '44 (one sees parallels in the failure to deploy the P-51 Mustang as a long range fighter to support the heavy bomber raids of '43; it was available even long before the first big 8th airforce raids over Germany with with their horrific losses in mid summer of '43 and not used until late autumn of that year). The Sherman was fine for maneuver and breakout, mechanically relaiable and sturdy. But what if there is simply no way to get around the enemy? The British and Canadians saw that around Caen before the Americans did. Heavy American tank losses in the autumn of '44 didn't change Patton's mind--the Pershing was not used in Europe until February '45. Old "blood and guts"; Patton's guts (and flawed theory) and the reality of tankers' blood--and lots of it. It was also decided by some geniuses in the brass to close down the tanker replacement school in the states during the fall of '44 so new tankers often had to be given crash course training right out of basic by their own units in the field--often during the time when a unit was supposed to be on r-n-r or even before going back into the line! Tactical and operational theorists rarely have to live (and die) by their theories if they should happen to be flawed.
One reviewer was disappointed to see this book wasn't about combat from a tankers point of view. Strangely, their seem to be few such accounts, at least in the English language. Two accounts I can't recommend enough are those of Major Robert Crisp entitled "Brazen Chariots" about 8th Army tankers in Stuarts with 37mm pea shooters fighting the Afrika Korps in the Crusader offensive of November '41, and "Hit Hard", the story of the 761 tank battalion (independent), by David J. Williams, a privileged young white officer who agrees to join this all Black unit. This is an amazingly candid account of men fighting racism, the German army, and the stupidity of the brass. The 761 was given a Presidential citation by President Carter in 1978--racism had delayed the award for 33 years. "Brazen Chariots" seems to be in print while "Hit Hard" is not--they were both printed in the old "Bantam War Book" series. You must get ahold of copies wherever you can.
Rating:
Summary: Good topic, Great Memoirs, weak editing
Review: In a very down-to-earth style, author Belton Cooper gives an account of his experiences while serving as a lieutenant in the 3d Armored Division Maintenance Battalion from its landing at Normandy until the end of World War II. The book is chocked-full of references to vehicles and weapon details as Cooper describes first the deployment and then the recovery of a variety of Shermans, M5s, and eventually, T26 "Pershings." Like so many memoirs that have been published in the last few years, it is clear that Cooper has written his own tribute to his time in service. That is not to say that the book is poorly written. On the contrary, it is actually an excellent primary source about armored warfare on the Western Front. But, Cooper's editor did fail him in several instances. Like so many memoirs, the author sometimes is sidetracked by his own politics, personal meanderings, and family histories. These deviations, though important to the author and perhaps those who know him personally, have little meaning to the general reader. It is too bad Cooper's editor didn't encourage him to leave those items out of this book. It made the difference in this being a good book or a great book. Nevertheless, there is plenty of after-action reports, welding extra armor onto Sherman hulls, and disaster in the face of Panthers to keep any armor enthusiast enthralled. The book follows a strict chronological flow and really doesn't develop any sort of story other than "This is life in the 3d Armor as I lived it." A short, conscise foreword by Stephen Ambrose lends a sense of endorsement to this book. His own tribute best describes Cooper's work: "I first read Cooper's memoir in manuscript and quoted from it extensively in my own Citizen Soldier." It is just that, a fine primary source. You won't learn much about the soldiers from this book, but you will appreciate the efforts of a Maintenance Battalion to keep 3d Armor rolling.
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Summary: Death Traps....small correction
Review: In the first paragraph of Mr. Bridgman's review of January 20 2000 he gives the impression that the Third Armored Division of which Mr. Cooper writes in "Death Traps" arrived on Omaha Beach 6 months after D-Day. The Division landed on June 24th and saw combat very soon afterward. Mr. Bridgman was apparently referring to the 11th Armored. He is rightfully proud of his father's service in combat and should be. "Death Traps" reveals just what his father faced and tells it in a way that is very interesting to anyone especially those who were in it or had a loved or friend in it. Thank you for reading.
Rating:
Summary: Hoping for more tank-specific stuff, but still a great book!
Review: It's a great book with a particular focus on where wars are really won or lost: logistics. I have to admit that I was hoping for more tank-on-tank details, but mr. cooper writes what he knows, which would be resupply, repair and division-level movements. It's hard to read the book without getting a little angry at the army for training too few tankers and overestimating the effectiveness of the M4 in the face of superior German armor. It is an excellent companion to Steven Ambrose's Citizen Soldier.
