In this, the third volume in his comprehensive, highly illustrated three-volume history of the evolution of armoured manoeuvre warfare in the British army, Dick Taylor covers the post-war period, up to the present day. He explains how the Royal Armoured Corps contracted rapidly after 1945, then faced the twin challenges of National Service and heavy involvement in numerous wars and campaigns around the globe. He recounts how the RAC became a fully-professional organisation by the early 1960s, and continues the tale of disbandments, down-sizing and amalgamations. In a narrative which is as much a social history as an operational one, the vivid personal accounts of soldiers feature heavily throughout. The story of the Cold War in Germany (BAOR) is told. Then, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the book describes the role British armour played in conflicts in the Gulf, the Balkans and Afghanistan. Dick Taylor's thoroughgoing account concludes with an assessment of the RAC in 2021 in the immediate aftermath of another defence review. AUTHOR: Dick Taylor started his service in the British army at the tender age of sixteen as a Junior Trooper at the Junior Leaders Regiment Royal Armoured Corps in Bovington. After completing training he served with 3RTR and 2RTR. As well as being a tank commander, he was a specialist in tank gunnery. He was commissioned as a captain in 2000 into 1RTR and left the regular army as a lieutenant colonel in 2013, although he has since been mobilized for operational service three times for tours overseas. During his long career he completed fifteen operational deployments to various hot spots including three tours of Afghanistan, two to Iraq, as well as Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Kosovo, Sierra Leone and South Sudan. He is the official historian of the Royal Armoured Corps, has an avid interest in modern and military history and writes military history books for a hobby. His most recent publication is The Second World War Tank Crisis: The Fall and Rise of British Armour 1919-1945. 60 colour, 40 b/w illustrations
