Description

The Middle East has seen almost continuous warfare from the Israeli declaration of independence in 1948 to the present day. There have been four major campaigns, of which those of 1967 and 1973 - the so-called 'Six Days' and 'Yom Kippur' Wars - are of particular interest to wargamers as they involved the largest tank battles since World War 2. Israeli Centurions, Pattons and M-60s vie for battlefield supremacy with Arab T-54s and T-62s, and the arena has become a testing ground for new weapon systems and tactical doctrines while retaining an overall similarity to the armoured conflict of World War 2 which forms the subject matter of earlier books in this series.

This book begins with an introduction to the subject, a short chapter on the origins of the Arab-Israeli conflict, and a detailed description, with maps, of the 1967 and 1973 campaigns. There are two detailed chapters on Arab and Israeli armoured fighting vehicles and their characteristics, anti-tank missiles, conventional artillery, infantry weapons, tactical missiles, minefields and helicopters. There are also chapters on Arab and Israeli armoured organisation and tactics, and two specially commissioned sections on the war in the air by Mike Spick, author of Air Battles in Miniature. Finally, there are detailed playing rules, an appendix listing model suppliers, a technical glossary and an index, making this the ideal book for the increasing numbers of wargamers interested in this fascinating arena.