Introduction

The AMX 13 was originally designed in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War. It represents French ambitions for national resurgence and withdrawal from wartime dependence on American military technology.

Being a light tank it was an ambitious and far sighted departure from conventional tank design and it found a ready export market as well as being a critical part in the French Army arsenal. Its basic hull design lent itself to the development of a vast list of variants.

Development and Modernization

French designers progressively modernized, and indeed reinvented, the AMX 13 and enabled it to claim to be one of the most successful armored vehicle programs of the postwar period. It proved its worth in numerous small wars worldwide in the service of many countries.

Book Overview

This, the first commercially published work on the AMX 13 in English, examines in detail the technical, industrial, and tactical story of this remarkably successful armored fighting vehicle. The authoritative text is backed by an impressive selection of images.