Rating:
Summary: Fills an information niche in WW2 armor
Review: Mr. Cooper tells a war story from a different aspect - an officer who has to "pick up the pieces" after the battle. The Ordnance personnel in an armored division had to supply new vehicles, repair damaged ones, and do field modifications. Not as glamorous as driving the tanks, but absolutely essential if a unit is going to keep going. Not just a technical history of the tanks, the book centers on the impressions of a young man, just out of engineering school, who finds himself in the middle of a war, keeping the tanks supplied and running, while often exposed to extreme danger himself. Essential reading for any student of the U.S. Army in Europe.
Rating:
Summary: Rebuilding shot up Sherman tanks
Review: Mr. Cooper was an ordinance officer with the 3rd Armored Division and his job was to reclaim shattered US tanks and return them to ordinance depot or other repair facilities and bring them back to action. If anyone knows the shortcomings of the Sherman tank it would be this man. His story is one of attrition, superior German tanks and SP guns being overwhelmed by the ability of American units to be resupplied with restored or new tanks. One interesting sidelight, Mr. Cooper is highly critical of Gen. George S. Patton's recommendation to build masses of Shermans rather than M-26 Pershings. The Pershing had much better protection, immensely better firepower and could have stood up to Panther and Tiger tanks much more successfuly than the Sherman. Patton thought the Sherman was more mobile but on muddy ground, the Pershing had more track width and was the quicker of the two. This is one of the best books on armored warfare and the war in the West in 1944 ever written. I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Armored combat from the perspective of recovery and repair
Review: Mr. Cooper's book covers armored warfare on the western front from a previously obscure service - armored repair and recovery. As a young lieutenant with this service, his job was to come forward in the evening and check the broken down and/or combat damaged armored vehicles for that day. From this unique perspective he was able to view horrific damage wrought to Sherman tanks by German high velocity antitank guns , tanks, bazookas, and mines. The tanks' weaknesses ( undergunned, under armored, high profile, loud gasoline powered engine, propensity for burning) became increasingly apparent to him as he saw the dismembered and burned crew members on nearly a daily basis. The author contends that the army knew of these greivous weaknesses prior to the Normandy invasion and had the opportunity to retool and build vastly superior M26 Pershing tanks; but didn't, to keep high , continuous production of Shermans instead. The author infers that this led to unnecessarily high tank losses and in particular losses of tank crews in the western campaign. On a more positive note, American ingenuity was displayed in his detailed description of tank repair close to the battle front, with the Americans able to send a much higher percentage of battle damaged tanks back into action. Also, the description of the 3rd Armored Division including its' different organization and its' critical use as a "spearhead" are of interest. In all, I would rate this book highly for its' coverage of this neglected, but very important, component of the U.S. armored division in WW II.
Rating:
Summary: On the Ground with the 3rd AD
Review: My approach to this book is a little biased - I was in the 3rd AD 1st Brigade (The Rock) from 85-88, and my great uncle was with the 3rd AD as a Tank Destroyer Crewman in 1944. He was Killed in Action at St. Lo.
That said, I've got to say that this book is really wonderful. For one thing, it shines a well deserved light on a Division that never seems to get its fair share of the credit for victory in WWII. Secondly, it reveals the dirty little secret about the Army: you seem to spend about 80% of your time conducting "Preventative Maintenance", and that when you're not in the field, you're in the Motorpool, and that when you're in the field, you're endlessly checking out your vehicles, weapons, radios and every other piece of equipment that you can imagine for defects to make sure the damn stuff will work when you need it to.
This book captures that part of the military experience, and takes a broader look at the progress of the US Army across France than you'll see in many accounts, which are either focused on direct combat or the view from HQ. I found it fascinating to read, and really showed that the US Army's focus on maintenance (which I found irritating after spending my first two months in Germany in the motorpool) is pretty well founded. It also shows that the Sherman Tank was, as the title indicates, a real "Death Trap" - and does a good job of explaining why the US, which built incredible fighting machines that outclassed the enemy in almost every way (particularly in the Air) didn't produce a Main Battle Tank that could go head to head with the Germans.
To anyone looking for a fast-paced account of Armored Combat from the Combat soldier's experience, look elsewhere. But if you're looking for a book that will round out your understanding of how the War was won, definitely, get this book.
My only gripe - why did they have to use the generic Armor insignia on the cover instead of the 3rd AD Spearhead patch?
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