Commanding the Red Army's Sherman Tanks: The World War II Memoirs of Hero of the Soviet Union Dmitriy Loza

Rating:
Summary: For an solider or military historian
Review: As a former Armor officer I was captivated immediately. This is a story by a soldier's soldier. The stories are incredible, the action non-stop throughout. Colonel Loza is a true hero and warrior who tells a great story, albeit not in the flowing, perfect prose of the ivory tower historian, but that is what makes if all the more gut wrenching and believable. All tankers should read this one!

Rating:
Summary: For an solider or military historian
Review: As a former Armor officer I was captivated immediately. This is a story by a soldier's soldier. The stories are incredible, the action non-stop throughout. Colonel Loza is a true hero and warrior who tells a great story, albeit not in the flowing, perfect prose of the ivory tower historian, but that is what makes if all the more gut wrenching and believable. All tankers should read this one!

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful account of Soviet use of Shermans during WW2
Review: During WW2, the United States shipped a whole lot of Lend Lease material to the Soviet Union, and included in this equipment was a total of about 5,000 tanks. Most of those shipped were diesel-powered M4A2 Sherman tanks (emchas to their Soviet crews, after an abbreviation of the Russian pronunciation of M4) and this book is the memoir of the service of an officer who rode several of these tanks from the Ukraine to Czechoslovakia, then across the Gobi Desert to Mukden. It's well-written (not always a hallmark of Soviet war memoirs) and full of wonderful anecdotes, from whiskey bottles in the gun breeches to problems with the rubber-covered tracks and the high center of gravity. Strangely, Loza has more good things to say about the Sherman tank than Belton Cooper, who wrote Death Traps (which I just read). Cooper thinks the tanks were no match for their German counterparts, Loza argues that used properly, emphasizing speed and maneuverability, they could and did stand up to the Panthers and even Tigers tolerably well. The book includes several incredible stories, the sort of thing you wouldn't believe if the author hadn't witnessed the events themselves, and concludes with a bizarre kamikaze attack by Japanese planes on the tank column. My one gripe is that at points you feel you're missing something with regards to the author's private life (at one point he mentions that he has a family now, but you hear nothing of that otherwise; mention of his wounding and the events surrounding it are very sketchy) but that doesn't really merit a drop in my rating from the highest.

Rating:
Summary: The Sherman Wasn't Bad
Review: I found the book quite entertaining. It is also an answer to the critics who have condemned the Sherman Tank because of inferior armament and armor compared to the heavy Russiann and German tanks. The author confirms as Patton found that if the advantages of the tank, speed, reliability, high fire rate, off road capability and etc. are utilized that it could and did massacre its now more highly regarded counterparts.

Rating:
Summary: A FINE CHRONICLE OF THE USE OF OUR LEND-LEASE TANK
Review: I've always been interested as to how the people who used our World War II equpment, (not always the epitome in state-of-the-art), thought about the quality of what they received. It seems that the author had a high regard for the M-4 Sherman Tank, and this was from a national whose nation's specialty was the design and production of great tanks. He gives a fair comparison on the good and poor attributes of the Sherman and the application of that weapon in many battles and locales: from Europe to Asia. (Too bad the M-4 had such a small cannon compared to the German Tigers and Panthers: But precision shooting by the Soviets made up for the discrepancy). I learned a lot and am glad that Mr. Loza helped fill a need for information on this subject. (I was surprised that the Sherman was thought of so highly!) I would have rather had more details and depth in his book...but he wrote it terse, direct, and to the point (like the Romans used to style their military works...notab! ly Caesar). I heartily recommend it to anyone.